Love's Cadence
In this short yet beautifully artistic puzzle platform adventure decisions become turning points after two basic choices: evolve or destroy? Guide Cadence, the title character, through a series of decisions, each determining how the story continues. Several puzzles are based on those choices and there are two endings to choose from as well. Love's Cadence is as much a thought-provoking poem as a game and should be appreciated for how its graphics, narrative elements and game play coalesce into a melodious composition.
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It is possible to get trapped by a Christmas tree and therefore not possible to progress further. I think this is a bug?
[ If you'd like a redo because a choice didn't turn out the way you wanted (or just to see "what if I..."), then use the [R] button to Reset, leave the room, and try again. ~elle ]
A game with many unexpected aspects.The sound room was very unique to me. One of the endings explains the rating.
Love's Cadence Walkthrough
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At the "Jump" sign...
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...Jump.
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There, you'll see Dirk. Click him then select "interact" and he'll talk to you.
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Keep going right, jumping across the snowy pillars, until you come to a shrine- or pantheon-like place.
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You'll see a little glass jar on top a pedestal...
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Go right again, then pause at the base of the hill to talk to Dirk.
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Then climb up the hill toward Dirk...
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...and fall through the floor.
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When you land, go left...
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Go right until you reach three paths--one high, one middle and one low. Use your clue to get past this part:
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You'll come to a brown mound on the ground:
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Evolve:
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Do nothing:
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Destroy:
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After that last choice, you'll end up at a multi-limbed white column.
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If you go left, you'll find another platform with a brown mound and two choices:
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Moving on, go right, past the column.
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There's Dirk again...see what he has to say this time.
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Then, jump over the gap and continue past Dirk to the right.
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Go across the bridge and exit stage right to the next scene.
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You'll find yourself trapped with a guy who "seems to be lost..."
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Move in the direction where the flute music becomes loudest...it will be loudest next to the correct exit.
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Move from left to right slowly until you can tell if it's loud at the middle hole (in which case you drop down), on the left edge (thus go left), or on the right side (meaning go right).
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You'll know you made a mistake if the trench coat guy appears on the ledge again.
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Once you've gone through six correct exits in a row, you will move on.
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You'll arrive outside a church...
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Go inside.
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There you'll see Dirk; click on him to interact.
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Now you have a couple more choices:
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When you're done, to see the other ending, click "begin" and make a different choice.
Click it and select "evolve." Then, ignore its instructions.
First, "destroy" the jar...
Then evolve the flower.
Use the "evolve" button to climb up the vines (one at a time so you don't bump your head) and view a clue for the upcoming "puzzle" then jump back down.
Use the evolve button again, using the tree to get out
3,1,2.
1=top, 2=middle, 3=bottom.
First go right through the scene, staying on the bottom level.
Then climb up to the top level and go right.
Finally, jump to the middle level and continue right to the next scene.
You have three choices...Try all three!
Climb on the mound -then- click evolve. It will change into a bird that flies you up to a new area.
While there, destroy the statue of Cadence.
Then, drop back down to the original mound.
Keep going past the mound and explore...
Destroy the mound then drop through the hole that's left behind.
Stand on the mound and choose evolve to fly up to another area.
While there, destroy the statue of Dirk.
Move right to fall back to the platform. Go back to the column.
This is a sound puzzle. Make sure your computer's speakers are on and turned loud up enough that the flute music is clear to distinquish fluctuations in volume.
(The maze is randomly generated -- where the exits are changes on each play though.)
If you destroyed the statues earlier, they'll appear outside the church.
If you destroy Dirk, the more positive ending will be triggered.
If keep going right, "walking into the light," that triggers the, um, other ending.
If you want to play through again from the beginning, "refresh" your browser.
Once you bring up the interaction icons, finding their hotspots is frustrating.
I really want to play this game but I've given up out of frustration. The hotspots are a nightmare to find for interactions. I've tried in FF and IE and it's the same for both. If that could get fixed I'd love to play.
Horrible, horrible controls, rendered this game unplayable for me. There's no fun of exploration when each jump and every move is laggy and slidy. The mouse control is even worse - dozens of clicks before the items and buttons actually respond, and when they finally do, they quickly disappear with the next click.
Got frustrated and lost interest quite instantly, this is the worst GUI ever.
The creators should learn a lesson from Knytt Stories, now THAT's real game-play!
@ Anyone having trouble with the controls/clicking hotspots,
Please check Jay's post below mine...everything was working well when I tested it...maybe some gremlins sneaked in and played mischief.
Considering the circumstances in which the game was made--Game Jam 6--it's quite amazing really how well it works. It's no surprise that they took top honors in that competition.
I'm not having any issues with clicking the interaction icons at all on Mac OS and Windows 7, Chrome, and the latest Flash Player (11.1.102.55).
Make sure your browser and Flash Player are updated, and make sure your browser is at 100% actual size and not zoomed in or out at all.
And the controls are responsive and quite playable. Sure, the character is a bit slippery to control, but she's walking on snow and ice for crying out loud! What do you expect?! ;)
Dirk seems very passive-aggressive. I would have really liked a "punch Dirk in the nose" option.
OK, so if I don't zoom in at all, the hot spots line up just fine, but then I can't see a darn thing. May be a great game on a smaller screen with a small resolution and better eyesight, but for me it's not happening. Sorry.
On this computer the controls are proving unresponsive (up-to-date Chrome and not zoomed at all), which has meant falling through holes that I was trying to jump over very often. So, even if I could hear the sound for that annoyingly generated puzzle room, chances are I would fall through the bottom when I didn't need to numerous times.
The aforementioned sound room should have a visual clue - for instance, the direction the snow is blowing.
My platform-gaming reflexes are not all that fine tuned, and I didn't find the controls difficult at all. You can get a good sense of how jump works and then time your jumps accordingly. It is a platform game, after all, so it should require a bit of skill in getting about.
For that last maze...
I found that turning up my speaker's volume helps a lot... the correct exit is much louder, the incorrect ones are noticeably quieter.
My platforming skills aren't what they used to be, but even I can recognize unresponsive controls when I press right and then hold up with no effect for over a second. I suspect that this game just doesn't like the computer I was using (which is why I prefaced my prior statement with "on this computer").
And I know what the premise for that room's solution is, because I read the walkthrough after being stuck there. But the sound was inaudible at max volume on the machine I was on. And I often turn sound off in flash games because I'm doing other things at the time anyway, thus visual clues are always preferable. And I will always knock points off a rating for pure audio clues/solutions, and for not having built-in music/sound OFF buttons.
For the jumping controls, I found it better if I held down the jump and direction keys at the same time, the let go once I was on the surface. Though sometimes she will jump again when she lands, so you have to be careful to make sure she comes back down in the same place. And it was annoying to have to try sooooo many times to get back up somewhere.
Another trick for the scene where you have to evolve the branches is to only evolve the next branch you need to jump on. That way you won't keep hitting your head on the one above you.
The music room was hard--I never would have figured that out without the walkthrough. But the game music was the best I've heard in a long time :)
About clicking the buttons, I had trouble with this too, until I zoomed out with Firefox.
When I first started the game I zoomed in (with Ctrl-scroll up) to see a larger game screen, and had lots of trouble clicking the buttons. Eventually I zoomed out (Ctrl-scroll down) and found no trouble clicking the buttons.
Anyway, too bad
there isn't actually a happy ending. I thought it would have been nice to see Dirk and Cadence together, but evidently Dirk is already dead when the game begins, and it's all about whether Cadence is going to follow. No happy ending. So many stories seem to end that way, but I guess they're just imitating reality.
Everything worked fine for me until
I reached Dirk at the end and tried the interaction button. Now matter how many times I try to press it and how much I zoom in, it refuses to work :( so I probably missed an important dialogue in the story
@Iconian
Actually I think a broken relationship caused by irresponsibility is many times worse than the situation of this game as one half will be left to pick up his/her life while the other will suffer nothing.
@secret
Death leaves no chance for recovery on both sides, just the one. A broken relationship can be fixed as each side matures, realizes the corrupted part of their relationship, and attempts to fix it. The degree and manner in which it heals dictates the nature of future experiences between each side, producing more varied endings than just moving on or dying. Of course, making one side dead makes for a practical game within their time frame, so what they did is pretty amazing.
I don't know about you guys, but I am beyond confused. I don't understand who/what was up with the crazy guy muttering "312 312 312" I mean, I looked at the walkthrough, and got that it was a hint for the next puzzle, but did they have to drop it so morbidly? and it took me a read through the comments to realize Dirk was dead, which cleared up how the floating black spirit by the balcony fits in to the story, but I still don't get why Dirk had a complete personality change. He didn't want Cadence to commit suicide until the very end. So confused. And what about "I gave it to him. He just didn't tell you. None of this would've happened if he did."?? PLEASE, someone respond and help me understand this baffling game.
Lucy,
The game was created as part of a collaboration during an extremely limited time period for Game Jam 6, a game making contest... the theme of the contest was "hallucination" so every game made for the contest had to include hallucination in some form or another. In this case, Cadence is experiencing a hallucination of her own... that's why nothing Dirk says makes complete sense and there is some strange guy muttering in a secret cave... and so on.
So just think of Cadence's experience as one giant surreal dream... she's just supposing "what if" in a sort of "to be or not to be" moment. Try not to take it literally and view it more as an interactive poem.
Glitch: if you fall into the hole under the bird before
destroying the Cadence statue
, getting back up to that spot and riding the bird will only take you to the Death screen. Coming back from that screen will flash the missing room, but at first I thought that was part of the hallucination, especially after talking to Death.
Also, I thought I was stuck and had to do something to get rid of the giant rock Dirk was standing on before the last maze.
@Lucy-- spoiler tags please! Some people haven't finished the game...
I was enjoying this game, having a blast turning flowers into Christmas trees and whatnot, but I can't get past the puzzle with the lost guy! I'm finding it really hard
to tell when the music is getting louder as it sort of seems to contain natural crescendos. Do I have broken ears? Is anyone else trying this with headphones and finding it difficult?
Oooh, that was interesting. The uh, negative ending, now that was... chilling. I'm a teensy weensy confused by it. In fact, I can't help but wonder...
...did Dirk murder Cadence? Or did she commit suicide?
I didn't have any problems with the controls. The story itself was interesting. I didn't have much trouble with the hotspots, either. It was awfully short though - I wonder if there will be a sequel?
@Liz
The other ending provides much more information on the storyline. Once you finish the game, you'll be taken to the start screen. Pressing begin will put you right before you have to make a choice:
whether to pass through the door or destroy Dirk
What is going on.....
can't click anything after the sign with don't jump
Hi jennykim,
I just re-played the game and everything is working for me (Windows 7, Chrome). When you try to complete one of the actions outlined in the walkthrough, is nothing happening as it should? You might try playing on a different browser (I recommend Chrome or Firefox), clearing your browser cache, restarting it, and/or restarting your computer.
Leave a comment [top of page]
Game of the week
Walkthrough Guide
(Please allow page to fully load for spoiler tags to be functional.)
Love's Cadence Walkthrough
At the "Jump" sign...
Click it and select "evolve." Then, ignore its instructions.
...Jump.
There, you'll see Dirk. Click him then select "interact" and he'll talk to you.
Keep going right, jumping across the snowy pillars, until you come to a shrine- or pantheon-like place.
You'll see a little glass jar on top a pedestal...
First, "destroy" the jar...
Then evolve the flower.
Go right again, then pause at the base of the hill to talk to Dirk.
Then climb up the hill toward Dirk...
...and fall through the floor.
When you land, go left...
Use the "evolve" button to climb up the vines (one at a time so you don't bump your head) and view a clue for the upcoming "puzzle" then jump back down.
Use the evolve button again, using the tree to get out
Go right until you reach three paths--one high, one middle and one low. Use your clue to get past this part:
3,1,2.
1=top, 2=middle, 3=bottom.
First go right through the scene, staying on the bottom level.
Then climb up to the top level and go right.
Finally, jump to the middle level and continue right to the next scene.
You'll come to a brown mound on the ground:
You have three choices...Try all three!
Evolve:
Climb on the mound -then- click evolve. It will change into a bird that flies you up to a new area.
While there, destroy the statue of Cadence.
Then, drop back down to the original mound.
Do nothing:
Keep going past the mound and explore...
Destroy:
Destroy the mound then drop through the hole that's left behind.
After that last choice, you'll end up at a multi-limbed white column.
If you go left, you'll find another platform with a brown mound and two choices:
Stand on the mound and choose evolve to fly up to another area.
While there, destroy the statue of Dirk.
Move right to fall back to the platform. Go back to the column.
Moving on, go right, past the column.
There's Dirk again...see what he has to say this time.
Then, jump over the gap and continue past Dirk to the right.
Go across the bridge and exit stage right to the next scene.
You'll find yourself trapped with a guy who "seems to be lost..."
This is a sound puzzle. Make sure your computer's speakers are on and turned loud up enough that the flute music is clear to distinquish fluctuations in volume.
Move in the direction where the flute music becomes loudest...it will be loudest next to the correct exit.
Move from left to right slowly until you can tell if it's loud at the middle hole (in which case you drop down), on the left edge (thus go left), or on the right side (meaning go right).
You'll know you made a mistake if the trench coat guy appears on the ledge again.
Once you've gone through six correct exits in a row, you will move on.
(The maze is randomly generated -- where the exits are changes on each play though.)
You'll arrive outside a church...
If you destroyed the statues earlier, they'll appear outside the church.
Go inside.
There you'll see Dirk; click on him to interact.
Now you have a couple more choices:
If you destroy Dirk, the more positive ending will be triggered.
If keep going right, "walking into the light," that triggers the, um, other ending.
When you're done, to see the other ending, click "begin" and make a different choice.
If you want to play through again from the beginning, "refresh" your browser.
Posted by: elle
|
December 23, 2011 11:18 AM