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Show HN: DanceJump For YouTube – turning videos into browser rhythm game

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Show HN: DanceJump For YouTube – turning videos into browser rhythm game

#1

Post by maaydin »

Hi HN,

I built DanceJump as an experiment in making rhythm games more accessible. It overlays arrows on top of any YouTube video and lets you play directly in the browser using a keyboard, controller, or USB dance pad.

It’s not meant to replace DDR or StepMania style simulators, but rather to make it possible to jump into songs that don’t normally have charts especially for quick or casual/family play.

It currently ships as a Chrome extension because it needs tight integration with the YouTube player and low-latency input handling. Everything runs fully client-side, no accounts, no tracking.

This started as a way to generate playable charts for songs that don’t normally exist in rhythm game libraries. I’d really value feedback on timing accuracy, input latency, and whether this feels usable compared to traditional setups.

Show HN: DanceJump For YouTube – turning videos into browser rhythm game
chromewebstore.google.com

Re: Show HN: DanceJump For YouTube – turning videos into browser rhythm game

#2

Post by vunderba »

Love the idea of auto‑charting based on BPM, but I couldn’t get it to work in practice. Tapping WASD on the keyboard never increased the 0/5 counter, which I assume is the number of key presses needed to establish a tempo?

It also says "tap to ARROWs" (typo "tap the ARROWs"?) but there aren't any arrows to tap either.

https://imgur.com/a/cVgQecw

Tested on: Chrome Version 144.0.7559.60

Couldn't get beyond this screen unfortunately.

Slightly related, there was a VR game (that unfortunately got absolutely buried under the significantly more successful Beat Saber) some years back called Sound Boxing that let people create step tracks to songs on YouTube, and you would punch, duck, bob, and weave to the beat. I absolutely loved it.

Re: Show HN: DanceJump For YouTube – turning videos into browser rhythm game

#3

Post by maaydin »

vunderba wrote: post #2

Love the idea of auto‑charting based on BPM, but I couldn’t get it to work in practice. Tapping WASD on the keyboard never increased the 0/5 counter, which I assume is the number of key presses needed to establish a tempo? It also says "tap to ARROWs" (typo "tap the ARROWs"?) but there aren't any arrows to tap either. https://imgur.com/a/cVgQecw Tested on: Chrome Version 144.0.7559.60 Couldn't get beyond this screen…

Looks like it falled back to tap to beat mode for you due to some audio reading issues. Normally it listens the audio and finds the bpm automatically. If you can check the developer logs and send a bug report, I can have a look at it.

Add a debug=true in the local storage if there is not much logs.

Re: Show HN: DanceJump For YouTube – turning videos into browser rhythm game

#4

Post by maaydin »

vunderba wrote: post #2

Love the idea of auto‑charting based on BPM, but I couldn’t get it to work in practice. Tapping WASD on the keyboard never increased the 0/5 counter, which I assume is the number of key presses needed to establish a tempo? It also says "tap to ARROWs" (typo "tap the ARROWs"?) but there aren't any arrows to tap either. https://imgur.com/a/cVgQecw Tested on: Chrome Version 144.0.7559.60 Couldn't get beyond this screen…

What was the OS by the way?

Re: Show HN: DanceJump For YouTube – turning videos into browser rhythm game

#5

Post by vunderba »

maaydin wrote: post #4
vunderba wrote: post #2

Love the idea of auto‑charting based on BPM, but I couldn’t get it to work in practice. Tapping WASD on the keyboard never increased the 0/5 counter, which I assume is the number of key presses needed to establish a tempo? It also says "tap to ARROWs" (typo "tap the ARROWs"?) but there aren't any arrows to tap either. https://imgur.com/a/cVgQecw Tested on: Chrome Version 144.0.7559.60 Couldn't get beyond this screen…

What was the OS by the way?

MacOS Sonoma 14.8.3

Re: Show HN: DanceJump For YouTube – turning videos into browser rhythm game

#7

Post by vunderba »

maaydin wrote: post #3
vunderba wrote: post #2

Love the idea of auto‑charting based on BPM, but I couldn’t get it to work in practice. Tapping WASD on the keyboard never increased the 0/5 counter, which I assume is the number of key presses needed to establish a tempo? It also says "tap to ARROWs" (typo "tap the ARROWs"?) but there aren't any arrows to tap either. https://imgur.com/a/cVgQecw Tested on: Chrome Version 144.0.7559.60 Couldn't get beyond this screen…

Looks like it falled back to tap to beat mode for you due to some audio reading issues. Normally it listens the audio and finds the bpm automatically. If you can check the developer logs and send a bug report, I can have a look at it. Add a debug=true in the local storage if there is not much logs.

I created a new Chrome profile, installed extension, and this time it autodetected:

  [INFO] DanceJump: Tap-to-Beat enabled (fallback mode) - UI hidden until needed
  game.js:35 [INFO] DanceJump: Beat Tracker enabled - attempting audio analysis
  game.js:35 [INFO] DanceJump: Background Tracker Started successfully
  game.js:35 [INFO] DanceJump: Stage 1 - Starting auto-generation with placeholder chart
So good job! Tried it with this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMWqNXVCFiw

Feedback:

Default steps were pretty simple, the "arrow" on the right only lets you pause/unpause. I couldn't figure out an easy way to crank up the difficulty. You might even consider an auto-increase of difficulty. As they get more correct, increase the density of arrows as the song progresses.

Re: Show HN: DanceJump For YouTube – turning videos into browser rhythm game

#8

Post by maaydin »

vunderba wrote: post #7
maaydin wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like it falled back to tap to beat mode for you due to some audio reading issues. Normally it listens the audio and finds the bpm automatically. If you can check the developer logs and send a bug report, I can have a look at it. Add a debug=true in the local storage if there is not much logs.

I created a new Chrome profile, installed extension, and this time it autodetected: [INFO] DanceJump: Tap-to-Beat enabled (fallback mode) - UI hidden until needed game.js:35 [INFO] DanceJump: Beat Tracker enabled - attempting audio analysis game.js:35 [INFO] DanceJump: Background Tracker Started successfully game.js:35 [INFO] DanceJump: Stage 1 - Starting auto-generation with placeholder chart So good job! Tried it w…

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Re: Show HN: DanceJump For YouTube – turning videos into browser rhythm game

#9

Post by maaydin »

vunderba wrote: post #7
maaydin wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like it falled back to tap to beat mode for you due to some audio reading issues. Normally it listens the audio and finds the bpm automatically. If you can check the developer logs and send a bug report, I can have a look at it. Add a debug=true in the local storage if there is not much logs.

I created a new Chrome profile, installed extension, and this time it autodetected: [INFO] DanceJump: Tap-to-Beat enabled (fallback mode) - UI hidden until needed game.js:35 [INFO] DanceJump: Beat Tracker enabled - attempting audio analysis game.js:35 [INFO] DanceJump: Background Tracker Started successfully game.js:35 [INFO] DanceJump: Stage 1 - Starting auto-generation with placeholder chart So good job! Tried it w…

[dead]
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