Technically, I Have Been Busy

I know, it's been too long. I have been busy. Maybe not in the ways I expected, or even the ways I wanted, but I have. I've started working on something rather ambitious; a video game. Of course it's a musical game, where as you progress through a level, layers of music accumulate and even the actions and choices you make can have an effect on the overall soundtrack. Essentially, if all goes well, each level will be like creating your own piece of music, while still enjoying some (admittedly) basic gameplay ideas.

I'm doing this alone, and I going to immediately say that I am no artist. I can usually manipulate graphics to suit my needs, and I'm even pretty good at finding free-to-use material, but when it comes to actually creating something visual from scratch I'm absolute rubbish.  So bear with me as I go in to detail with some screenshots, some of which I made in Photoshop just for this little presentation.

So here's a screenshot, and just about everything visual is tentative, so cut me some slack:

Yes, those spike balls are from Super Mario World. It's temporary. Anyway, the game plays like a shooter (Ikaruga, Gradius, etc but sideways and not as insane). You're controlling that little spark thing (it's a tentative sprite, but it DOES animate, and it even moves really smoothly up and down the screen, so ... so far so good?) You move it up and down as things fly at you from right to left. That circle thing? It's a gate. Aim for it. Those other things? Don't hit those. The gates show up at timed intervals, and the obstacles at random ones, so avoid the obstacles and aim for the gates. As you successfully go through gates, you make progress towards the next level (but don't worry if you miss a few). 

Here's where we talk music, so listen to this as we go:

At the beginning, there's only 1 layer of music playing (like, maybe just a single guitar). As you make it to the next level, a new layer of music fades in (maybe some bass), and the number of enemies flying at you increases. Each level adds news layers to the music.

Here's the first twist, though: There's actually a grid overlaid on the screen (that I made visible in the next screenshot). The grid divides the screen in to regions, and depending on what region you're in when you enter a gate, a note will sound. High up = higher note, lower = lower note. Of course, the notes are in key with the background music. So as you play the game, you end up making your own melody, and if I'm smart enough I may be able to get the game to remember it and play it back to you every now and then.

If you get near an enemy, a dissonant "WOAH LOOK OUT" layer fades in, quickly, and quickly back out. Think of the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, when you get near a baddie. If you get hit, that sucks. If you get hit enough, you drop down a level.

So here's the second twist: powerups. I mean, it's a shooter, why wouldn't there be powerups? You'll use them by pointing and clicking (or tapping, if I find some crazy way to put this on phones), and the powerups will be musical as well! A laser powerup could sound like fluttering strings and flutes. A bomb powerup could be some crazy dubstep drop. All triggered at a relevant note, depending on the background music and what region you aim the attack in, and all executed when you need relief from the droves of enemies flying at you, or if you just feel like contributing to the background music. 

Sorry, definitely got lazy on that last screenshot.

So yeah, that's what I've been working on lately. I've no idea if I can actually pull this off, but I'm going to try. Maybe some of my game design buddies would be willing to help me?

At any rate, thanks as always for reading, and feel free to leave comments or share or what have you. Until next time.