Game guide
How to play Hit Your Dot
Hit Your Dot is a free 3D marching band game you play in your browser: one season with the Cedar Hollow Comets, from band camp in late July to the banquet in mid-November. Your goal is to hit your dot in every show and help the band climb the contest results toward the State Marching Finals, while you keep your grades, friendships and sleep in shape.
Play Hit Your Dot
- Genre
- Marching band season: steer through the drill, play a one-button rhythm game in the stands, and shape a story through your choices
- Players
- One player
- Length
- A march runs from about half a minute (band camp's first block) to a little over three minutes (the full show), and getting ready in the house takes up to about five minutes. The season covers late July to mid-November in game time (two weeks of band camp, a week before school and twelve school weeks) and takes several hours to play through.
- Plays on
- Phones, tablets and computers, in an up-to-date web browser (it needs WebGL). It's made for an upright phone and has its own layout when you turn the phone sideways. On a computer you march and play in the stands with the keyboard or a gamepad; the mouse works the menus, choices and buttons.
- Progress
- Your season saves itself after every step (a march, a conversation, a night) in this browser on this device, along with your sound, Steering help and cat settings; the save isn't sent anywhere, and private browsing may not keep it. Continue on the start screen picks up where you left off (a march you leave halfway starts over), and New season replaces your saved season.
- Price
- Free. No download and no account.
- Version
- 1.2.1, updated October 10, 2026
- Feedback
- Comments on itch.io
How to play
- Press Start band camp, type your name and pick one of eight looks. Then choose your section (Woodwinds, Brass, Drumline or Color guard) and your part: one of 13 instruments, or a flag or a rifle in the color guard.
- Mornings with somewhere to be start in your house, with the clock running in the top corner. Walk into a gold ring to do each thing on the list (getting dressed and grabbing your instrument are musts), then leave by the front door before the "Out the door by" time.
- Through the day, the people of the band talk with you: press Next, or tap the box, to read on. When choices appear, pick one; it changes friendships, mood, skills or Ms. Okafor's respect.
- On the field, press Start (Step off for a show) and steer the way the gold arrows on your red line point, to your dot in the yellow ring; your steps, your part and the guard's flag or rifle work keep time by themselves. Each march ends with a Visual score and a Music score (Equipment for the color guard), and in rehearsal Again runs it once more.
- Most nights, the Tonight card asks what you'll do with the evening and when you'll go to bed, with tiles showing where your energy, mood, run-down, skills and grades will land; press Good night when you've chosen. A summary closes each week.
- On Friday nights the band plays in the stands during the football game: when a tune's name goes up on the sign, press as each note on the strip at the bottom reaches the gold line, and stop when the play starts. At halftime you take the field and march the show.
- Six Saturdays bring a contest: pick how to spend the bus ride, march the show for the judges, then hear the retreat read every band's score from last place up. The season ends at the banquet with your awards and how your year turned out.
Controls
Keyboard
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Arrow keys or W A S D | Steer along your line on the field, and walk around the house |
| Space, J, K or F | Play on the beat in the stands (the color guard dances) |
| P or Escape | Pause or resume a march |
| Tab, then Enter or Space | Move to a button or choice and press it |
| Enter or Space in a conversation | Show the next line |
Mouse
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Click a button or choice | Use the menus, the Tonight card and your replies in conversations |
| Click the conversation box | Show the next line |
| Click Pause (top right) | Pause or resume a march |
| Click Skip to halftime or Skip to the end | Let the rest of that half of the football game play itself |
Touch (phones and tablets)
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Drag on the left side of the screen | Steer on the field and walk in the house; the round stick at the bottom left shows your push |
| Tap anywhere, or the PLAY button | Play on the beat in the stands (DANCE for the color guard) |
| Tap a button, a choice or the conversation box | Choose, and move a conversation on |
| Tap Pause (top right) | Pause or resume a march |
Gamepad
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Left stick or d-pad | Steer on the field and walk in the house |
| A, B, right bumper or right trigger | Play on the beat in the stands |
Tips
- Keep holding the way the gold arrows point for the whole move: your speed sets itself, catching you up when you're behind your spot and marking time when you're ahead, but letting go stops you while the band marches on. If aiming feels fussy, turn on Steering help in Options on the start screen; nothing is locked or scored down for using it.
- Halftime shows, contests, the band camp pass-off and some later rehearsals have no red line, yellow ring or gold arrows, so follow the light-blue spot on the turf: it marks where you should be on every count. Staying on it also keeps you from walking into people, and each bump costs 3 points of your Visual score.
- In the stands, press only as each note reaches the gold line, and keep still while the red Live play warning is on screen: every press during a play drains the Stands meter. Extra presses between notes lower that tune's score too.
- During the school weeks, Tuesday's 6:15 morning practice means a 4:45 alarm, so even a 9:30 pm bedtime on Monday leaves about seven hours of sleep; check Energy tmrw on the Tonight card, because a tired marcher catches up more slowly. If a Running on empty warning appears, take the rest option: you only get sick after a warning you ignore.
- During the school weeks, each night of homework raises your grades that same night, and a week with no homework at all costs 5 points at the weekly summary (one night costs 2). Grades under 70 when progress reports go home in weeks 5 and 10 mean three weeks without performing while Kendall marches your dot.
- In the house, breakfast is worth its minutes (skipping it costs energy and mood), and anything lost is under one of the gold ? marks: stand still by one to look there. When time is short, Rush out the door on the morning card gets you there on time, just without breakfast or a shower.
Screenshots
Recent updates
Version 1.2.1 · October 10, 2026
- Screen readers and voice control: the "See it" link on the card for our studio's apps now says what it shows (it was read as just the app's website, so saying "See it" didn't work).
Version 1.2.0 · October 5, 2026
The week between band camp and the first day of school used to be just a planner each evening. Now every day has something in it (thanks to the player who asked whether that was on purpose: it wasn't).
- Monday: back on the field. The first evening rehearsal after camp is yours to march: cleaning sets 4 to 8 of the opener, ready for the first game's halftime.
- Tuesday: uniform fittings. Mrs. Tran and the uniform crew measure everyone in the band room (the guard gets its costumes; the drumline gets carriers next).
- Wednesday: back-to-school shopping with Mom and Milo, and one thing that wasn't on the list.
- Thursday: schedule pickup at school. Compare with Benji, and pick a locker.
- Friday: section day at your house, with your section leader, Kendall, Benji, popsicles and last year's show.
- Saturday: the band's car wash for the bus fund, with sunscreen, water and shade breaks.
- Each one has choices, and each choice gives something a little different: friendships, mood, energy, skills or the band's respect.
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