Drop the beat, tickle the royal funny bone, and try not to choke on the double notes.
Built for Global Game Jam 2024 (theme: Make me laugh), Carnival Cadence is a frantic, colourful rhythm game where your only job is to entertain the most demanding audience member in the realm: the King himself. As notes fly along the screen in sync with the track, you’ve got to hit the corresponding inputs perfectly. Max out your combos, and the King erupts into laughter, skyrocketing your score. Fail the rhythm, and well... off with your head (metaphorically, at least).
The tempo ramps up fast, the chart gets dense, and just when you think you've got a rhythm down, the game throws simultaneous double notes at you to completely ruin your streak.
The Custom Rig: The 5-Button Deck
While you can play this on a regular keyboard, as is tradition at this point Carnival Cadence was designed with some silly custom controller in mind.
Using a bunch of arcade buttons I had recently got as a Christmas gift (perfect timing) and whatever we had lying around (old Amazon box) we create a chest mounted controller. Think of it like a Guitar Hero guitar, but more cardboard. The challenge comes from pressing buttons on your chest and trying to keep track of the game screen.
⚠️ Hardware Note: Since there is currently only one highly coveted prototype of this controller in existence, we built a Keyboard Mode directly into the main menu.
- The Layout: It maps the five inputs to D, I, J, K, and L (representing Circle, Up, Left, Down, and Right). With a keyboard mode that can be activated, putting key icons on the shapes.
Behind the Curtains (Dev & Art Log)
This game team duo:
- Code & Custom Hardware: Me
- Visuals & Audio: Cathal
Cathal absolutely nailed the brief with whimsical, vibrant animations inspired directly by the GGJ theme announcement. On top of that, he cooked up an eclectic soundtrack that features a dynamically layered, original composition laugh track that scales with how well you're playing.
I don't recommend trying to build a rhythm game in 48 hours. The scoring system needs some work, but we got it finished in time.
Build Gallery
(TODO: Insert deep-dive notes on the controller enclosure construction, the specific micro-controller used, and the wiring diagram here.)
Ready to become the King's personal maestro? Grab your keyboard (or steal the prototype deck) and download the build over on Carnival Cadence on Itch.io.