OFFBEAT
A downloadable game for Windows
The year is 198X, and you're a jobbing composer. You start out with nothing but a toy keyboard shaped like a tiger, and a brand new sequence-o-matic 4-track that your uncle bought from a shady geezer in the pub.
Word quickly spreads about the new producer on the block, and soon the commissions are rolling in. Things start humble, recording tracks for weddings, workout videos and corporate presentations, but before long you're getting asked to score fantasy movies, museum openings, and all kinds of crazy stuff.
Of course, you'll have to upgrade your kit along the way. Turns out, the local second-hand magazine is a treasure trove of objects that make interesting sounds, from singing garden gnomes and shredders-that-shred-sound-as-well-as-paper, to high-end synthesisers and musical effects. By the end, you'll have figured out a sound that's all your own.
But OFFBEAT isn't just a game. All the musical instruments are fully simulated, and the music you're recording is real. The game is secretly a complete audio production tool. Every piece of music you create in the game gets exported and saved locally on your computer as a WAV file, which you use for whatever you want.
Music production can be costly and complex to get into, especially for beginners. We created OFFBEAT to lower barrier to entry and to offer a playful, low-pressure way to learn the basics of audio producion. The goal is just to be expressive and experimental, but by the end you'll have learned a little about synthesizers, sound design, composition and recording. Our hope is that when the game's finished, you'll have the confidence and expertise to carry on composing and recording music.
- Game meets a real audio production tool.
- Accept jobs, compose music, earn money.
- Browse the Riches & Rags Catalogue to buy new synthesizers, then get Electric Lacey to upgrade and mod 'em.
- Make music in a low-pressure and beginner-friendly setting.
- Meet a whole host of weird characters.
- Export your tracks as a WAV files onto your computer.
- Share your tracks with the world, or just friends – up to you.
- Play through chapters themed after different styles of electronic music.
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Note 1: Your saved .wavs will appear here: C:\Users\$USER\AppData\LocalLow\Whetstone Games\OFFBEAT\exported_audio
...but replace $USER with whatever your computer username is
Note 2: Please wishlist OFFBEAT on Steam!
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $11.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Download demo
Development log
- Hotfix Day 1 - 1.0.36 days ago
- OFFBEAT is OUT MIAOW8 days ago
- OFFBEAT Will Launch into Early Access on July 22nd28 days ago
- Demo v0.5.6 Update52 days ago
- The OFFBEAT Demo is Here! 🎵63 days ago
Comments
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How the hell do i find my files on steam os? When i click on the hyperlink it sends me to a weird windows emulator thing that somehow works despite running on a linux device
super freaking fun!! i make music as a hobby and this is teaching me a ton of cool tricks. im really excited to see this progress. its a really really awesome idea with excellent execution so far.
muchos thankos x
Music Has Never Felt So Fun!
Finished a stream playing this game and man oh man, this takes the cake. I just want to play this game for hours and create more music with my Tiger-01.
Hey huge thanks for sharing this - going to take a watch shortly!
Will it be available for Mac?
YOU CAN'T JUST SAY MUSICAL BIGSHOT THEN SAY NOWS YOUR CHANCE
WAHT DO YOU EASNFANWEIFAJWEOIFMAWEIFMWE
yes im deltarotted, but i love this concept for a game, and i do want to learn how to do this kind of stuff :> tysm :D
Game looks amazing, but is there any future plans for macos port?
So im a music producer. work with a lot of artists in the rap scene not anyone famous or anything like that mostly local artists but its a good side gig. saying this to say i have pretty solid musical knowledge. This game is awesome i knew it would be right up my alley when i saw the sequencer and i love that you can select the complexity of the scales. excellent choice for accesibilty. 10/10 cant wait to play the full game.
Ah this is so great to hear - thanks for sharing! Keen to know what you think of the full game!
This game is so cute, already wishlisted on steam, will be available for switch? i would really like to play it on there
Will it be available for macOS?
We have all the intention in the world to do a proper Mac version during the early access, campaign. We'll keep you posted here.
I am really looking forward to it.
I'm shit at music but I like this game a lot
Is this going to be released here on Itch as well? I really do not want to support it on steam.
Yes, we'll be launching into Early Access here on Itch too!
So good
Is there a way to save a song without needing to do so for a job? I started playing around with the synthesizer after the Uncle ringtone job and can't find a way to save what I make without starting one of the two hotel jobs :<
Yeah this is something we've been working on for the full release - you'll soon be able to save projects so you can pick up work where you left of, regardless of job.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS! I can't wait to try the full version. Kind of a long shot, but how realisitic would it be to do stuff with real instruments? Sort of a pitch detection system to (for example) use a guitar to record riffs?
I am absolutely OBSESSED with this game. I cannot WAIT for the final game to come out and will be buying it as soon as I possibly can. 10000/10, no notes!!
Hi! This is definitely one of the coolest games I've tried in a while, it made me so excited and I lost track of time while playing it. As a hobby-ist producer myself, I can say it is very well made, I can really see this game teaching music production and basic DAW functionalities, in a playful and exciting way. One thing I would love to see added in the future is MIDI support, via some kind of recording device in the game. Well done, you guys are one of the many reasons the indie game dev industry continues to inspire and never disappoint!
ahh what a lovely comment - thanks for taking time to share. MIDI support very much on our list, hopefully we can find a solution for that once we've brought the game to early access (date incoming soon!)
This game made making music fun for me! I'm cranking out all types of funky beats and like making music again!!
underated fr
this is so fun
This is a great concept that's been executed wonderfully so far! Can't wait to see the rest of the game!
super fun game. some things i noticed is there is no way to cancel a mission if i want to do a different one. also when i continue my save the upgrades on the toys are not saved
THIS LOOKS SO COOL HOLY MOLY
Hi! Your game is great. I enjoyed your game. Can you try my game The Last Unsent - Chapter 1 too?
please make avaliable for mac! im so interesed in this game
Is on the list, and hopefully something we can look at for 1.0
Appreciate your interest here!
Fun game, I liked it. But it'd be nice for the game to save the composition of the music alongside the audio. Also I noticed that the audio folder saves even incomplete songs when you click "Stop" while publishing.
will you perhaps make it linux compatible
I think if the game finds a good audience then Linux is on the table - but is not in immediate roadmap.
can't wait for linux version so i can play too
Cool game! Would be nice to be able to use other scales (or no scales) at some point. The audio started to crackle a bit once I had most of the instruments. Everything is so stylish. I wish real world jobs were affirming my skills to this degree :D
Ah some good notes here - will make sure this is passed on and addressed as we push towards our early access release.
woah I love this and I haven't even played it
Wow. So cool!
But I think I must play this in real life(
This game is so cute and fun. I love the graphics and the weird instruments. The more strange instruments the better! I play a few instruments but I find making music at home a bit boring if I have no purpose. This game gives you the purpose and you lose track of time.
Logged into itch for the first time in over a year just to make this comment. I've wishlisted.
Ah thanks for going to effort of letting us know - glad it's resonated, and keen to hear what you create in the game!
i cannot for the life of me find the wav files, I can’t seem to do the first step in the instructions.
So you'll find it here:
C:\Users\$USER\AppData\LocalLow\WhetstoneGames\OFFBEAT\exported_audio
But replace $USER with whatever your computer username is
Oh thank you, it just wasn’t given me the option to access app data without typing it in individually.
No trouble! Keen to hear your creations!
I feel dumb. How do I use the cassettes? I think I see some on a shelf, but clicking and dragging them to the sequencer doesn't appear to be working.
If you mouse over big post-it note for the job, the cassette zooms up 👀
Thanks!
This is amazing and insanely cool and awesome and a whole lot of other things too
printing and framing this comment to hang in the studio
I love making bops and boops in this weird charming game. A sandbox/creative mode where I just have all the instruments from the get go could be nice >_>
Im a huge fan of Pantaloon since late 2024 and have been playing lots of the weird and awesome games they hand out via newsletters, but HOLY OFFBEAT is something i didnt know i needed. Who cares about life when you can make songs with just meows???
you are meowst kind x
you are meowst awesome :)
Pretty slick, was able to make some nice tunes despite being a tone-deaf dunce!
a FORMER tone-deaf dunce, you mean
oh my goodness
name of your first single?
!!!
!?