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This article comes from the official account of Wechat: ID:chuappgame, author: etc.

"the worse the player's level, the more fun the game will be, which liberates people to a certain extent and no longer worries about high scores."

Once upon a time, completing the most difficult music games in front of people in the arcade was one of many people's classic game memories, but due to cost, environmental protection or changes in playing habits, popular music games such as "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" and those plastic instruments have gradually faded out of people's sight. Of course, the developers of audio games have not stopped. Today's audio games are no longer limited to simulating certain musical instruments, but also combine different types of game elements with music to create new forms of products.

Some people think it's not pure, some people think it's great. In any case, Yingyou is still moving towards a new future step by step.

In the past 2022, there have been a large number of music-inspired games on the market, which can be roughly divided into three types: rhythm games, category mashup games and narrative games. Can they represent the future of music games?

Trombone Champ, which became a hit on social media some time ago, is an atypical rhythm game, or an "anti-rhythm" game. The game of "trombone champion" is very simple, players can swipe the mouse to match notes, but it is particularly difficult to master. This is intentional by developers, when players play music with trombone, it is often difficult to accurately grasp the rhythm, resulting in a funny effect.

"my initial idea was that all the notes the player saw were spiral lines of flow." Dan Vichita, the developer of Trombone Champion and founder of independent studio Holy Wow, said, "I even have a picture in my mind that you try to play music with those notes and usually fail because it's so difficult and you can hear how out of tune your music is. I can imagine that the voice must sound terrible."

The greatest joy of this game is to listen to how outrageous it is to hear what you blow out of it. Wichita found that the trombone is an ideal instrument to achieve his intentions in the game.

"I don't want to call the trombone a stupid instrument, but it's really good at making comedy, which may have something to do with its shape, name or sound. Something is inherently interesting, and I think the trombone is one of them."

Wichita is a big fan of Dance Dance Revolution and Japanese arcade games, and Trombone Champion is inspired in many ways by these games, with loud music and colorful menus. In fact, according to Wichita's original vision, "Trombone Champion" should be an arcade game that allows people to use trombone controllers. "I think it's even more interesting if you use a rubber trombone, because when you try to use a trombone, it pops funny and the notes fly around the screen."

The idea is clearly unrealistic: Wichita has neither the time nor the money nor the necessary technology. However, he still hopes to take advantage of the difficulty of the game to achieve the desired comedy effect.

"one of the core ideas behind the Trombone Champion is that players cannot become real trombone experts. The worse the players play the trombone, the more fun they will find the game, which liberates people to a certain extent and will no longer worry about high scores."

"I don't even expect players to get high scores. Therefore, I don't have too much concern when designing levels. I can add some music that is very difficult to play. This makes the game more interesting. Players really like the prelude to" William Thiel "and although it is almost impossible to get good scores, they still enjoy it."

"Trombone Champion" is no different from ordinary audio games in terms of playing, but Wichita revealed that he chose to add a lot of classical music to the game because they have comedy potential and do not have to pay royalties. In addition, Wichita has produced several original electronic tracks to make "Trombone Champion" as rich in history as the music games of the past. With the passage of time, "Trombone Champion" will release more music. "this is the number one demand of players."

On social media, the video of the trombone champion quickly went crazy: players were "worse" in the game, and some even used homemade trombone handles to play. But Wichita admitted that he didn't expect the game and its comedy effects to resonate widely with players.

"to be honest, I thought I would get more negative feedback, worried that a lot of people would not understand the fun of it. Sometimes players take the game very seriously, always want to get the highest score, 100% through each level, unlock all achievements, or push all quantifiable values to the limit. I am worried that a lot of people will give the game bad reviews, because at some levels, it is almost impossible for players to get high scores."

"but we were surprised by the player's reaction. I knew the concept of trombone champion was interesting and easy to remember.... but I had no idea it would be so popular."

Some people have even created a special "trombone controller" mash-up. In addition to rhythm games, some developers will also incorporate music elements into other categories of works. "rhythmic dungeons" and "No Straight Roads" are typical examples, and the down-view shooting game "Soundfall" gives new meaning to pulse guns. Soon, the rhythm tower defense game "Rhythm Towers" and the music puzzle game "Rytmos" will be released one after another.

In 2022, "heavy Metal: hell Singers" (Metal: Hellsinger) may be the most successful work of this kind of game. Although heavy Metal: the Singer of Hell is not the first FPS game with a mix of rhythms, it exudes a unique metallic flavor, from thunderous drums to demonic visual effects that mimic music albums.

David Goldfarb, creator of heavy Metal: the Singers of Hell, revealed that he was inspired by an experience of playing Doom while listening to other music. "I decided to fire to the beat of the music because it gave me a sense of accomplishment. If I happen to step on the beat and shoot the enemy, it's cool." "I think in any good first-person shooter, the player will enter a certain state of flow and subconsciously play at a certain rhythm," Goldfarb explained. "

"many rhythmic games are especially good at getting people into flow. Rhythmic games make you feel like you're doing what you can't do in the real world-at least most players can't play music and gain a sense of achievement.... so I thought, what would happen if you combined the elements of the two types of games? it interests me."

"shooting games allow players to move freely and do whatever they want. If I add rhythm requirements on this basis, while allowing players to improvise, it should give players a sense of freshness that they have never seen before. Compared to allowing players to move completely freely, this will change the relationship between players and music, as well as the way they play games."

Music and melodies are integrated into almost all aspects of heavy Metal: hell Singers. In heavy Metal: hell Singers, players can move freely, but must follow the music beat to complete actions such as dodging, firing and reloading. only in this way can we maintain strength and combo scores. Goldfarb led the team to successfully build an early prototype, and since then, level design and music composition have been completed in parallel. Due to the relative backwardness of adding music to the level, the development team encountered a lot of challenges.

"We build levels around the stories in the overall idea, but as far as music creation is concerned, we will focus on the levels and the plot, and entrust composers to create music that suits the atmosphere of the level." "the composer starts to write music, and we add it to the level to see if it complements the game picture," Goldfarb said.... sometimes, if the speed of the music is too fast, or the level distribution is too messy, it is not suitable for a certain rhythm. therefore, we must solve this problem. " This also makes it difficult to balance the difficulty of heavy Metal: hell Singers. "some players are good at shooting games, but if you add rhythm elements, they suddenly become rookies."

Heavy Metal: hell Singers uses a lot of original music. Goldfarb revealed that the move is not only to avoid potential copyright disputes, but also because record companies will not separately license guitar, voice and drum versions of the music. But the most important reason is that the development team wants to use original music to promote synergy between music and game play. To this end, the development team has worked with famous heavy metal bands such as Trivium, System of a Down and Lamb of God.

"licensed concerts greatly change the play experience because they lack a sense of dynamics and you can only play static music all the time." "We decided to go our own way and do everything we can to respect metal music in many ways, such as visual design, music and animation, menu elements, and salute this type of music," Goldfarb said. "

Rock music and FPS's sense of killing complement each other. Some music games do not arouse players' desire for performance, but are more likely to use music as a narrative tool.

In the music adventure game "The Artful Escape" released in 2021, players can create a beautiful guitar solo at the touch of a button and really enter the inner world of the game's protagonist, a musical genius teenager who prefers the psychedelic vitality of gorgeous rock to his father's melancholy folk songs.

In Riley and Rochelle, a new film released in October 2022, the player's task is to understand the relationship between the two musicians and to piece together story clips through written notes, audio interviews, and even the music itself. If players look through the virtual vinyl record box, they will not only find some excellent music inspired by the music of the 1990s, but also find clues to the story in dates and lyrics.

Compared with the above two games, "We Are OFK" appears to be more alternative. By combining visual novels with interactive music videos, it tells the story of a virtual band in Los Angeles. More importantly, the songs in the game have been released and the virtual band is real. In a sense, "We Are OFK" is not only a game, but also like a mini album.

"the game is really using music in a variety of different ways." "but I also think we're using games to make music in a variety of ways, and if you know what I mean, I think it's interesting," said Teddy Diev, creator and lead singer of We Are OFK. "it took us four and a half years to make a game that serves different purposes."

However, the design process of We Are OFK still starts with the story. The story in the game is divided into five episodes, each focusing on a specific character, with a music video close to the theme. After finalizing the structure of the game, Diev began to work with lyricist Luna Santos and New Zealand indie band The Naked and Famous lead singer and guitarist Somme Bowers to write songs.

Diev is not only the creative director of the book, but also the voice of the game characters and the lead singer of the virtual band in the game. "We're not trying to make musicals, we just want the songs to fit the overall tone and emotion of the game." when you listen to the song, you may be able to feel something in the character's heart. " Diev also mentioned that he sang songs in a "deliberately breathing" voice, thus adding a dreamy and ethereal temperament to the game music. "I enjoy this process very much, because in music, I learned how to sing with a microphone during that time. In addition, I also learned how to use breathing to express emotion."

Why create a "mini album" game instead of releasing independent music? Mr. Diev said he thought it was important to tell the story behind record production and show the vulnerable side of musicians.

"when it comes to art or music, most people are keen to talk about incredible works." "but I want to tell people, 'look, it's hard,'" Diev said. In the story we told, several singers didn't get rich, and the mini album didn't make money in the end.... they just released it. "

Diev added that the game provides him with a different way of narration from traditional works. " The interaction of the game gives us the opportunity to let the players understand the thoughts of the characters and enter the inner world of the characters. Players can substitute characters, make choices for them, and see what they might say, not just what they say. The reason why we design a large number of dialogue options is not to enable players to decide the future of characters like God, but to let players know that each character has its own flaws. "

Many of the plots in "We Are OFK" are the most realistic portrayal of many new musicians. The developers of "Trombone Champion", "heavy Metal: hell Singers" and "We Are OFK" are interested in music. Wichita plays many instruments (not including trombones); Goldfarb has always been a fan of punk, metal and alternative rock music; and Diev, a former singer, now combines music with games in a novel way through We Are OFK.

Diev revealed that next, he wants the virtual band in the game to give a live performance. " We are making new music and are trying to launch some programs because we need to emphasize that "We Are OFK" is a music project. For us, music is definitely not a marketing gimmick. Now that we have told the story of a virtual band, we will continue to let it create and perform in the future. "

Given that the development cycle of video games is often as long as several years, the progress of virtual bands in making music may be slowed down. But in any case, We Are OFK has proved that the future of music games may affect the future of the music industry.

This article is compiled from: https://www.eurogamer.net/the-post-peripheral-music-game-evolution-implies-a-bright-future-for-the-genre

Original title: "The post-peripheral music game evolution implies a bright future for the genre"

Original author: Ed Nightingale

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