Tadpole Treble

Tadpole Treble is a rhythm game disguised as a side-scrolling adventure. You play Baton, a small tadpole trying to make her way home through a river full of things that want to eat her. Each level is literally a piece of sheet music — predators, hazards and percussion hits sit on the staff as notes, and Baton dodges between them as the song plays around her. Stay on rhythm, smack the percussive notes on the beat, and the score builds up.

The game ships with 30 original compositions arranged across 13 levels and 5 boss fights, all of them written so that the synchronization between music and obstacle layout is exact rather than approximate. A Treble Charge meter fills as you maintain rhythm — fire it off to blast through whatever's in your path. Online leaderboards run per-level, with a bestiary, unlockable music tracks and developer commentaries rounding out the bonus content.

The project comes from the team behind Brawl in the Family, which gives the whole game its lightly charming tone. The hook for players who want to make their own stages is Composition Mode — a full level editor that lets you write a piece of music and design the level around it, then share the results.