Alphabeats: Master Edition

Alphabeats is an action mashup of words and music. Rather than being a rhythm game, it's an evolving word puzzle that moves to the music, at speeds from "tranced out" to "twitch action nightmare."

HOW IT WORKS

1. Choose a song. Letters will fall to the beat.
2. Catch letters to make words, and deposit them to procure points.
3. Concoct bounteous magniloquent lexemes until the end of the song.

THIS SUMPTUOUS AND VELVETY DELUXE EDITION FEATURES...

• Twenty tracks – Featuring artists including Disasterpeace and Big Giant Circles.
• Custom songs – Listen to tunes in a whole new way. Turn any music file into a visualization to captivate your dexterity and intellect.
• Leaderboards – Compete with your friends, or ascend international echelons. Will you go for a high score, or construct a single legendary word?
• Amplify your vocabulary – Instantly look up any word you spell, and gain bonuses for spelling words of the day (hand-curated for fun and obscurity).
• Three difficulty modes – Enjoy a Zen chillout on Normal mode, or add limited lives to form a lexical bullet hell on Spellfire difficulty.

THEORETICALLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: Isn't this a mobile port? I have prepared a fusillade of rage pending your response.
A: The original Alphabeats was on mobile, but we've put a lot of effort into making this edition appropriately superior. To start, all traces of DLC and IAP have vanished. We've added custom songs (not possible on mobile). Controls can switch seamlessly between controller, mouse, keyboard, or any combination thereof, all reconfigurable. We've refined the UI to work better with larger screens, and added important usability options. But, of course, the most significant improvement is you, the noble (PC/Mac/Linux) gamer, who will shatter our fair game's records with aplomb and sophistication. To celebrate the preeminence of our new platform, there is no longer a "Casual" mode in Alphabeats. It has been replaced by "Normal" mode.

Q: How do the custom songs work?
A: Just select "Custom Song" from the song select wheel, then load in a file from your computer. You can then select a visual theme and difficulty level. All versions support .wav, .mp3, and .ogg files. Windows and OSX also support .m4a files. It doesn't even have to be a song; you could play a podcast, or the resting heartbeat of your pet.

Q: Has this game been tested for photosensitive effects?
A: Regrettably, I've been unable to test it thus far. The game's aesthetics entail some high contrast and occasional flashing lights, and the trailer should give a true indication of their style and pace. The options screen offers a low-contrast mode that may ameliorate these conditions for some individuals.

Q: This looks hard, any tips for beginners?
A: Start with lower-difficulty songs, and consider using the auto-deposit mode (in Options). Gradually work your way up to longer words, until you feel like you can get more points by depositing the words yourself. Try experimenting with different control schemes – my favorite is mouse and keyboard, using right-click to deposit. You'll be spelling out high-value arcane and Lovecraftian words in no time!