- Tactichord: Glam Strategy Demo is Live! - 17 July 2026
Do you wanna get rocked?After months of hard work, polishing and testing, the demo for Tactichord: Glam Strategy is finally here! You get to experience the first act of Diane's story with six levels of turn-based strategy, character-based super moves and original songs, all for free. You play as Diane Eason, a teenager who has never found a place where she belongs, until she joins a metal band in need of a bassist. Use each band member's strengths to convert haters to fans as you play through the levels and aim for the highest score. If you love the demo as much as we do, don't forget to wishlist the game and leave a comment. Join our Discord if you have any feedback for us or just want to talk.After you clear the demo, please leave a review! This really helps us with visibility on Steam and keep production rolling along. Enjoy the world of glam metal in this new demo! Let's get rocked!…
- Backbeat joins the Games Made in Sweden Festival - 14 July 2026
We're not going to sugarcoat it. Backbeat is a difficult game. Only 4% of people have cleared the game on the easiest difficulty setting. There are four achievements NO ONE has ever unlocked. Why?It's a puzzler. It involves four separate threads of casuality that must be interbalanced. Your health is measured in how well you can adjust the flow of music.You're probably thinking, "How does that even manifest itself in a game?"Well, we have you covered there! Here's a video on YouTube showing exactly how that goes down: On the other hand, if you are the type to throw away the instructions as soon as you get a gadget, there is a free demo.Better still, if you are the type that loves a challenge AND saving money, then you should know the game is 50% off, a mere 12 dollars for a guaranteed 20+ hours of nerve racking, mind-blowing, funk-filled fun.So grab Backbeat now and be one of the few th…
- Backbeat joins the Difficult Games Bash - 23 October 2025
We're not going to sugarcoat it. Backbeat is a difficult game. Only 4% of people have cleared the game on the easiest difficulty setting. There are four achievements NO ONE has ever unlocked. Why?It's a puzzler. It involves four separate threads of casuality that must be interbalanced. Your health is measured in how well you can adjust the flow of music.You're probably thinking, "How does that even manifest itself in a game?"Well, we have you covered there! Here's a video on YouTube showing exactly how that goes down: On the other hand, if you are the type to throw away the instructions as soon as you get a gadget, there is a free demo.Better still, if you are the type that loves a challenge AND saving money, then you should know the game is the cheapest it's ever been, 53% off, a mere 11 dollars for a guaranteed 20+ hours of nerve racking, mind-blowing, funk-filled fun.So grab Backbeat…
- Tactichord: Glam Strategy First Playtest - 23 October 2025
The guitars are tuned and the smoke machine is ready. We're going to do our first private play test starting November 1st. It's time to try out Tactichord: Glam Strategy.What is a play test?A game demo is a complete package to give a taste of what the full retail version of the game is like. A play test is less than a demo in that the content is usually more restricted, and it's much earlier in the development process. It's a way for you to try the game while we're still working on it and tell us what works for you and what doesn't. It has bugs. It may crash. But there are certainly fun things to enjoy.There are many aspects to help new people all around the world try the game and make it as easy as possible for them to give feedback. So when you start the game you'll get asked if we can use anonymized metrics so we can record where you get stuck, how easy it is to clear the levels, etc…
- Tactichord: Glam Strategy announced - 4 March 2025
Hi there! In case you missed it, last month we announced what we've been working on, our upcoming game: Tactichord: Glam Strategy! It's our biggest project yet and carries on the spirit of our previous games with Ichigoichie's signature blend of music, humour, narrative investment and innovative strategic gameplay. Wishlist it now below! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3389400/Tactichord_Glam_Strategy/ You can keep up with our devlogs on our Discord or by joining our email list at this link. Check out our reveal trailer: There's plenty more to come from us about Tactichord: Glam Strategy so make sure to follow us, here on Steam and social media! Let's get rocked! // The Ichigoichie team
- Tactichord: Glam Strategy Announcement Sale! - 11 February 2025
Hi there! After keeping it quiet for more than a year, we've just announced what we've been working on, our biggest upcoming game; Tactichord: Glam Strategy! It carries on the spirit of our previous games with our signature blend of music, humour, narrative investment and innovative strategic gameplay. Wishlist it now! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3389400/ To celebrate the announcement, we're holding our deepest ever sale on Backbeat and Hexagroove: Tactical DJ! If you haven't had a chance to check out both, now is the best time to get them. Eagle-eyed players of Backbeat might even spot a few crossover characters in Tactichord... We hope you enjoy the games and are as excited as we are for Tactichord: Glam Strategy! Check out our reveal trailer; And feel free to come and join us in our Discord if you haven't already, we'll be discussing the game, guitarists, and mini-devlogs ther…
- Backbeat Fan Survey - 3 May 2024
Hi! Johannes from Ichigoichie here - developers of Backbeat and Hexagroove. We're eager to get to know YOU better to craft even better games and community content. To that end, we've created a short survey that takes only 3-8 minutes to complete. We would be honored if you would contribute your answers. Please find the questions here: https://forms.gle/Xaun4s6d2QxiRJTw7 Exclusive role on Discord for your answers As a token of our appreciation, we're offering an exclusive role on Discord to those who answer this questionnaire (3-8 min)! Simply add your Discord username in the last question and join our Discord server at ichigoichie.org/discord. You'll be awarded the OG 151A FAN role, granting you exclusive bragging rights. Joining the Discord server also gives you the opportunity to participate in the development of our next exciting music game, which will be announced soon. Development…
- Update notes for November 28 video card fix and logic regressions - 28 November 2023
Hello! Thanks to support from our players we have identified several problems that impact different users of the game. Firstly, player PRPE7UAL has helped us identify a situation where the game would hang on start with a white screen due to a Unity issue involving certan vsync settings on Nvidia graphics cards. Accordingly we have switched to using the software encoder for movie playback on all Windows builds. This should resolve launch issues you have in these setups. Second, thanks to Yhprum we found an issue where the updated movement UI could cause unsolvable puzzles in a few levels due to subtle changes in how potential movesets are generated. 9-2 is one such level and should be solvable again now. Finally, thanks to omgkitteh we discovered in previous versions of the game there was an unintended glitch that allowed Toshi to move in certain ways with his powermove. This was culled…
- Quality of Life Update November - 15 November 2023
Hello Backbeat fans! This month we have released a quality of life update to all platforms to help improve the game experience and get you on track to knocking out all the achievements. A new How To section is available in the pause menu showing off all the basic mechanics and scoring rules for Backbeat, along with short looping videos to demonstrate the feature. The move previews for each character are now displayed at all times to help with level readability. Tutorial text has also been reworked to explain some of the musical resources. Finally, the dialog system now has a more iconic UI in the lower left hand corner of the screen so you can throttle the cutscene playback speed or keep it interactive. All tutorial dialogue segments automatically shift to manual advance so you nothing slips by. Thank you for continuing to support us! We are a four-person studio and your reviews and fee…
- !!Shadow Drop!! Gig and Gear Expansion Is Live! - 22 June 2023
Hello Superfans! We have been busy beavers this quarter working on all kinds of fun things in the office and now we can share some of them! First and foremost, we have a new content update in Backbeat, the Gig and Gear Expansion! Update now and you will receive a bevy of fun new things to mess around with, some inspired by feedback from you: Six new chin-scratching time-based environment puzzles and hijinx Classic 4:3 CRT display mode A new master band title and the ultimate guitar effect pedal, OCTAVER Dialogue chatter volume adjustment Interface scale adjustment Six new remix levels take our heroine Watts and friends through adventures including fishing for change in arcades, hanging out at the mall, and breaking Josh out from unpaid overtime. And there's no better way to think outside the box then use a 90s 4:3 aspect ratio when solving your puzzles! Imagine what Backbeat would look…
- New expansions and an official comic! - 2 June 2023
Hello funky 151a superfans! Since Backbeat launched on all platforms in March, we have been hard at work at new exciting things to share from the town of Hornsburg. We can't say much now, but suffice it to say there are some awesome new features in development built largely from your feedback! Look for more information in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, we are proud to announce the launch of our official Backbeat web comic, Garage Band Bites. On Instagram and Tapas you can follow along with some fresh storylines involving our heroine, Watts, and her friends in Powerslyde. Check out the full episode 1 from the links below! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cs_VSmwoRU4/? Tapas: https://tapas.io/episode/2860574 Get engaged! Comment on this post and tell us what you think, or follow along on social. Stay cool and funky! -- The Backbeat team at Ichigoichie Got a quarter? Give…
- Backbeat has released! - 15 March 2023
Our sophomore title, the funky sokoban/stealth-strategy mashup Backbeat is now available on Steam! This is our second title launching on Steam and it’s really cool to see how much our company grown since Hexagroove: Tactical DJ in 2020. The first time around was a great experience but there was so much more we wanted make more accessible and inviting. In Backbeat we designed the interface from the ground up for 4K and able to scale across Windows, Mac, and Steam Deck, on monitors boxy and wide. The games we design at Ichigoichie are built on mashing up genres and deriving our gameplay mechanics from musical theory. This was at times a little overwhelming in Hexagroove, so we worked hard to portion out new mechanics in Backbeat through a much broader portion of the game. So much in fact you’ll still be learning new tricks more than three quarters through the main campaign! Backbeat is at…
- Backbeat is releasing March 16th! - 3 March 2023
Hello puzzle/strategy fans! The journey to launch is nearly done! We have been hard at work squashing bugs left and right and polishing Backbeat and now we're in the home stretch. The full version of Backbeat will launch on Steam in two weeks on March 16th! The last few months we've gone through the game and taken note of all the little places we can make things smoother and more engaging, and internally we're just finishing up testing on a slew of features that will be ready on day one: * SteamOS / Steam Deck support * mouse controls * performance optimisations * dialogue flow adjustments These are just a few of the many small updates we're adding right now so get those fingers ready. A lot of these improvements are the direct result from your kind feedback in our Steam forums, so a big thanks goes out to our demo players. The melodies of Backbeat are just too good to put down. We can'…
- Demo quality of life improvement update - 27 December 2022
Happy Holidays from Ichigoichie! After the Steam Next fest in October, we have been in full bug bash mode, but taken the time to sneak a few holiday goodies into our free demo to make the game easier on the eyes and fingers. Dialogue auto-advance We have added an auto-advance feature to the dialogue system so you can enjoy the cutscenes with much less effort. Pressing TAB or the X/Square button during dialogue will cycling between two advance speeds and manual. Your preferences will be retained between gameplay sessions so sit back and enjoy the 90s! Language! Idioma! Sprache! To make enjoyment of our ensemble dramedy even easier, you can now choose between Japanese, Spanish, German, and Simplified Chinese! The operating system language will be used by default on initial installs, but you can change at any time with the refined OPTIONS menu. Playback camera system upgrades We squeezed a…
- Rebroadcast: Backbeat Overview Livestream #2 - 8 October 2022
Welcome to the REBROADCAST of our Next Fest Stream! The Steam Next Festival is coming and we are thrilled to show you our new Backbeat Demo. Join our livestream to talk about different aspects of the game and production! On the agenda We'll start by giving you an introduction Backbeat, highlighting controls, mechanics, and gameplay in the demo. We'll also talk about the setting, characters and inspirations that went into building 1995 Hornsburg. We'll also provide a glimpse into the full version with some of the more sophisticated mechanics and scoring that show up farther into the game. We're streaming live from our studio in Stockholm so this is your chance to ask us whatever's on your mind about the game. Wishlist Backbeat and stay updated on important news and information leading up to launch! A single click is all it takes to dive into our world of funk, humor, nostalgia, and strat…
- Backbeat Dynamic Music Stream - 6 October 2022
Welcome to our Next Fest Dynamic Music Stream! The Steam Next Festival is coming and we are thrilled to show you our new Backbeat Demo. Join our livestream to talk about different aspects of the game and production! On the agenda We'll start by talking about about the reasoning behind our games and what we want to create, including our award-winning title, Hexagroove: Tactical DJ. Over twenty original music sandboxes have been assembled for our title, and each is a step along the road paved with the evolution of funk. We'll show off how musical variations are composited in several special "dojo" training levels, and how the music behind each puzzle solution is altered about the strategic choices you make with paths, power moves, and solos. Finally, we'll give you a preview of some of the unlocks that exist in the retail version of the game. Instrument variations and realtime pedal effec…
- Rebroadcast: Backbeat Overview Livestream #1 - 6 October 2022
Welcome to the REBROADCAST of our Next Fest Stream! The Steam Next Festival is coming and we are thrilled to show you our new Backbeat Demo. Join our livestream to talk about different aspects of the game and production! On the agenda We'll start by giving you an introduction Backbeat, highlighting controls, mechanics, and gameplay in the demo. We'll also talk about the setting, characters and inspirations that went into building 1995 Hornsburg. We'll also provide a glimpse into the full version with some of the more sophisticated mechanics and scoring that show up farther into the game. We're streaming live from our studio in Stockholm so this is your chance to ask us whatever's on your mind about the game. Wishlist Backbeat and stay updated on important news and information leading up to launch! A single click is all it takes to dive into our world of funk, humor, nostalgia, and strat…
- Backbeat Art and Story Stream - 5 October 2022
Welcome to our Next Fest Art and Story Stream! The Steam Next Festival is coming and we are thrilled to show you our new Backbeat Demo. Join our livestream to talk about different aspects of the game and production! On the agenda We'll start by walking you through the game concept of Backbeat, and the evolution of our visual language starting with our first title, Hexagroove: Tactical DJ.. We'll then visit the rendering style, concept art, and locations of 1990s suburban Washington, D.C. Finally, we'll cover the characters and films that inspired our ensemble cast. To illustrate we'll use a number of levels and menu UI from the upcoming retail version of the game. Wishlist Backbeat and stay updated on important news and information leading up to launch! A single click is all it takes to dive into our world of funk, humor, nostalgia, and strategic puzzling madness! https://store.steampow…
- Backbeat Dynamic Music Stream - 4 October 2022
Welcome to our Next Fest Dynamic Music Stream! The Steam Next Festival is coming and we are thrilled to show you our new Backbeat Demo. Join our livestream to talk about different aspects of the game and production! On the agenda We'll start by talking about about the reasoning behind our games and what we want to create, including our award-winning title, Hexagroove: Tactical DJ. Over twenty original music sandboxes have been assembled for our title, and each is a step along the road paved with the evolution of funk. We'll show off how musical variations are composited in several special "dojo" training levels, and how the music behind each puzzle solution is altered about the strategic choices you make with paths, power moves, and solos. Finally, we'll give you a preview of some of the unlocks that exist in the retail version of the game. Instrument variations and realtime pedal effec…
- Backbeat Art and Story Stream - 4 October 2022
Welcome to our Next Fest Art and Story Stream! The Steam Next Festival is coming and we are thrilled to show you our new Backbeat Demo. Join our livestream to talk about different aspects of the game and production! On the agenda We'll start by walking you through the game concept of Backbeat, and the evolution of our visual language starting with our first title, Hexagroove: Tactical DJ.. We'll then visit the rendering style, concept art, and locations of 1990s suburban Washington, D.C. Finally, we'll cover the characters and films that inspired our ensemble cast. To illustrate we'll use a number of levels and menu UI from the upcoming retail version of the game. Wishlist Backbeat and stay updated on important news and information leading up to launch! A single click is all it takes to dive into our world of funk, humor, nostalgia, and strategic puzzling madness! https://store.steampow…
