I was looking around for Machinima that is done under Rockband or Guitar Hero. I ended up coming across this thing:
http://machinima.com/film/view&id=32668#
Which reminds me, Little Big Planet offers a set of character animations which can be evoked with different controller commands. Not sure how I’d use that to make an music video, though. Having the music playing on the side by the TV perhaps?
Here’s a game that functions the same way as music videos, namely, to promote a song.
http://www.rektor.no/index.php?go=princess
Retro game graphics are use, references to classical 2D fighting games and Dance Dance Revolution are used.
After doing some reading on fandom creation, I came to realize that fan creation is anchored on how the fans are both consumers and creators. Many activities in the fandom has something to do with exploring and expressing the self, some of which can be rather private and less likely to be shared willingly by the creator. Some education theorist argued that youth involved in fan creation can in fact have an accute understanding on design concepts, artistic techniques, and collaborating with other artists.
There are also some essays written for fan videos, including Anime Music Videos (AMVs). There are two key points that draws my attention.
Given these, and the fact that I like music rhythm games, I decided to put less emphasis on fandom creation, but keep the underlying idea of disembling and recontructing context. Meanwhile, Paul Robertson’s work also invited my thoughts in blurring the line between animation and game machinima.
So here’s the deal:
This thesis is about a music rhythm game which plays with the idea of mash-up, remixing, and using game as a form of expression and performance. Two elements will be used for that purpose: the sound/audio elements, and the character animation. For the gameplay, the game consists of Mini-games where rhythms functions to serve different purposes. These mini-games will also host some of the elementary audio and performance elements which can later be used for remixing.
The stage setup follows how Rhythm Heaven sets up its stages: for each stage (other than the Remix stages), player plays the game with one or two input methods, which is each associated with a different character actions. For example, in a stage where the player plays a rallying fanclub member in a concert, a tap will be a clap, and flicking after that will be jumping up. Parappa the Rapper has something similar when the player gets to play in free-style mode. Different buttons are associated with different word phrases and actions.
So there are two parts in this game: The games of rhythm puzzles, and the remixing of the sound and performances from these stages.
Each stage should utilize one or two simple input mechanisms, each evoking different animation or character performance. The player has to play a given rhythm pattern well enough to clear the stage. After that, the performance in this stage, which includes the sound and character animation, will be available in the remix mode.
Each stage will have its own narrative. There will also be “remix” stage where elements of more than one stage will coming into play. In essence, the stage layout is similar with Divine Beats, except now I’m not constricting the narrative and gameplay interactions to drums and Chinese culture anymore.
Audience
Since part of the impetus behind this game is remixing game elements as a form of creative expression, audiences for this game can belong to one or both of the following: players interested in playing a music rhythm game, and/or players who are interested in creating machinima with games.
Platform
Given the internet is where most machinima and fan creators distribute their work, this game should either be playable online, or be downloadable online as a playable executable on personal computer.
Interface
I’m tempted to experiment with the Wii controllers (Wiimote, Nunchuk, etc) for the wide possibilities of interactions. However, since not all gamers online might have such, I will have to make the game playable by mouse, keyboard, or a joystick game controller for the least.
Thus, the core mechanic for the gameplay will involve one or more of the following actions which the player has to do according to rhythm:
Stages
Examples and Ideas for the stages include:
1. Boat Race Marathon
The aim of this stage is to have players listen to a rhythm and beat along with it in harmonic sync.
The player is part of a boat/kayak crew who helps pacing the crew’s paddling by drumming. The faster the drumming, the faster the paddling, and thus the faster the boat goes. Of course, the crew’s stamina dimishes as they paddle.
During the gameplay, the boat travels along a river with varying current speeds. For the race, they have to travel towards the river’s source, meaning they are traveling against the river’s current as well. While some parts of the river is tranquil and easy to travel upon, there are also sections of the river that are faster; in these areas, the crew have to paddle faster to sustain moving speed. The player can choose to have the crew paddle fast in areas where the current is slow, but this might also drain the crew’s energy before they reach the fast-flowing area.
For the aim of the stage, the river’s speed current at different sections should be determined/layout according to the background music.
2. Basket Ball Drill
As a new member of the basket ball club, one of your training is on dribbling. As the captain dribbles by a rhythm, you are to repeat that rhythm as well.
3. Whistle Drill
The context could either be the player being 1) a marching band/cheer team member who ques the other members performance with different whistling patterns, or 2) a canine trainer who gives commands to his dog using different whistling patterns.
Either way, the idea here is about rhythm patterns.
4. Maracas Drill
This stage will emphasize on beating a rhythm in corrdance to left and right. This is similar to practicing sticking for drumming, where the same drum pattern have to be played out by different sticks – left or right.
A music game for iPHone from Harmonix, which resonance a lot with Guitar Hero and Frequency. Users can select their own songs on their iPhone and play them as stages. Like Harmonix’s other music games, Phase‘s gameplay involves a 3D road with discs floating towards the screen, all of which supposedly are positioned according to the song’s rhythm. As the song is divided into segments, users complete each segment by sucessfully capturing the discs for that segment.
While the fact that Phase can use songs in your iTune to create levels may give it an edge over most of its preceeding music games, reviews pointed out that the levels created don’t always correspond to the music’s rhythm, making the player relying more on visual ques than the audio ques at times.
A music rhythm game on PSP and Playstation features the characters designed by Rodney A. Greenblat. It’s played by pressing the face buttons by the music score. The gameplay usually goes by having the player repeat a given rhythm pattern, though sessions of free-improvise may also appear.
Parappa the Rapper Official Website
What I find intriguing is that while there is a score that needs to be played correctly, players can also improvise and play out their own unique rhythm.
Frequency is one of Harmonix’s early music rhythm games and have been the forerunner of its later franchise, Guitar Hero. Harmonix later published Amplitude as a sequal to Frequency.
In the game, the player play as the FreQ, who manuveurs through a octagonal tunnel during the gameplay. The game looks like a racing game or flight simulation game in that the player controlls the FreQ’s movement as it travels between the 8 tracks of the tunnel.
Each stage has a song associated with it, which is broken down into 8 components, each linked to one of the tracks in the tunnel; to name a few, one track may be the vocal of the song, one may be the bass, one the synthesizer, and so on. While traveling on a track, the player has to sucessfully perform two segments by hitting the corresponding face buttons, which is arranged to sync with the song.
The game also allows players to remix their own track of music. Users may pick elements from the in-game songs and remix them into another song. These remix songs can also be played as stages, though there will also be no scores kept.
This game is originally on Sega Dreamcast, has been ported onto Wii, and appearantly can be played in arcade as well. With the same concept of music performance with mock instrument controllers (as Rockband and Guitar Hero), the controllers for the Dreamcast and arcade are two Maracas. Players have to shake the maracas in 6 different locations (defined by left/right and altitude). Occasionally, the player has to post a pose with the maracas as well.
Here is someone who got real crazy with the arcade.
I’m personally wondering if the game distinguishes between the right/left maracas during the gameplay. It appears that in the Menu mode, one maraca acts as the arrow pad and the other the Select button. The Dreamcast controllers are ultrasound sensors that works with a sensor bar, while the Wii version utilies the Wiimote and Nunchuk; for the latter, maraca attatchments are also available. The Dreamcast maraca controllers are, by the most part, considered to be too expensive.
A music action game which so far is ported on PS2 and PSP. Taking place in Gitaroo Planet, the hero is a young boy whose alter-ego, Gitaroo Man, is the last legandary hero on the planet. Gitaroo Man battles using his Gitaroo (which, as it appears, is a weapon that takes the form of a guitar), and the game is played with the controller, mainly the analog joystick and face buttons.
A Youtube video on the gameplay
This game has a nice way of using the traditional game controller in a music rhythm game. It certainly is more intuitive than playing Taiko no Tatsujin or Dance Dance Revolution with the controller; my previous experience with those two scenarios had made me somewhat aprehensive when it comes to music games utilizing traditional game controllers. On the other hand, Gitaroo Man‘s interface made it intuitive enough to relate the action of playing music with the game controller.
Auditorium is a music puzzle game, where players have to place force fields in space to lead a flow stream towards one or more targets. When the flow stream hits the target, the sound layer associated with that target will play as well. A stage is won when the flow stream and fill up the meters of each target.
The sound layer blending is well done. Music is not that critical to the core mechanis itself, but it is a vital gameplay response.