Music/Beat Based Games

Post date: Mar 25, 2010 1:2:37 AM

This is a transcript of an email conversation concerning Beat-Based games. In less than 24 hours, our entire community (including an alum) responded with an incredible list of sources with great diversity. Reprinted here for future refeence and posterity.

I have been thinking recently about how music affects my gameplay in certain games being able to put people into that "zone" where we seem to do better at the task at hand. I then started to think about it more and was wondering if there were any really successful rhythm/beat based games that were more revolved around fighting/combat other then the widely known DDR and Beatmania type games. I think I heard about a fighting game that was like this but wasn't very successful in the presentation or execution of this mechanic? 

Ive started to do a bit of research on this subject lightly seeing what was out there and so far from what I see that there aren't many of them out there or if there are they are more along the lines of a DDR style where its all sort of pre-programmed. I am interested in trying to find out more about this because it seems like an interesting mechanic that could be developed? 

Any information about this that you have would be great, maybe even another GaD has looked into this before? This is something id like to pursue.

Thanks, 

--ttrently

This is a freshmen GAD student looking for a combat game based on rhythm. See email below. If anybody knows of any, feel free to respond to Thomas directly (and cc me, I'm curious and can't think of any off the top of my head). I thought I'd tap the brain trust for anything that might be suggestive or helpful.

--rcooksey

If hes interested in any type of beat game... ill always be down to work on something.

I dont know if this is what you're looking for, but you might want to check out Everyday Shooter.

http://www.everydayshooter.com/

I've never been more in the 'zone' with this game.

good luck

--dtisdale

Parappa the Rapper and Um Jammer Lammy are beat-driven games. 

--dburcky

Patapon is a PSP game which is a strange hybrid of RTS and sidescrolling that's based all around rhythm.  It's very very fun and addicting.  That's the first one that comes to mind, I'll try to think of mooooore. 

--ccolella

I don't know if this is more along the lines of what you're looking

for but I watched someone play a ridiculous game called Gitaroo Man

once and it centered around music and beat based battles.  It is more

of a cult game but maybe its worth looking into?

--ldavis

Thomas,

If DDR and Beatmania basically represent your exposure to rhythm games, then there is plenty to be discovered (which I'll spoil for you by just telling you =P )

The games you already mentioned are known as falling note rhythm games, and never really stray far from that description. One game that might be a nice departure is Music Catch, which is a Flash game that creates notes for you to "catch" with your mouse cursor that are created dynamically by the intensity of the music (in realtime!). The sequel is even more refined and has various visual styles to continue making you ask how the time passed so quickly.

Music Catch:

http://www.reflexive.com/index.php?PAGE=WebGamePlay&WGID=94

Music Catch 2:

http://www.reflexive.com/index.php?PAGE=WebGameDetail&WGID=182&pos=1&source=top10WebGames

Another game that creates notes based off of music is AudioSurf on Steam, which is a puzzle game of sorts. Very addictive, many hours (weekends) lost to this one, etc. A free demo is available, but it's easily worth the 10 dollars (plus Steam sales are every few months)

AudioSurf:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/12900/

All of these games so far don't change the music whether you miss the notes or not. There are games like Rock Band / Guitar Hero that don't let you hear the melody / drums if you miss a note, but that's reward through fear of destruction. Let's get into reward through creation.

The man you'll probably be looking for is Tetsuya Mizuguchi, a japanese game designer now famous for his rhythm games.

His first was Space Channel 5 for the Dreamcast. This was an evolution of PaRappa the Rapper for PSX, which was similar in that you have to press the correct buttons / directions in order to progress the storyline. Much more involved than just the notes of a catchy song. Space Channel 5 does involve "shooting", but it's all still scripted events, so let's get to the good stuff.

Space Channel 5 ($5 new, can't pass that up):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0A5smrzVaA

I could have just mentioned this next game and you'd be good to go, but I thought you'd like to see the whole spectrum of rhythm games (as far as I know).

This game is called Rez.

It's been on Dreamcast, PS2, and Xbox Live Arcade (in HD with 5.1 surround sound!). Also produced by Mizuguchi, this is known as the definitive game to induce synesthesia, or "togetherness", which generally means the senses of sight, sound, and touch all work cohesively to provide the player with an entrancing experience.

The game itself is very simple: Target enemies with your crosshair, and release to destroy / damage them. The key here is that anything you do happens on the beat. Enemies fire at you on the beat. No matter how rapidly you tap the fire button, it always falls on an 8th note. The sound effects themselves complement the audio, and the visuals are very trippy. It's quite easy to get lost in this game. For the sense of touch, the feedback from the controllers is synced with the music, which intensifies along with the game. It's much more than "get hit, feel rumble". And it's only gotten better with each version. In fact, the Xbox Live Arcade version ($10. Buy it) allows you to sync up 3 additional controllers for complementary vibration on your body. Mizuguchi's personal favorite combination is under the feet, on the lap, and behind the neck (and of course one in the hands).

I won't provide videos to Rez, as I really recommend you experience it yourself. Videos will not do justice. Oh, and if you do play, headphones are highly recommended.

Mizuguchi has also pumped out other musically-inclined hits like Lumines for PSP and Meteos for DS. I'd say Lumines is the winner of the two, as it provides simple puzzle mechanics and the same sort of constructive on-the-beat sound manipulation with each drop of a puzzle piece (and combo-chaining). Highly addictive (possible to lose hours at a time without even knowing), and available on PSP, PS2, PS3, PC, and Xbox Live Arcade. This is probably the best example I can give where you can get in "the zone". There's limited thinking involved once you get the hang of handling the pieces, and unlike Rez, there are no breaks in the gameplay, so hours pass by very easily.

And one last game is actually a Game Design thesis project from DigiPen from a group of guys who are fans of all of the games I listed above. It's called Synaesthete and basically mashes everything into one (including using your right hand for DDR and your left hand for fighting off monsters...). Their goal was to occupy so much of your brain with gameplay, the sensations of visuals and audio would take over your body. Free to download!

Synaesthete:

https://typo3.digipen.edu/index.php?id=986

Okay, that should cover the basics. In short, play Rez.

Hope this helps!

- Mike Molinari

--mmolinar

Synaesthete is one of the closer things to this type. REZ HD might be considered a rhythm combat game, though the combat doesnt revolve around the rhythm like it does in synaesthete.

I believe synaesthete is also free to download and play. good game.

--lharriso

Wow, thank you all for your input so far, especially Michael for all the information which im going to look into hopefully very soon. 

I never realized how many rhythm and beat type games there are out there and lately I've just been going through copious amount of information on the subject. I'm still trying to come up with the best way to describe this type of game/mechanic but it's something I'm very interested in seeing where it could possibly go or lead to. 

My initial thought for this has been tossed around in my head for awhile while I played games. Certain games I play, I play with music that sometimes puts me into the "zone" where I seem to do better. For example when playing shooter games, sometimes I listen to heavy, fast paced music and it  throws me more into the game and "zone" and almost gives it a cinematic quality when I get a head shot at just the right beat of a song so its as if I'm playing in time with the tempo and beats of the music. This quality for me personally draws me more into the game and I thought what if this was done but it was incorporated into a game and by preforming actions on certain beats or to certain rhythms it would be beneficial or detrimental to the character.

To maybe try and make this clearer (or possibly more complicated :D) the type of game/mechanic I'm interested in is one where a song or soundtrack is played as background music but when enter combat and hitting certain strikes during certain beats of the music they will cause either more or less damage depending if you hit it on the beat. Or if the music is building up then your character starts building up power and at the height of it or crescendo he unleashes that power and does a devastating hit or combo all in time with certain beats of the music. 

I'm going to be continuing some research on this and looking at all the links while hopefully finding some more information about it. So far I have yet to find a game that has tried this before in the way I see it in my head.

Thanks

--ttrently

Hey Thomas,

Here's a prototype by Jonathan Blow that uses rhythm in some interesting ways.  Not exactly a fighting game, but might spark some interesting thoughts:

http://www.number-none.com/blow/prototypes/raspberry/raspberry_version_03.exe

Here's a game jam game based upon rhythm by Jesper Juul that might also be of interest:

http://globalgamejam.org/games/beat

I don't think these are exactly what you are looking for, but may provide some interesting ways of looking at rhythm that are certainly far removed from the DDR/Guitar Hero approach.

--jgriffi1

Hey Thomas!

I'm a GAD sophomore and I saw Cooksey's email about you trying to find rhythm/combat based games. At one point I was interested in coming up with a game idea of this type of "genre" so I looked through some games that gave me the inspiration and reference. There aren't many "successful" titles of the genre you're looking for, but here are some titles that might steer you in some direction:

The World Ends With You

(Nintendo DS / Square Enix)

Player controls two characters at once during combat: one using the stylus on the touch screen and the other matching button combos on the top screen. While not a rhythm game, the music in this game is awesome and really puts you in that "zone" you mentioned. Plus, the music really emphasizes the heavily stylized characters and environment of Tokyo's huge shopping district: Shibuya. This is a great game to look at in terms of analyzing great music with a unique battle system and how the two play off one another.

Band Mashups

(Nintendo Wii / THQ)

I just found this while searching on google; apparently this game plays like Rock Band and Guitar Hero but players get to fight each other with musical weapons, like a "sniper violin" or "flamethrower guitar". Here's the link I found it on: http://www.qj.net/qjnet/wii/thq-announces-rhythm/combat-nintendo-wii-game-band-mashups.html

Lumines

(PSP, PlayStation Network, Xbox LIVE download / Q Entertainment)

This is stricly a puzzle game, sort of similar to Tetris in that you have to match up the colors of the blocks to clear blocks, however, there are only two colors and every block is a square. What's unique about this game though, is the music. Each "level", or rather, "skin" for the puzzles differ in their aesthetics and rhythm: the colors of the blocks may look like hearts or spades for a jazzier tune; the speed of the blocks as they fall from the top of the screen to the bottom are slower for a RnB type song. This game is good to look at in terms of how music played a huge contribution to gameplay. Here's a youtube video of the gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC7c4tRV-LA&feature=related

Audiosurf

(Steam download / Invisible Handlebar)

A great puzzle/rhythm game where you control a ship across a winding road to collect/hit colored blocks and avoid grey blocks. The "winding road" varies because the game analyzes song files on your computer to create the waves the road is comprised of. The colored blocks sould be compared to notes within the song in that when you hit it, it's spot on time with the sound file. Youtube example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz7xD8CiYLo

Yeah, those are the best examples I could think of. I hope this helps in some way!

--acha