Da di di di

🔍 Theme: The Museum of Me

While I’m a game designer, I’m also a guitar teacher. Over the years, I’ve taught many students — especially beginners — and one common struggle stood out: rhythm.
Rhythm patterns are hard to explain with words and often boring to learn through videos. So, I thought:

“Why not create a rhythm training game that’s actually fun?”

Da di di di is my personal response — an interactive project shaped by my real teaching experiences. It reflects how I see myself not just as a teacher or designer, but someone who bridges both to create something meaningful and educational.

🎮 Game Overview

You play as a guitar hero in a pixel forest, battling monsters and navigating traps.
But every step you take must match the rhythm — hit the correct beat pattern to move forward!

🃏 Each card = a rhythm pattern (quarter, eighth, triplet, dotted notes, etc.)
🎵 Hit the rhythm correctly = move one step in a chosen direction
📍 Reach the checkpoint to clear the level

Designed for learning by doing, levels increase gradually in difficulty. You’ll face spikes, direction-reversing tiles, and maps that require not just rhythm accuracy — but movement strategy.

📐 Level Design

The difficulty increases progressively — starting with simple rhythms (quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes), and gradually introducing intermediate combinations such as:

• Eighth + sixteenth

• Sixteenth + eighth

• Dotted rhythms

• Syncopation

• Back-dotted patterns

Each level contains a fixed set of rhythm types, which are randomly ordered into cards for training purposes. The combination of patterns in each stage helps players not only recognize each rhythm but also understand their relationships and timing differences.

🛠️ From Idea to Implementation

At first, I imagined a scoring system: each rhythm card had a value, and players tried to reach a score goal — like a rhythm-based Balatro.
But defining rhythm “power-ups” and “debuffs” felt too abstract and unintuitive for beginners.
So I pivoted: keep the rhythm mechanics simple and visual, tie them to movement, and layer in spatial planning.

🎯 Gameplay Goals

• Help beginners intuitively understand rhythm values

• Make rhythm training more engaging than videos

• Provide a hands-on, interactive, game-based learning tool

🎓 Learning Features

• A Tutorial Page with rhythm previews and adjustable BPM

• In-game Pause Menu also includes rhythm audio playback

• Gradual introduction of rhythm patterns over 20 levels

• Visually reinforced movement and timing feedback

📷 Screenshots

Planned Future Updates

We are actively working on new features to expand the depth and replayability of Da di di di. Here’s a sneak peek at what’s coming in future updates:

• Adjustable Tolerance Settings
  Fine-tune the rhythm detection sensitivity to better match different skill levels, making the game more accessible for beginners or more precise for advanced players.

• New Map Themes
  Explore forests, cities, deserts, and more — each with their own visual style and ambient music to enrich the gameplay experience.

• Diverse Enemy Types
  Introduce new monsters that require different strategies to defeat — some may need multiple rhythm hits, others might dodge irregular beats or reverse your input.

• Advanced Rhythm Cards
  New rhythm patterns such as "skip-the-second-note" sixteenth cards or syncopated rests will challenge players to master more complex timing.

• Character Selection System
  Choose your musical hero — whether it's a bassist, drummer, saxophonist, trumpeter, or others, each with their own animations and maybe even special abilities.

• Power-Up Items
  Add tools like temporary BPM changers, pattern shufflers, or beat-freezers to give players more strategic options on tough levels.

Stay tuned for more musical adventures!