Rhythm Doctor OST - Dreams Don’t Stop

Act 5 is out now!

Vocals by @MardyLeith
Lyrics by fizzd and Kyle Labriola
'Lucky Break' melody by celesti whispers

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Ok I did not mean to just randomly stop uploading daily right before 5-X oops, if you were anticipating this and I had shut your hype down I am sorry. This one needed some extra edits to reduce cutscenes which I just got round to now.

Composer's notes from fizzd:
This one was tough for a few reasons:

- The level 2-X All The Times exists, so now I needed to make something that could live up to its reputation. That's on everyone of course beyond the music itself, but the music in RD dictates the amount of canvas I'm able to provide to people like Jenny and Morph to work with for their VFX.

- All the other boss battles exist. I wanted 5-X to be something whose structure and gameplay would feel different to all of them.

- This was the first boss level where it had so much story to tell to wrap up a character arc. With the other boss levels, I wrote almost all of them as self-contained stories before I figured the other levels in the act, and then let Kyle flesh it out with all the cutscenes to make it work. (Fun fact, 3-X One Shift More was literally where the characters of Paige and Ian and the Stevensons and Richard Hugh were all born. I had no idea when writing it that Paige/Ian would end up the game's main characters. It was just a "ooo doctors but Les Mis musical, wouldn't that be cool.." cause Winston (artist) and I acted in a student version of it before)

- But for this one we had a general character arc of Lucky already started on by Kyle, and we had a lot of ground to cover in 5-X to finish it.

So, to solve all these problems together, i needed some story/musical conclusion that would both be plausible for Lucky's arc, but also be able to use gameplay mechanics of that act in new-feeling ways.

So I pitched that to Kyle, he said ok we'll use that, and I struggled for months (and started and finished 5-1N etc) before finding the main melody and tempo that could work for the level.

Oops I havent started talking about the music and everyone's roles in it at all, and this is so long... I'll come back and add more on another day... Mardy, dvdfu, and Ash all did amazing work on the vocals/guitars/mixing, I'll leave it there for now. Thanks for reading!

Some music that was an inspiration for different sections:

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Video made with FL Studio ZGameEditor Visualizer plugin
Effect author credits:
Linear - StevenM,Dubswitcher,Youlean
HUD 3D - Rado1
TextTrueType - Ville
Youlean Drop Shadow - Youlean

[jackusy]

“Can you teach me baseball?”
“wait what”

[DarkTree]

the pan up to the orange sky with the guitar riff at the beginning alone made me replay this level 30 times, not caring about how many beats i hit

[connectthedash]

I STARTED TEARING UP DURING THIS BOSS FIGHT IT WAS *SO* AWESOME

It’s amazing how much you can feel for a character who sounded much like the politician from before. Every line of dialogue got me so invested in Lucky as a character.

[LeafGreen]

This stage was the best audiovisual experience I had during this whole year, period.

The team really went far and beyond on this stage not only with the song but with details like at the start of the stage the window moving clockwise to show the pass of time or Lucky going from the "player" sprite to the "patient" sprite to show that he finally accepted his situation and many others I probably missed.

I can't personally thank you people enough for this update, wish I could buy this game twice on the same steam account, but buying it for my friends shall do the trick I hope.

[PacBeastPlayz]

I can’t stop hearing the freeze beats lmao

[sharkiplier]

I genuinely cannot fathom how the game can get any better than this level, one of the best I've ever played

[chapuu]

WE GETTING OUT OF THE MIDDLESEA HOSPITAL WITH THIS ONE
🔥🔥💯💯🗣🗣🗣🗣

[randomparable]

This game won every awards in my heart.
Hardest rhythm game ever, most visually stunning VFX ever, most creative gameplay ever, best out-of-bounds experience ever, best original soundtrack ever, etc..

I wouldn't be surprised if this game won every Steam awards, or every awards at "The Game Awards". This is a criminally underrated game- nono. Masterpiece. That I've ever seen in the gaming community.

[Droub_]

I'M STEPPING AWAY
FROM ALL MY REGRETS OF YESTERDAY
I'M MORE THAN MY DREAMS
ITS TIME TO MOVE ON
TO ALL MY FRIENDS, I'M HOLDING ON!

You absolutely knocked it out of the park guys, this act was so fantastic and the reveal of the WINDOW STRETCHING is so insane I can't imagine how hard that was to code I love this act so much thank you all for this! ❤

[masterbean]

I’m scared that act 6 is going to have multi-window next can’t wait!! 😁😁😁

[ninjagoboy]

Lemme tell ya, I yelled "*WHAT?!*" When the screen started to stretch out! I thought you guys had already done all you could with the window, but

Helps that this level and song is peak!!! The hype in the final stretch is unmatched in Rhythm games!!!

[icosmohedron]

I swear, this game’s window dancing is the most creative thing I’ve seen a game do
And the window stretching in this level just makes it so much better like oh my god

Best rhythm game

[accurate]

i think this is the peak of rhythm doctor but then again we dont know whats in store for act 6 and beyond

absolutely insane work on this act from everyone

[robertthecta]

one of my favorite tracks in the entire rhythm gaming genre, great work!

[starrydaze_]

2AM. Sitting in my room, playing this game on the dawn of my birthday, struggling with the stage and yet I finally make it through to hear the bit at 4:52 kick in. I felt the lyrics sink their way into me and wash over, the resonance hitting me like a truck and driving such a sense of inspiration into me.

This game truly is something to behold, man.

[emeraldnickel]

Potentially the first musical-like rhythm game level with an in-level nightmare sequence I’ve seen. Never thought I’d say those words in that order, but here we are I guess… man, this game is something else!

[Droub_]

LYRICS + DIALOGUE FOR 'DREAMS DON'T STOP' ( made by @cloverlovania )

[instrumental]

[dialogue]
Lucky: They keep saying "healing takes time".
Lucky: How long is this gonna take?

[lyrics]
To all my fans (To all the fans)
I tried my best but things are tough
I'm out of luck (You're out of luck)
My joints are torn, I can't hold on

Everybody believes there must be
Something wrong with me,
To stay this way
But my dreams don't stop,
So I'll keep holding on

[instrumental]

[lyrics]
The air is still
But there's no peace inside this place
Fans lose their cool
My team moves on, I've been replaced

I'm fed up with waiting
My body is fading
I'm sick of your sympathy

[dialogue]
Miner: Hey! Everything okay?
Lucky: Eh.
Miner: C'mon, let's do our stretches.
Lucky: Ugh... fine...
Miner: It'll never be a hundred percent. You have to make peace with that.
Lucky: I know... it's just...
Lucky: I was never much of anyone as a kid.
Lucky: Bad grades, couldn't even focus, mom and dad yellin' at me...
Lucky: But on the field, everything was different.
Lucky: Without baseball... I feel like I'll just be that useless kid again.
Miner: ...
Lucky: Sorry, I...
Samurai: Can you teach me baseball?
Lucky: wait what

[instrumental]

[dialogue]
Lucky: Alright everyone!
Lucky: Tomorrow's the big day! The local university agreed to a game. It won't be easy.
Ian: H-Hey Ada, we've got a problem...
Ian: The virus is back.
Ian: No matter what we do, it sticks around.
Paige: Then the intern will have to keep watch on the whole team. What choice do we have?

Lucky: Can't sleep... why is my heart racing?
Lucky: Do I really care whether they win this pointless match?
Lucky: Or does "coaching" just mean that I'm giving up on my dreams?

[instrumental]

Lucky: Ninth inning, team!
Lucky: I know how it feels. Like you're running on an empty tank. That it'd be easier to just let it be over.
Lucky: But don't give in.
Lucky: Y'know, when you all said you wanted me to coach you...
Lucky: ...I thought you were joking.
Lucky: I didn't think you'd stand a chance in a real game, but here you are.
Lucky: That's why I've learned to never listen to what coaches have to say. They're usually clueless.
Lucky: So listen to me just this once, and then never listen to me again!
Lucky: If you push yourself further here... on a path you never thought you could run on...
Lucky: ...I know you'll live with no regrets!

[lyrics]
I'm stepping away
From... all my regrets of yesterday
I'm more than my dreams
It's time to move on
To all of my friends, I'm holding on!

[instrumental]

[Ed-]

4:26 Not even the weirdest distraction in the game, but somehow the hardest, but also the coolest by far

[GenTheFurredArtist]

Wooo! Finally got Dreams Don't Stop on here!
Seriously, to all the folks in the 7th Beat Games team, thank you for such an amazing update, and for Rhythm Doctor. Y'all made something absolutely exceptional!

[Nekotori-]

The song feel like a story being told with audio alone.

But with the game, it adds a new dimemsion to what you're already hearing.