Groove Nation is a game where you become the choreographer and financial manager for Angel Alvarez, a competitive dancer trying to dance and save her way to LA.

The game has four main screens:

• The Location Screen
• The income collection and dancing screen
• The budgeting screen
• The scoring screen, called The Road to LA

Playing the game

To play the game you'll need to use your mouse and spacebar key.

The Location Screen

On the Location Screen, you'll see your progress towards LA, the final city in Groove Nation. You’ll begin in San Antonio. In each city, you will have 5 rounds to earn enough income, save enough money, pay off enough debt to dance your way to the next city. The cities are, in order: San Antonio, Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, New York, and Los Angeles.

The Income Collection and Dancing Screen

On the income collection and dancing screen, you'll need to help earn money through dancing. The character in the center of the screen is Angel Alvarez. To help choreograph Angel’s dancing, follow the spinning wheel known as the dance dial. When it is directly on top of a highlighted footpad, press the spacebar. A judgment will appear to grade your performance, or how well you timed your dancing. “Perfect” is the best judgment and earns you the most applause and points. “Good” earns you some applause and some money. “Bad” earns you boos from the audience. The Applause-o-Meter is used to tell you how well you are performing. The earnings panel, at the very top, tells you how much you have earned out of the possible dance earnings.

The Budgeting Screen

On the budgeting screen, you have four panels, Income, Expenses, Saving, and Spending. Income shows how much Angel earned via her regular job as well how much she earned in the competitive dance round. The Expenses shows Angel’s Fixed and Variable expenses, including all her personal spending. Watch out, sometimes Angel has unexpected expenses that turn into Debt. All Debt must be paid off before a player can leave a city. The Savings panel shows Angel’s two savings goals: the Short-Term Savings goal is the money Angel must earn to pay for her transportation to the next city. If you cannot save enough to get her to the next city, you will not advance in the game. The Long-Term Savings goal is to save $10,000 BEFORE the LA round. If you do not save the total $10,000 before Angel reaches LA, you will lose the game. The Spending panel shows Upgrades, which are not necessary to advancing in the game, but can improve Angel’s scores on dancing. Watch out, these upgrades cost more in each city!

The Scoring Screen

The final screen is the scoring screen, called the Road to LA. This screen tells how well you have budgeted and highlights the 4 key areas you should focus on. The Long-Term savings bar shows how much you have saved toward your overall goal ($10,000) and provides a benchmark a savings target each round. The Upgrades you have purchased are also represented. The Debt Payoff meter and Short-Term Savings meter provide a gauge for how much you have saved in your current city. To advance to the next city, you must completely pay off the Debt and reach your Short-term savings goal.

Good luck and have fun!