Sync & Rhythm

Guide info#

Short: 4-6 minutes

• Summary

• • Sync is making two different aspects of your level happen at the same time

• • Choosing player movements to match the song is an important part of sync

• • Rhythm is creating patterns in your gameplay through click patterns

• • By combining sync and rhythm, you can help the player enter a flow state

1: Impact

Different levels of sync exist which can be classified by how much impact they have on the player.

• Minimal impact: Small deco animations (small pulses or color changes). • Low impact: Deco animations that affect gameplay (large pulses/color changes, impact frames, movements). • Medium impact: Gameplay elements that move the player (pads, portals). • High impact: Player clicks.

We can combine different types of sync - having the player click at the same time an animation plays will give the moment more impact than if only one of those occurred at once.

High-impact sync should be used during high impact moments in the song. Good places to use it would be the song melody, which are the main notes of the song, or the song beats, which are any percussion in the song and typically provide the structure for the song.

You can be particular with which notes in the melody or beat to sync to. An example of choosing what to sync are RobTop’s levels. His levels sync to notes that allow him to form a click pattern rather than syncing to every single note. If done right, it can give you more control of the level’s intensity and difficulty.

Ultimately, your sync’s impact depends on how much you balance low and high impact sync. If you have the player click too often, such as a really long spam section, they’ll get burnt out. If you have them click too little and rely on low impact sync, they won’t be engaged as much.

2: Sync and Movements

The previous section discussed the different types of sync, with player clicks being the most impactful. However, not all clicks are made equal. Depending on the gamemode you use, some clicks will feel more impactful than others because of the visuals.

For example, clicks in a ship part will feel less impactful than clicking in a wave part. This is because ship provides very little immediate visual feedback, while wave provides instant feedback with a very distinct visual, making it feel far more responsive and impactful.

We can expand this idea a bit further and discuss movements. While default movement of each gamemode is a large part of its unique visual feedback, automatic movements caused by moving platforms or the player icon hitting slopes also have their own impact. Here are some general factors you should consider when discussing the impact of sync.

• Movement Size - Larger movements will have more impact than smaller movements. • Velocity - Faster movements will have more impact than slower ones. (This includes horizontal speed as well.) • Acceleration - A sharp change in velocity will be more impactful than a smooth change.

One benefit of classifying movements like this is you can play around and experiment with them more effectively. Many layouts feel distinct just because of how their creators experimented with movements. Here are a few examples of that.

**Königstein layout ** by Marwec: https://youtu.be/atW00xP32-4

Salamander Dance by Ilrell: https://youtu.be/cbp5H6wlW0k

Just like in the prior part, a good balance of impacts is important here. Too many high-impact movements will feel repetitive and dull after a while; similarly, too few could leave the player bored. It’s best for you to find a good balance between these two extremes.

3: Rhythm and Flow State

Rhythm is the repetition of specific patterns. It is a usage of sync where you create click patterns to the song, and it’s typically accompanied by repeating the same gameplay elements.

This is incredibly important for flow because rhythm naturally creates the patterns which induce it in the short-term. When combined with high-impact sync, this is what makes so many popular gameplay segments popular.

Rebix’s part in Overthinker is a good example of this sort of rhythm. The part itself has many elements - such as the first three orb clicks, or the ball parts with slopes in them - that repeat in conjunction with the music. Note that most of the time, what’s repeating is the click pattern itself, not necessarily the visuals; this helps make the part less repetitive, something that also matters for the flow state.

Keep in mind that with rhythm, the impact it’ll have will once again depend on the same factors as sync’s impact. Moreover, the higher the impact, the more variety you’ll need in between the rhythmic parts. Most players will be able to tolerate small deco changes or movements, but many will quickly get bored of clicking at the exact same speed over and over again.

Research and Examples

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