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[toythatkills]

Do you remember Feep?

Okay. Do you remember post 217? Time travelling? Dinosaurs? MOTHERFUCKING ROBOT ZOMBIES?!

Well, Feep's made a game, so it's "support a GAFer" time! Luckily for you, all this really involves is playing a really awesome game!

PRICE: 240 Microsoft Points/practically nothing
RELEASE DATE: May 5th 2011
SYSTEM: Xbox 360
THING TO DO: Purchase it

Sequence is an RPG unlike any you'll have played before. Sure, you've battled monsters and probably even climbed towers before, but have you ever done it to a backdrop of "Stay Crunchy?"

Of course not!

Battles in Sequence are DDR-like affairs. If you find the concept baffling and need a reference point, try thinking about Puzzle Quest. Remember how it took an RPG narrative and put a match-3 game in for the battles? Sequence does the same but its battles are all musical and stuff! I should explain this better, or just get Feep to do it in a handy video!

Okay, I will explain better. There are three "fields" on the screen, representing your defence, your attack, and your mana, and you can switch between them with the triggers. Arrows come down on all three fields (sometimes all at once!) and your job is just to press the relevant button on your controller or your guitar or your dance mat or your toaster at just the right moment to play the note!

DEFENCE: Notes appear in short bursts in this window and are colour coded depending on their strength. This is the enemy, somewhat inconsiderately, trying to kill you. If you press the arrows in time then the enemy's attack will miss, if you don't then the enemy will attack you and you'll lose HP. Lose all your HP and... how long have you been playing games? You know this.

ATTACK: At the bottom is the spell ring, and you use the right stick to point to a spell and RB to choose it. At that point, a pattern of arrows unique to that spell will appear in the attack window and you have to hit them all to cast it. If you miss even one, the spell will fail and you'll lose your MP. You can queue up as many spells as you want, as long as you've got the Mana for it...

MANA: If you haven't got the Mana, it's to the Mana field with you! Missing arrows in this field doesn't penalise you at all, so you can ignore it for the most part. For every arrow you hit, though, you'll restore a couple of MP to yourself.

Fights are about getting a balance between the three fields, with your strategy hugely dependent on the length of a song. If the song finishes, you lose, so sometimes all out attack might be the best option, sometimes you might be faced with a strong attacker and plenty of time and so play more defensively.

That's how you play Sequence! There's plenty to discover outside of battles, but that's for you to find!

The music in Sequence comes from two people, and these bios have been in no way stolen from other places on the internet. Hell no.

RONALD JENKEES is an American composer and musician, best known for his YouTube keyboard performances, coverage on G4 TV's Attack of the Show!, and an appearance in Paste Magazine. His YouTube videos have been viewed (in total) over 46,000,000 times. Jenkees has thus far released two independent albums: the self-titled Ronald Jenkees (2007), and Disorganized Fun (2009).

DJ PLAESKOOL is a twenty-something year old college graduate living in Atlanta, Georgia (USA).
djplaeskool is an African-American, although he's never really been to Africa...
djplaeskool works as a financial operations analyst for Harland Clarke.
djplaeskool is left of center on most political issues.
djplaeskool drives a Toyota Matrix XRS.
djplaeskool makes music,
all for fun.

The cast of Sequence is amazing, and will make you laugh out loud. Here, meet a couple of 'em!

And many more!

Achievement Locked (disclaimer: this is a review I wrote)

It’s impossible not to fall in love with Sequence. Even if the combat takes a few fights to get used to, there’s so much else to like about the game that by the end, no matter how much you try to fight it, it will have stolen your heart.

Edge: 8/10!

Sequence is too sterile a title for this vibrant game, which will become known as one of the brightest lights on Xbox Live Indie Games. The flagship release from Iridium Studios breathes new life into the role-playing genre, taking inspiration both obvious and subtle from rhythm games.

Eurogamer: 9/10! and GAME OF THE WEEK!

In short, Sequence is an outstanding effort. Not only does it outclass practically everything else on the Indie channel, there's nothing else quite like it out there. For two quid, this has to be the bargain of the year.

More as they appear!

Final Launch Trailer!

How to play Sequence.

How serious is Feep about making sure a dance mat works? VERY SERIOUS.

A non-final non-launch trailer

This is a comprehensive list of all the video games in the world that are like Sequence. If you like Sequence and want a game that's exactly like it, check all these out!

1)

List ends.

The game's official website, just in case you need it for any reason.

A convenient link for you to click to download Sequence!

There aren't any more links yet, you can play the game now.

Seriously. Go!

 

[Gowans]

Great OP, been waiting to check this out for a while looks great and from the indie threads its been great to see the amount of effort feep has put in.

 

[NotMyUsername]

Already bought my copy. So that's like giving Feep $2.10? I feel like I've done my good for the day and it's only 2am. Not bad.

 

[Feep]

I want to pop in here and personally apologize for the lack of a Lefty Flip option. I'll be adding this in for the first patch for sure.

Enjoy, everyone. = D

 

[NotMyUsername]

Figured I should give some quick impressions:

Just reached Floor the Fourth. Admittedly I've been zipping through instead of replaying stuff to synth new items.

Really liking the game so far. Writing is funny enough and considering it's an Xbox Live Indie Game the voice acting is rather well done. Percival sounded a little off in terms of sound quality but otherwise good stuff all around.

The first floor really throws you off in sense of difficulty. I had it on Hard and had zero issues on the first floor so I bumped it up to the top difficulty before starting the second floor. And got absolutely destroyed. So then I dropped back to Hard and again found it much harder than progression would really lead me to believe. Since then I've just been playing on Medium and that seems about right for playing on a controller. And maybe Hard would feel alright again now that I'm familiar with all the mechanics and I'm good at quickly swapping between the fields. And for a point of reference I'm typically quite good at music/rhythm games beating them on Expert and the sort. So yeah, really threw me off.

Lastly, the only real suggestion I have at this point that I could see improving the experience would be to either put in a reward/penalty for doing all the notes in a section without overhitting. I mean to say you're not penalized at all for just mashing through the buttons. Mana might be tough to do but the spells are obviously done by section and most the defensive stuff seems to be in waves. If either there was some sort of boost to spells for hitting 100% without hitting too many or penalize for hitting when there's no arrow I think that'd make it feel a little more solid. For the defensive sections perhaps let it be damage is taken when you hit more than needed or maybe just a point of damage per section where you hit too often, or something like that. Heh, regardless of what the outcome would be I think you get the point? Not really something I'd expect to see in a patch but if this did well enough that you considered a sequel or something that'd be my suggestion.

Oh, and perhaps the wording could be changed somewhere about learning scrolls. Or it was explained and I missed it. I know it mentions that you must meet some goal but I didn't catch that this goal is placed in front of you once you spend the XP to learn the spell. I saw I needed 85% on Derty so I played that song against an enemy several times getting >85% accuracy and wasn't sure why it wasn't triggering. So I finally just spent the XP first and then was whisked away to the separate challenge. This isn't a huge deal and I imagine most others won't be as confused but just figured I'd bring it up.

All-in-all it's great and definitely worth $3. Honestly I was prepared to spend $5 just to support Feep and it would have been worth that. I think I've spent a little under two hours and I wouldn't be surprised to hit a total of around five or six, or even more, depending on how much I start worrying about synthing before moving along. Playing on Medium hasn't put me in much danger of losing so creating better items hasn't been necessary so far. Cool stuff, though, and a very solid package.

 

[Feep]

Figured I should give some quick impressions:

Just reached Floor the Fourth. Admittedly I've been zipping through instead of replaying stuff to synth new items.

Really liking the game so far. Writing is funny enough and considering it's an Xbox Live Indie Game the voice acting is rather well done. Percival sounded a little off in terms of sound quality but otherwise good stuff all around.

The first floor really throws you off in sense of difficulty. I had it on Hard and had zero issues on the first floor so I bumped it up to the top difficulty before starting the second floor. And got absolutely destroyed. So then I dropped back to Hard and again found it much harder than progression would really lead me to believe. Since then I've just been playing on Medium and that seems about right for playing on a controller. And maybe Hard would feel alright again now that I'm familiar with all the mechanics and I'm good at quickly swapping between the fields. And for a point of reference I'm typically quite good at music/rhythm games beating them on Expert and the sort. So yeah, really threw me off.

Lastly, the only real suggestion I have at this point that I could see improving the experience would be to either put in a reward/penalty for doing all the notes in a section without overhitting. I mean to say you're not penalized at all for just mashing through the buttons. Mana might be tough to do but the spells are obviously done by section and most the defensive stuff seems to be in waves. If either there was some sort of boost to spells for hitting 100% without hitting too many or penalize for hitting when there's no arrow I think that'd make it feel a little more solid. For the defensive sections perhaps let it be damage is taken when you hit more than needed or maybe just a point of damage per section where you hit too often, or something like that. Heh, regardless of what the outcome would be I think you get the point? Not really something I'd expect to see in a patch but if this did well enough that you considered a sequel or something that'd be my suggestion.

Oh, and perhaps the wording could be changed somewhere about learning scrolls. Or it was explained and I missed it. I know it mentions that you must meet some goal but I didn't catch that this goal is placed in front of you once you spend the XP to learn the spell. I saw I needed 85% on Derty so I played that song against an enemy several times getting >85% accuracy and wasn't sure why it wasn't triggering. So I finally just spent the XP first and then was whisked away to the separate challenge. This isn't a huge deal and I imagine most others won't be as confused but just figured I'd bring it up.

All-in-all it's great and definitely worth $3. Honestly I was prepared to spend $5 just to support Feep and it would have been worth that. I think I've spent a little under two hours and I wouldn't be surprised to hit a total of around five or six, or even more, depending on how much I start worrying about synthing before moving along. Playing on Medium hasn't put me in much danger of losing so creating better items hasn't been necessary so far. Cool stuff, though, and a very solid package.

Wow, you're quick. = D Glad to see you're enjoying the game!

With regards to overhitting, I went back-and-forth with this one. I eventually decided against it; playtesters were FREAKING OUT when errant button presses were causing some form of penalty. I figured the game is stressful enough. = ( I did take measures to prevent button mashing; if more than two notes are held at a time, no inputs are registered, and there's also a secondary measure that kicks in for rapidfire/high volume mashing as well.

Keep on truckin'!

 

[Zissou]

This looks really cool, I'll probably give it a shot this weekend.

 

[Keyser Soze]

No Indie Games in Ireland, otherwise I would buy

 

[NotMyUsername]

Like I said, instead of making it a penalty put in a reward system so people won't feel frustrated when they accidentally have an extra hit but when they get in a groove and nail a spell without messing up in any way they get 10% more damage/heals/quicker cooldown, etc. Not positive how you could take the reward idea into the defensive field but I'm sure there's something to make the player feel rewarded while keeping the game balance. Maybe give them a point of health? Or make it based on a percent of total health, like 1 or 2%? It's not like someone could ignore the other fields and hope to regain all their health back by grinding the Defensive since they'd just run out of time but at the same time it'd add a little bit back over time and on longer fights, like guardians, it'd feel pretty helpful while not being substantial enough to change the entire feel of things.

Of course I'm saying all this without having made the game and I'm just tossing ideas out there, heh. I definitely agree that a penalty is harsher than a reward but I still think something for clearing sections perfectly would be a good thing to be added if you made a sequel or something. Do to the nature of swapping fields trying to keep a combo counter would be a bit rough so just doing it on a per-wave-basis or something seems the only way I could imagine it with how the game is currently.

I really hope it doesn't sound like I'm bagging on the game. I've really liked what I've played and for being one of those oddball pick-a-genre-mix-with-RPG games like Puzzle Quest I have to say it's at the top of my list since I love the music, how it feels to play, and the story has me intrigued. I hope a fair bit of it is answered in the end since there's obviously a fair bit of mystery about the whole thing.

While playing I was thinking I'd also suggest the typical thing of using your own achievement system or something, and since there's no points involved tie it to something like unlocking artwork or the soundtrack. But then I went back to the main menu and saw you had all that stuff freely available in the Bonus section. Still, if you had considered doing something like your own achievements I think that's a great way of making them still feel worth grabbing in the indie games since there's no points involved with earning them. Hell, I love it when full retail titles actually mix in some sort of reward for getting their achievements and barely any of them actually do it.

I'll probably aim to do a floor or two for the next couple nights to go through the game. I'll let you know my final thoughts then.

 

[Feep]

No Indie Games in Ireland, otherwise I would buy

As a point of reference, all those outside the XBLIG territories can still access XBLIG games by making a Gamertag and simply claiming the country of residence is the United States or what-have-you.

I think obtaining points might be difficult, but they don't check IPs or anything.

 

[toythatkills]

Like I said, instead of making it a penalty put in a reward system so people won't feel frustrated when they accidentally have an extra hit but when they get in a groove and nail a spell without messing up in any way they get 10% more damage/heals/quicker cooldown, etc. Not positive how you could take the reward idea into the defensive field but I'm sure there's something to make the player feel rewarded while keeping the game balance. Maybe give them a point of health? Or make it based on a percent of total health, like 1 or 2%? It's not like someone could ignore the other fields and hope to regain all their health back by grinding the Defensive since they'd just run out of time but at the same time it'd add a little bit back over time and on longer fights, like guardians, it'd feel pretty helpful while not being substantial enough to change the entire feel of things.

Of course I'm saying all this without having made the game and I'm just tossing ideas out there, heh. I definitely agree that a penalty is harsher than a reward but I still think something for clearing sections perfectly would be a good thing to be added if you made a sequel or something. Do to the nature of swapping fields trying to keep a combo counter would be a bit rough so just doing it on a per-wave-basis or something seems the only way I could imagine it with how the game is currently.

Personally, I think the problem with rewarding getting perfect sections is that sometimes it's impossible to because you have to make a sacrifice. Like, later on you'll have to make a decision to let some notes hit you because they're weak, so that you can concentrate on casting a spell or building mana before time runs out.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Fuck this looks awesome. Too bad I dont have a 360
Any news if its going to appear in Steam in the future?

BTW, only I minor stupid complain with the OP, thats is awesome, If Donaldo is a spanish character (like Vega, Don Flamenco...) he would never say the word taquito, as its a food from mexico, not from spain. Probably he would say something like paella though. But maybe is a mexican character dressed like a bullfighter and im just saying even more stupid things.

Also the video with the developer explanation its awesome, felt like cave jonhson :lol (and the feep dance mat video is awesome too :lol )

 

[NotMyUsername]

Personally, I think the problem with rewarding getting perfect sections is that sometimes it's impossible to because you have to make a sacrifice. Like, later on you'll have to make a decision to let some notes hit you because they're weak, so that you can concentrate on casting a spell or building mana before time runs out.

Well...that's why it'd be a reward It wouldn't be a reward if a system was in place so that you always got it. Do you stick to your spell to get the reward or leave it unfinished to defend? Or vice versa? That'd be one little element of strategy brought about from a system like that.

I don't really intend to argue my case on this since it's just an idea for a game I have no hand in (and from reading Feep's previous posts I don't think he intends to go back into the code aside for bug fix updates/lefty flip). I just wanted to question why you think sacrificing a reward would be a problem when it's purely that: a reward. Now if I was suggesting a harsh penalty for sacrificing a field for another I could see that being where problems arise.

 

[Feep]

Fuck this looks awesome. Too bad I dont have a 360
Any news if its going to appear in Steam in the future?

BTW, only I minor stupid complain with the OP, thats is awesome, If Donaldo is a spanish character (like Vega, Don Flamenco...) he would never say the word taquito, as its a food from mexico, not from spain. Probably he would say something like paella though. But maybe is a mexican character dressed like a bullfighter and im just saying even more stupid things.

Donaldo, like his voice actor, is authentically Mexican...despite the garb. = D

I'll be submitting to Steam in the very near future, with some positive reviews in my quiver. Hopefully they're feeling magnanimous enough to accept. ^^

Man that main character sure is pissed. Can he uncross his arms ?

Hell no he is always so angry

 

[Salsa]

Man that main character sure is pissed. Can he uncross his arms ?

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Donaldo, like his voice actor, is authentically Mexican...despite the garb. = D

I'll be submitting to Steam in the very near future, with some positive reviews in my quiver. Hopefully they're feeling magnanimous enough to accept. ^^

Well, seems I was saying stupid things then :lol

And good to know about steam. I will buy it in a heartbeat, I love rythm games, and mixing it with RPGs and humor seems really cool.

 

[mujun]

Hey Feep, looks amazing all round (the game and the official site), once again, hope you rake it in!

I've grabbed the trial, going to give it a spin this weekend.

One question, how does the game world/map work? Is it like Puzzle Quest 2 or something?

 

[Salsa]

Hell no he is always so angry

Ugh, no buy

Spoiler

Hope to see it on Steam soon mang, looks great. Will buy.

 

[Htown]

I'll be submitting to Steam in the very near future, with some positive reviews in my quiver. Hopefully they're feeling magnanimous enough to accept.

Excellent. It'd be nice to be able to play this.

 

[TheExodu5]

Any chance for a Windows port? Or is this going to remain XBLA exclusive?

I could always hook my 360 back up...

edit: you clearly answered this earlier...I missed it. I hope it goes through Steam approval!

 

[erpg]

Hye, Jenkees! I remember that guy from when thesixtyone wasn't garbage. I'll have to check it out.

 

[bdavid81]

Looks great! If you're interested in more exposure for the game, feel free to email our site at press@gamergeddon.com or hit up on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/Gamergeddon or Twitter (@Gamergeddon).

We're an established site that began two years ago with a focus on XBLIG titles and have since moved on to cover a lot more while holding onto the indie focus.

I'll be grabbing the game myself once I grab more points. Congrats on the release!

 

[meltingparappa]

You had me at Jenkees.

"HELLO YOUTUBES!" (hardass beats)

He needs to do the soundtrack for EVERYTHING. River City Ransom remake? Yes. Picross 3D? Yes. Demons Souls? Yes. Space Channel 5? Yes. Silent Hill 2? Yes.

This will be my first XBLIG purchase. I should really buy Cthulhu while I'm at it.

 

[bdavid81]

There are some great XBLIG titles if you sift through the crap. I own a little over 60 myself, and paid for about 1/2 of them, while the others were review codes.

 

[The Technomancer]

Dat Art....

 

[Reknoc]

Ronald Jenkees, only a pittance, made by a GAFer? It would be criminal not to buy this.

 

[The Technomancer]

No seriously, dat art O_O

Will be watching for a Steam version very carefully.

 

[TheBez]

Will buy asap when it hits Steam, but I might break and buy XBLA in the meantime. Depends on if I have any points stored up.

 

[toythatkills]

Ronald Jenkees, only a pittance, made by a GAFer? It would be criminal not to buy this.

:lol

This is basically everything I wanted the OP to express, I should have just left it at that =P

 

[Miutsu]

Donaldo, like his voice actor, is authentically Mexican...despite the garb. = D

I'll be submitting to Steam in the very near future, with some positive reviews in my quiver. Hopefully they're feeling magnanimous enough to accept. ^^


Hell no he is always so angry

Do you have any specific plans to approach a Steam release? I'm not quite sure how they handle XNA games or if you are thinking of porting to something else.

Otherwise, great op and the game looks wonderful, wish I could play it but that's gonna have to wait a little

 

[Kafel]

Looks good, will try.


*crosses my arms*

 

[2th]

had some spare MS points lying around so i bought this. the video i found in another thread looked interesting so why not spend $3 if it entertains me for even an hour? ill play later this afternoon and post up some thoughts.

 

[OnPoint]

Gonna get this as soon as I get home

 

[SapientWolf]

The soundtrack looks legendary, and dance mat and guitar support was a nice touch. Definitely plan on picking this one up.

 

[wwm0nkey]

and....BOUGHT!

 

[Feep]

Do you have any specific plans to approach a Steam release? I'm not quite sure how they handle XNA games or if you are thinking of porting to something else.

Otherwise, great op and the game looks wonderful, wish I could play it but that's gonna have to wait a little

Not really. A few XNA games are already on the service (Beat Hazard)...the initial hurdle is just getting them to approve your game. Hopefully, since their primary criteria is "original gameplay", I might have a good chance.

I would certainly add Achievements for Steam, and possibly even multiplayer, depending on financial matters.

As an aside, thanks to everyone who has purchased or even just gave the game a spin so far. It means a lot to me. = D I'll have something nice to post a little later, hopefully.

 

[HadesGigas]

There's actually a decent amount of XNA games on Steam. Like probably 15+. Two of them just came out, Dwarfs and Capsized. So I doubt that's much of a factor in their approval/disapproval.

Hell, Magicka is an XNA game too, and it's pretty much the surprise indie hit of the year so far.

 

[Crazetex]

You had me at Jenkees.

"HELLO YOUTUBES!" (hardass beats)

He needs to do the soundtrack for EVERYTHING. River City Ransom remake? Yes. Picross 3D? Yes. Demons Souls? Yes. Space Channel 5? Yes. Silent Hill 2? Yes.

This will be my first XBLIG purchase. I should really buy Cthulhu while I'm at it.

Hold off a few days on Cthulhu. They're updating/expanding it to celebrate the PC release.

Also, yes. You had me at Jenkees.

 

[Gowans]

Loving the voice work, even XBLA are skimping on this now, it gives me a tonnes of joy seeing it here.

Games aces too.

 

[Judderman]

Ronald Jenkees = Instabuy

 

[wwm0nkey]

Yeah, loving the hell out of this game, really should come out on STEAM.

Also just got the the 4chan reference :lol

 

[Bendt]

Looks awesome

 

[JaseMath]

OMG The first time I heard Ronald Jenkees, I thought it was the best video game music I ever heard. Seriously...THIS would be amazing in a Jazz Jackrabbit-esque platformer.

Excited he's a part of it.

 

[meltingparappa]

Being able to buy a game through the marketplace website is the absolute worst thing for impulse purchases.

I've been listening to Jenkees all day at work and I sooooo just bought this.

 

[Pepboy]

No 360 at the moment, but otherwise I would be all over this. Sequence looks really great, Feep's tutorial video had me cracking up. Please let me know if it's ported to another system.

 

[tearsofash]

This sounds like something I'd be all over all day every day. I'd love to buy it right this instant, but I have to wait until I get paid. >_<

 

[2th]

so spent about half an hour on it and my god did some of it suck. not talking about the gameplay at all yet. but the narrative. jesus christ why isnt auto play on the story turned ON by default? Christ the initial stuff where i had to keep hitting A pissed me off so much i wanted to say fuck it right then and there. But after i got through those grueling 7 minutes i fixed shit in the settings. after that i played about 30 minutes of level 1. only three monsters so far to fight and ONLY three. quite repetitive and annoying. Also the crafting mechanism has a percentage of success that you can alter by spending XP (i immensely dislike this mechanic). SO i gave up for the time being and went back to the gears of war 3 beta. ill try it later after a few beers but definitely not something i can play during daylight hours while sober so far.

 

[Feep]

so spent about half an hour on it and my god did some of it suck. not talking about the gameplay at all yet. but the narrative. jesus christ why isnt auto play on the story turned ON by default? Christ the initial stuff where i had to keep hitting A pissed me off so much i wanted to say fuck it right then and there. But after i got through those grueling 7 minutes i fixed shit in the settings. after that i played about 30 minutes of level 1. only three monsters so far to fight and ONLY three. quite repetitive and annoying. Also the crafting mechanism has a percentage of success that you can alter by spending XP (i immensely dislike this mechanic). SO i gave up for the time being and went back to the gears of war 3 beta. ill try it later after a few beers but definitely not something i can play during daylight hours while sober so far.

(laugh) Can't please 'em all, huh? I'll consider turning Scene Auto-Play on by default in the next patch, but there were instances in which playtesters missed certain things and felt annoyed they couldn't go back.

 

[thetrin]

Feep, genius move getting Ronald Jenkees on the project. I will definitely buy it when it comes out for Steam.

Hell, I may not be able to wait, and I'll get both the XBL indie and Steam versions.

 

[Belfast]

Interesting ideas, Feep. Finally putting all those years of DDR to good use? If there's ever a PC version, count me in!

I'm Orange, by the way.