DSP the game

(Drummer, Singer, Pianoman)

 

click for larger versions.

 

Concept:

After recently stumbling on Max/MSP (a piece of software for graphical audio programming), my first thought was "I could make a game in this". Because it has a brilliant audio engine, the audio effects that follow gameplay will be very detailed.

 

There will be three players that control a drummer, a singer, and a pianoman. The drummer is the basic player, and has to hit the right keys in rhythm to float on good beats. The singer uses a microphone as input, and controls their height with the pitch and attacks with their loudness (firing off notes on loudness peaks nearby the current pitch). The pianoman uses a MIDI keyboard as input, and will control X axis and Y axis attack position by key and velocity respectively.

 

The three players will cooperatively fight against a sea of NOISE, and a virus boss. Basically, the more noise you eliminate, the more "musical" the background audio will get. At the end, you'll have to hit the spike ball projectiles back at the virus, and destroy it. The audio will be heavily influenced by the success of each player, and the overall success of music over noise.

 

There will also be a realtime level maker, created by playing a song on the MIDI keyboard. It will programmatically setup the spike balls that are your basic enemy, and boss wave entrance times. It will also store levels to a text file format, so OCD level editors can even set them up from scratch.

 

Requirements:

When released, you'll need the free Max 5 runtime to play, and a fairly decent computer. My laptop is four years old, though, and it can still run the game fine.

 

Schedule:

Currently in development. Scheduled for release in May.

 

NOTE: The game was finished on time, but it currently only runs in the full Max 5, which costs $60 for a trial! I am looking into building it to the free Max 5 runtime, but I will have to make some slight modifications, which will require a full week of free time. I'll get it done eventually... before my nine-month trial expires...

 

I'm also looking into getting Cycling '74 to host the game on their website. More about this will follow, but it may end up that I am unable to host the game here...