It's Harp Lifter (WIP)

WindowsC64?
The title screen displays 'It's Harp Lifter' in large white letters against a rough brick wall. To the right, the eponymous Harp Lifter can be seen, carrying a massive harp.

It's Harp Lifter is an unreleased PC game designed to resemble a C64 title with most of the classic 8-bit machine's technical restrictions intact. It started as an April Fools' Day joke on Adventures in 16 Colors but eventually turned into a real, fully-featured game.

THIS CALLS FOR THE HELP OF HARP LIFTER!

Help Cedric Hahn, the eponymous Harp Lifter, lug around harps, create musical patterns, and ultimately banish the furious ghost of Lady Helena from the halls of Verismo Keep.

Animation showing Verismo Keep with blue flags waving on top of its towers. The text below says 'Verismo Keep is beleaguered by the ghost of Lady Helena and her ensemble of ethereal harpists!'

It's Harp Lifter Features

Screenshot showing Level 10 with a round, gray brick wall tileset. The Harp Lifter is carrying a brown harp over to the stool on the right side of the level.

It's Harp Lifter is essentially a match-three puzzle game with a few twists.

You navigate the Harp Lifter through corridors, lifting and setting down colored harps at designated locations (marked by little stools).

Three colored notes on a dark gray staff.

Your goal is to arrange three harps in a straight line (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) so that their color order matches the sequence(s) seen at the top of the screen.

Several matches are required per level (tracked by the on-screen "Arps" counter) after which the game advances to the next level.

Screenshot showing Level 18 with a brown wooden tileset. The game is set to colorblind mode, where the harps are numbered by color for easier identification.
The game offers a colorblind mode where the harps and notes are numbered by color.

The game is complete, but several factors prevent me from publishing it:

A broken harp lit by a spotlight.

I initially created the game in GameMaker Studio 2. While that version still works fine, I would like to port the game to the Godot Engine. This would enable me to incorporate features I've already developed for other game prototypes using the same engine.

Secondly, I'm currently using SID tunes by various artists as placeholders. They're awesome, but I'd like to replace them with original works. Probably not composed by me, as my musical talents are rather limited.

And thirdly, I am somewhat tempted to create an actual C64 version, which I hope will require only minor alterations. I can't make any promises, but past me was careful enough to design the graphics within the C64's restrictions, and also noted down where and how to use sprites. One thing is clear, though. This would need to be a cartridge game in order to handle the sheer amount of graphics.

In that regard, I can't name a possible release date. We shall see. It's Harp Lifter may have started as a joke, but it's certainly not dead!

Back to Games