User:Captain Galaxy/sandbox4

Melatonin is a 2022 rhythm indie game developed and published by Half Asleep, a developer alias for Canadian game designer David Huynh, for the Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows and macOS. The game revolves around the dreams and fantasies based on the life of a young unnamed protagonist, where the player must time the character's actions to the beat of the music. Dreams are separated by worlds with multiple stages, where each world can be navigated between by using a hub world.

During early development, Melatonin started out as minigame compilation in a similar vein to the WarioWare series, but later adopted more rhythm-based mechanics in order to add originality to the gameplay. The game was initially revealed in at Steam Next Fest in May 2022 alongside a demo, before releasing the following December.

Melatonin received positive reception, with many likening the gameplay to that found in the Rhythm Heaven series.

Awards
Melatonin was nominated for two awards at the Indie Cup in Canada in November 2022, of which it won the "Rising Star Award" given to emerging developers. Additionally, Melatonin won two awards at the Canadian Indie Game Awards in April 2023. The game was also listed as a honourable mention at the 2023 Independent Games Festival for two awards, the award for "Excellence in Audio" and the award for "Excellence in Visual Arts".