Soundodger

[ElliottB1]

You may have heard of this because 'Distant Stars', a song from the game, was charted in SM/FFR/DDR/ITG/etc.

But I want to explain it in more detail. Basically, it's a minimalist bullet hell game. Bullets are fired from the edge of the playfield in time with the music, by weird spinning* circles named enemies, and you're tasked with avoiding them, while also trying to collect the heart-shaped bullets (literally called hearts). You can also slow down time** in order to help you avoid seemingly impossible bullet patterns, but when you hit a bullet, time speeds up.

Score is measured not in points, but in percentage, a la ITG. It slowly builds up to 100%, but pauses when you hit a bullet or slow down time. Getting 100% is the ultimate goal of the level.

When you complete a level, your total score (your high score of every level you have played combined) is tracked, and getting enough percentage unlocks another song. Hearts aren't just for bragging rights, either, as collecting them can unlock 5 secret songs. Collecting every heart, and getting 100% on every song, is the ultimate goal of the entire game, and that's about it for the main game. However, there are two special modes included within the Steam (paid) version of the game: custom levels and auto-gen. Both modes allow you to play your songs in the game, but in custom levels, the levels are handmade***, and in auto-gen, the levels are generated by the computer. (You don't say?)

*In the level editor, players can determine how fast the spin goes.
**Slowing down the level also slows down the song.
***Of course, this means players with the most twisted minds can make impossible levels.

Go get the game. You can either play it online, or play the desktop (paid) version of the game through Steam. I won't leave a link to it, so it's up to you to find out where the game is on the Internet.