⚡ VANGUARD A four-stage rhythm game for @BubTheSeventh's Scratch Jam about one question: How much more can you take before: - you decide NO MORE - or the game decides for you? ──────────────────── Somewhere inside a forgotten system, an entity known as VANGUARD has reactivated. It cannot be shut down from the outside. To reach it, you must pass through three increasingly unstable protocols: EASY, MEDIUM and HARD. Each one pushes you further. Each one gives you the chance to walk away. But every time you continue, VANGUARD asks the same question: MORE? Survive all three and the final protocol opens. THE VANGUARD. You have four chances for the entire run. When they are gone, the system closes. Then? NO MORE CHANCES. ──────────────────── HOW TO PLAY Press E • F • J • I when the falling notes reach the hit line. Chords require multiple keys at once. Your 4 chances carry across the entire run. They do not reset between stages. Complete EASY, MEDIUM and HARD to reach THE VANGUARD. After every stage, you can stop. You can choose NO MORE. Or you can ask for MORE. But miss 4 notes across the entire run and there are... NO MORE CHANCES. ──────────────────── ART UI and other elements designed by dune44 Slides created using Canva Additional Scratch assets by the Scratch Team Thumbnail generated with partial AI contribution ──────────────────── ABOUT THE ORIGINAL Vanguard is an adaptation of a rhythm game I originally created in Microsoft Small Basic for a school Computing Technology project. The original version established the core of the game: • four lanes • four keys • increasingly difficult stages • the soundtrack • note charts • scoring • the final Vanguard level When I returned to Scratch as dune44, I decided to bring Vanguard with me. This version rebuilds the original game for a completely different platform while keeping its identity intact. The original note charts and progression remain, but almost everything surrounding them has been expanded with new visuals, animation, sound design, custom UI, dialogue, the four-chances system, the MORE? choice, cutscenes, credits and the larger NO MORE theme. So this is not quite a sequel, and it is not a completely new game either. It is the same Vanguard I made for school, rebuilt into the game I now know how to make. ──────────────────── SOUNDTRACK TITLE / CREDITS “oh yeah?” Steve Lacy ──────────────────── VANGUARD PROTOCOL “ANOTHER HIM” Toby Fox DELTARUNE ──────────────────── STAGE MUSIC EASY “Sunflower” Post Malone & Swae Lee Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse MEDIUM “Impostor Syndrome” Sidney Gish No Dogs Allowed HARD “I Really Want to Stay at Your House” Rosa Walton Cyberpunk 2077 THE VANGUARD “BANG BANG BANG!” lil yappa Minus B Remix by lil yappa The stage soundtrack was carried over from the original Microsoft Small Basic version of Vanguard. ──────────────────── ABOUT VANGUARD Vanguard originally began as a school project made in Microsoft Small Basic. Coming back to it later and rebuilding it almost completely in Scratch felt strangely easy compared to making the original. That was probably my favourite part. The first Vanguard showed me what I could make back then. This Vanguard showed me how far I had come. ──────────────────── ABOUT DUNE44 Scratch was where I first became obsessed with making games. Years ago, I left the platform with a childhood goal unfinished. dune44 is my second run at that dream. I came back older, with years more experience, to make the kinds of projects younger me wished he could make. That is really what this account is about. Making younger me proud. Vanguard started as an assignment. This version became something more. So, thanks for playing, and for being a part of my journey to fulfil that childhood dream. ⚡ ──────────────────── ──────────────────── To the kid who started all this. Man, I hope I made you proud. And to the user who somehow read this far. You're a real one, and I hope you have a blessed day. As for dune44, there's still more, but for Vanguard... NO MORE. ⚡ for now.
