![Stage Fright](https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvNjQ0MzEvMjk3MzQ1LmdpZg==/original/iGBw9o.gif)
Stage Fright
A downloadable game for Windows and macOS
Stage Fright is a single player rhythm and horror game where you take the role of a piano prodigy who is overwhelmed by musical performance anxiety. This anxiety manifests itself as a supernatural ghost girl, the mysterious HANNAH, who haunts your concerts to strain your ability and sanity.
The game is played a Guitar-Hero-style beatmatching mechanic that will coax you to perform at your best! But BEWARE - you will unravel horrific past trauma...
Jump scares, unsettling visual elements, and even UI breakdowns are in store as the the game itself tries to prevent you from succeeding!
Community pages:
Follow us on Facebook and check out our Steam page!
Meet the team:
Brian Kang - Programming, Project Management, Game Design
Mauricio Juliano - Game Design, UX Design, Sound Design
Elizabeth Dantzler - Art, Character Design, Story
Jeff Huang- Sound Effects, Music, Sound Design
Larry Shen - Composition
Status | Released |
Platforms | Windows, macOS |
Rating | Rated 4.0 out of 5 stars (21 total ratings) |
Authors | Brian Kang, mauriciojuliano, fundamental phantom |
Genre | Rhythm |
Tags | Arcade, Dark, Horror, MIDI, Monsters, Music, Spooky, supernatural |
Average session | About a half-hour |
Inputs | Keyboard |
Links | Steam |
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $4.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Comments
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The concept is good and the soundtrack is Amazing. Unfortunately, my game registered a lot of false misses (mostly misses popping up on the same note that had already registered correctly.) Until those bugs are sorted out, it's incredibly frustrating to play. (I may also recommend darkening the darker grey keys to black, the color change btw them and the white keys is so subtle it was more confusing than helpful.)
my stream of it here
Hope this game gets finished eventually, still has a lot of kinks that need to be ironed out and I'm not completely sure if the story is finished or not. But as someone with really bad anxiety that loves horror games and music I'm a big fan of this concept, and I had a good time with what's here.
TL:DR review for new bundle buyers: Game is unfinished, buggy (despite creator saying they were fixing these bugs 4+ years ago and still hasn't) and has no story. It's not a particularly well crafted rhythm game nor is it an actually scary horror game and contains no actual jumpscares scarier than what the UI does to you. It's just a rhythm game that hates you. There is no "horrific past trauma." Good for maybe five minutes of play if you bought it with the bundle. but not the $5 on it's own. Maybe 1 star.
More in depth review:
This concept is on solid ground. A horror game that is a rhythm game following the notes of anxiety and not knowing when things are going to be thrown in your face on top of the idea of a game breaking down like your own feeble sanity. It's cool! The art is beautiful and the music is also beautiful!
The aesthetic and idea are the clothespins holding together a house of cards unfortunately. I played this with my friend who knows rhythm games like the back of their hand and it's not... good. To repeat old complaints in these comments that we experienced: it doesn't pick up some of the notes that were DEFINITELY played, the last stage plays over and over without telling you that it finished the game, (going so far as accidentally rubbing it in because the voice acting says "no, that's not right" when you click on the menu button and just starts the level again), notes are dropped and sometimes you get failure effects despite doing well.
Beyond the unfinished bug aspects, the game has no story. All of the promised plot isn't there. None of the past trauma stuff and no cut scenes besides two or three lines of text with dialogue. I read up the comments and apparently this is going to stay that way. Development's over. It's done. Go home! And honestly? This just makes it... kinda sad? Where my friends were outraged at not being told this I'm just... disappointed. I love horror games (as a horror reviewer) because they delve into our psyche, they can be creative and emotionally fulfilling. I can see where this could have gone, from being a difficult, unclear, anxiety inducing game with proper jump scares, pacing, whispered voices going in one ear to the other only you can hear over the frantic keys of piano as she demands revenge, to one final piece after freeing yourself from the grasp of the spirit, played under blue skies and uninterrupted. Simple, beautiful music you make with your hands, without even a discordant note to reflect any mistakes, no knowledge of potential failure besides a percentage at the end of your score.
But that's not going to happen and it makes me really sad. Maybe one day they will finish the game. Maybe they won't. It's not up to us, nor will any of us know what happened to HANNAH or our player character, what's up with the dock at the lake, or quell the anxiety of it all in the end.
Game is wonderful but:
1 : Why there is no save in story mode? All tracks are unlocked and ready to play from other menu option! what is the point of the story mode then? only cutscenes or something?
2: You must be kidding me with that insane distortion effect at the end of second track: Audition.
I expected jumpscares and other spooky things but that??? Also that random mistake events when You play perfectly well - it brokes the entire immersion of the song ( I know it is another scare)!
Difficulty is way to hard! Don't get me wrong - I am playing Your game along with Super Hexagon :) Then You should know what I mean - I am not even angry when I loose in SH because is fast paced, but here...It is confusing as hell!(Because I am screwing all the time because of image distortions and other...Not from lack of abilities)!
Other than that this game is great, but I have hope there will be save function, more tracks to play and other "Improvements"
Thank You
Thanks for your feedback!
There's no save because we essentially ran out of time. We originally planned for lots of tracks in the story, bigger cutscenes, and more effects in the levels themselves. That didn't pan out. As for the difficulty, I had wanted to make the experience unnerving/frustrating to replicate the feelings of being on a stage with anxiety. I probably overtuned it, though, and if I go back would balance it out a little better.
Moving forward we don't plan to heavily work on the game anymore. If something happens though, I will take your feedback and make those improvements. Thanks for playing :)
I just love this concept so much!
I've also fallen completely in love with the art and music. They're both just wonderfully haunting.
Thanks! So you can find the soundtrack here: https://broangames.itch.io/stage-fright-soundtrack
There aren't really any alternate titles, but I'll ask if the sound guys have any wish to rename their tracks.
Awesome! Thank you very much!
I love the game, especially the music! Is there anywhere I can find a soundtrack of sorts?
You can find it here! https://broangames.itch.io/stage-fright-soundtrack
I remember playing the early builds of this game and while I'm no better at using both of my hands in a rythm horror game, but I love the game even more now anyway! I haven't beaten story mode yet, but I'm practicing. I never was good on the piano.
Thanks so much!!
In response to other feedback we've been getting, I will soon be implementing a no-fail "practice" mode where you can try all the songs out without any horror effects. Maybe that will help!
Updated with lots of bug fixes and a Mac build - thanks everyone who played!!
Hi, I just bought the game and I found there's quite a few issues when playing through the Story Mode - I've tried re-installing the game multiple times now to no avail. Whenever I play, it will randomly count pressed notes as missed ones. As well, the game always seems to crash two songs after the Finale. Also, I'm not sure if the game is intentionally randomized, but the two times I tried to open Story Mode the openings were completely different. One of them had a proper opening with the CG and voice acting, while the other threw me straight into the gameplay and had a different jumpscare than the other.
I do love the game and it's concept, so I was wondering if there's anything I can do to fix this on my end, or if it's an issue with the game as a whole?
Thanks!
Hello! So the input missed bug is something I'm actively working on, reported on the first day, and should have a fix really soon. I will let you know when it's out - is it all right for me to give you an updated build via the email registered to your payment?
I haven't seen those other bugs yet (the beginning is intentionally randomized, but shouldn't be to that degree). I'll get on that ASAP.
Thanks for your comment, and for your support! Apologies for the bugs.
Thanks so much for the quick response! Yes, it's totally alright for you to send me the updated build to my email. I look forwards to playing it :)
Hey, just another quick bug update - in story mode, it gets to the third song smoothly and then no notes fall.
Yup, just fixed that bug and the input bug! I'll be sending you an updated build shortly.
We're back and released!!
Mac build, and Steam build, to come. Thanks for your patience!
Hate to be that cliche dev, but we're going to have to postpone release of the full version - for a week. Sorry everyone, and thanks for waiting with us. See you in a week!
Hello all! The full Stage Fright game will be available next month January 19! Check out our Steam page for a new trailer and more info:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/771470/Stage_Fright/
A new itch page will be up at that time.
As always, thank you so much for your support!
So excited for this. I have been waiting since I did my let's play on the demo haha
I love the concept, and I'm excited that someone's willing to make something like this. However, I've played games like these (minus the horror part) for years now, and I have some comments to make on that aspect of the game.
The slow speed at which the notes go down the screen is a good base setting, but it can be hard to tell (especially when playing on both fields of play at once) when each note will be hit at a more precise measure. I feel that these things can be fixed with one of two options (although I personally would suggest both);
You can 1) Allow people to change the rate at which the notes go down (as I've found that as I played this game more, I've slowly began to find how slow it is difficult to play- very notably so with the more complex rhythms- and giving the ability to make the speed faster (and maybe even a little slower, I don't know) might make it more natural to play so people can focus on the aesthetics rather than trying to figure out which note goes where in real time. Although, to be fair, this is more of a general suggestion than anything else.
And 2) make the ticks on the sides of each of the rows of columns A) maybe a little more visible but mostly B) coordinate each side of them. At the moment they're off sync with each other, making one or both out of sync with the song itself. Although I can see why A might not be something you would want to add, I feel fixing B) could be a big help in letting players more smoothly play the game... so that they can get more scared. It's a win-win!
Another thing I've noticed is the alignment of each of the columns. Namely, that they're angled differently from each other. I don't think this would be much of a problem if they weren't angled away from each other - which also seems to be (in a way that hurts in terms of consistency) different in other stages/circumstances. Giving it a dynamic angle makes it look nicer, but maybe angle it differently...
Similarly, one of the frustrations I've had with this game is how far apart each row of columns is. But that's fine, it does well with fitting to how you can't see both of your hands so well when they're on different areas of the piano anyways. That was just something I'm mentioning on the side....... although maybe they could be a little closer together... or have the notes not come on the screen from horizontally opposite ends of the screen.
I really like this concept and I hope it does well, so keep up the good work(and sorry for the long comment)!
No worries for the long comment, thanks for the feedback! I'll respond to your list one by one.
1. We have no plans to allow players to change the note speed, as that's tied directly to the music playing and depends on its tempo. I think your other suggestions kind of tie into the problem you suggest (that it's hard to read the note timings), and we've been looking at ways to solve that issue.
2. Agreed on the ticks, we will make them coordinated and more visible.
3. After a year of testing we're unfortunately going to keep the columns the same. They're angled that way precisely because it makes the game more difficult, and gives an easy way to differentiate between our game and other rhythm games while also matching the background art.
Still, thanks for the feedback!
I REALLY like this game. I cannot wait to see what it becomes. I think it is unique and a cool concept. I am definatley awaiting a full release. Keep it up!
Thanks so much for your kind words! We'll have an announcement regarding release pretty soon :)
Awesome! Glad to hear it!
Hi! Just wanted to drop in and say that this was one of the coolest things that I've experienced in a while. Also just wanted to ask how development is coming along.
Thanks!
Thanks so much for your support!
This past year has been crazy, and all of the team hasn't had as much time to work on the game as we would like. But we're still grinding away, and hope to have it out by December this year. I'll update this page as soon as we have more to show!
What is the name of these songs for audition and solo concert?
All the music is original - they were made for the game, so don't have names. I'll ask the sound guy!
Really awesome concept and great execution. Nice job.
Thanks! It will be better in a few months for release :P
EXCELLENT indie horror title. I really never comment on these and instead, let my video reviews do the talking for me, but goddamn, I had a lot of fun with this one. I'm very excited to see the full version (if there will be one) and what else you'll develop in the future! Kudos!
If anyone would like to watch my Let's Play as well, here it is. The bass response got a little f*cked up, but that was my editing software, not the game itself:
Thanks for the Let's Play and kind words! We did just get Greenlit on Steam a few days ago, and a full version is planned for later this spring, which will be released there.
Well, I would to play and review the full version as well when it comes out. So I'll be sure to keep you appraised on that.
While I mostly play horror games and leave the rhythm well alone, I was intrigued by this game. I've recorded a video for my YouTube channel though at time of writing this comment it's still rendering. However I found this game wonderfully unique and brilliant.
If you're interested in testing, I played the game for my channel on my Windows gaming rig which, with 32GB RAM, Intel i5-3470, GTX 970 and running off an SSD you can expect it ran flawlessy on its maximum graphics settings. I also have a iMac 7,1 (20" mid 2007 model) which I use to render my videos with. After reading other comments I tried the Mac version as well. I have upgraded the iMac's RAM to 4GB and its HDD to 2TB (still a mechanical HDD, not SSD) and for the most part it also ran smoothly, Averaging around 20fps at the iMac's standard 1,680 x 1,050 display during normal gameplay but when the visuals kicked in showing the horror part, and the girl flashing on screen, I noticed a marked drop in fps to around 10fps. So for those with an older machine of around 2007 or earlier I'd recommend the "Good" quality settings or lower for smooth gameplay.
I haven't tested it on an older desktop PC mind you as I don't have one, but I also tested this on my Acer Aspire E51 laptop which also only has an Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM and Intel HD graphics, but even at maximum quality it runs very smoothly all the way through. So I gotta say yes this is a very good game to play even on older machines.
If you want to see my playthrough (be aware I'm crap at rhythm games) it'll take the Mac around 10 hours to render with another 3 hours to upload, so I will be releasing it on Monday 4pm PST/7pm EST as part of my scheduled release time for videos.
Just got back from traveling, so I wasn't able to see this before, but thanks so much for the feedback and info! Also enjoyed your YouTube video for the game.
Hi, further update. Since last playing I've upgrade the iMac from an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0Ghz to an Intel Extreme Core 2 Duo 2.8 (model X7900 to be exact) which is the fastest, most modern CPU the iMac 7,1 can support, and I ran you game again on max settings. Flawless. No fps dip even during the horror glitches later in songs. So I feel the game is more CPU intensive than GPU.
Just thought to let you know if in case in future updates you want to put in system requirements. :)
MG
Great info once again! I'll be sure to include the system requirements once we launch. Thanks so much!
I'm usually not into horror games at all, but I love rhythm games and am enjoying this one very much. But there's a bug I have in the windows version. Those bars that the notes slide down don't appear. It makes it difficult to differentiate the black notes and I have to play entirely by ear since the hit bar at the bottom isn't there either. Is this a bug in the file itself or just something wrong with my computer or version?
Hm, I've never seen that bug before, sorry it's there!
I'll release an update to the game either tonight or tomorrow morning, and if the bug still happens afterward then send me your specs and I'll try to work it out.
Just uploaded a new update, let me know if you still have that issue!
Went through it again and still don't see it. Have a feeling I know the problem though. I'm running an older computer so it's specs aren't as up to the times as others. Tested the game on another, better, computer in the house and it worked just fine, so it's definitely my computer.
Here are the specs on it. If you can't do anything, don't worry. The computer I'm on is a temporary one anyway. I'm getting a new one in a little under a month and have others in the house I'm sure I could borrow if I get impatient. Besides, the rest of the game works and I still love it.
Running on Windows 7
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E4500 @ 2.20GHz 2.20GHz
RAM: 3.00 GB
System Type: 32-bit Operating System
Ah, glad it's working for you somewhere at least! Thanks for the tip, I'll see what I can do about running the game on old computers.
Hello, the mac version comes as a folder with no way of launching the game. I tried to run the "Stagefright_v.06" inside [Stage Fright Mac Build/Contents/MacOS] But it told me that there were no programs that could open it.
Ah, sorry about that! I'll have a new build up in a couple of days.
Awesome, thank you! Looking forward to playing the game.
Just updated it, Mac version should be playable!
Thanks! I really enjoyed playing, it's a great game so far.
I noticed a bug where it doesn't let you get 100% on the Rehearsal. And at times, the notes are so close together and the "hit" box is so large, it feels like the song is playing itself. It'd be cool if there were special notes that had a shorter hit box so they could be placed closer together without removing the immersion, but that's just my two cents. With the exception of those two nitpicks, the game plays very well. Awesome work, hope to see a full version in the future!
if you can, please make a version for linux?
Ah, it would be hard for me to test a Linux port! No promises, but I'll try to include it in the next big update.
thank you :D I currently don't have a laptop or computer with windows or Mac, and cannot afford to buy one, so if you made a port for Linux, I'd be able to play! and this look so cool and fun to play from what I've seen! thanks, also, for taking time to read and reply to my comment
No worries!
I made an accont just to comment that I abselutely love this.
Thanks so much for the love!