Arcade: Follow the Beat
Follow the Beat is the second game in Gero's Arcade. It's a rhythm-based experience where your video fragments play in sync with a music track, transitioning on the beat.
What is Follow the Beat?
Pick a song, let Gero analyze the beats (or map them yourself), and watch your video fragments play in perfect rhythm with the music. Fragments transition on beat, visual effects pulse with the rhythm, and timed instructions appear at key moments.
It supports 1 to 3 video screens playing simultaneously, each with its own timeline and fragment sequence.
How it works
- Pick a level — Each level is built around a specific audio track with a beat profile
- Beats are analyzed — Gero auto-detects the BPM and beat positions, or you set them manually
- Fragments play in sync — Video fragments transition on beat markers across one or more screens
- Visual effects — An optional theme is applied to all video screens (grayscale, neon, glitch, etc.)
- Timed instructions — Text overlays appear at specific timestamps with animations
- Completion — When the song ends, a completion screen shows with an optional custom message
Level editor
The level editor gives you full control over every aspect of a Follow the Beat level.
Audio track
- Track selection — Browse your audio library and pick a track
- Beat profile — View and edit BPM, first beat offset, and individual beat markers
- Auto-analysis — Let Gero detect beats automatically, or map them manually
- Speed segments — Define time ranges with custom playback speeds (0.5x to 2.0x) on a dedicated visual band
Timeline editor
The timeline is the core of the level editor. It shows the full level duration with beat markers overlaid.
- Screen bands — One lane per video screen (up to 3). Each lane shows its segments
- Media segments — Drag a specific fragment or video onto the timeline. Supports trim offset for starting partway through
- Filter segments — Drag a filter block onto the timeline. Gero fills the segment with random fragments matching the filter criteria at play time
- Snap to beat — Segments snap to beat markers when dragged or resized
- Cross-band snapping — Segments also snap to edges of segments on other bands. Guide lines appear during drag operations
- Resize — Drag segment edges to make them longer or shorter
- Double-click — Expands a segment to fill available space
- Right-click — Delete a segment
- Copy / paste — Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V to duplicate segments
Fragment filters
Each filter segment can have its own criteria:
| Filter | Description |
|---|---|
| Tags | Include or exclude tags. Supports AND/OR matching |
| Actors | Include or exclude actors (with profile photo previews) |
| Subscriptions | Filter by media subscription source |
| Duration | Minimum and maximum fragment duration in seconds |
| Source type | URL, file, or recording |
| Media type | All, fragments only, or videos only |
| Review status | Reviewed, unreviewed, or any |
Visual effects
Apply a visual theme to the entire level:
| Effect | Description |
|---|---|
| None | No effect applied |
| Grayscale | Black and white |
| Sepia | Warm brown tone |
| Blue overlay | Blue color grading |
| Vignette | Darkened edges |
| Scanlines | Retro TV scanline effect |
| Glitch | RGB color shifting |
| Anime | Enhanced colors and contrast |
| Neon | High saturation glow |
Beat animations
Each screen can have its own beat animation that triggers on every beat:
- Bounce — Screen bounces on beat
- Shake — Screen shakes horizontally
- Pulse — Screen scales up and down
- Vibrate — Rapid micro-shake
Fragment transitions
Choose how fragments transition between each other:
- Crossfade
- Bounce in
- Fade in
- Swipe left / swipe right
- Zoom in
- Slide up
Timed instructions
Add text overlays that appear at specific timestamps during the level:
- Timing — Set start and end times (or duration)
- Text — Supports markdown formatting
- Entry animation — Fade in, slide up/down, bounce in, zoom in
- Exit animation — Fade out, slide down
- Loop animation — Pulse, float, glitch, glow, shake, typewriter
- Styling — Color, font size, font family, bold, italic, underline
- Position — Top, center, or bottom of the screen
- Alignment — Left, center, or right
Gameplay controls
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Space | Pause / resume |
| M | Mute / unmute audio |
| ESC | Quit game (with confirmation) |
Bot recordings
Follow the Beat levels can be recorded automatically using the bot system. The bot plays the level in a headless browser with frame-by-frame capture, producing a video file. Useful for creating preview videos or promotional content.