indie games       indie music

literature review

Markku Eskelinen, “Towards Computer Game Studies,” in First Person.

Martin Pichlmair and Fares Kayali, "Levels of Sound: On the Principles

of Interactivity in Music Video Games," DiGRA 2007.

Zach Whalen, “Play Along - An Approach to Videogame Music,” http://www.gamestudies.org/0401/whalen/.

Ben Aslinger, "Genre on Genre: The Role of Music in Music Games," DiGRA 2009.

J. Alison Bryant, Anna Akerman, and Jordana Drell, “Diminutive Subjects, Design Strategy, and Driving Sales: Preschoolers and the Nintendo DS,” http://gamestudies.org/1001/articles/bryant_akerman_drell.

levels of sound: dichotomy

my dichotomy

emphasis on procedural and performative aspects:

rhythm gamesmusic performance gamessoundtrack analysisprocedural soundtrack generation

AND INTRODUCING:

music video games

rhythm games: bit.trip.runner

soundtrack analysis: audiosurf

procedural sound: everyday shooter

music performance: rock band

(no current indie examples)

early licensed music games1982-1984

journey escape (1982)

journey arcade (1983)

thompson twins adventure (1983)

shakin' steven's shaky game (1983)

golden age of licensing

1990-1998

michael jackson's moonwalker (1990)

crue ball (1992)

revolution x (1995)

wu tang shaolin (1998)

transition to singles: galvanize (2005)

enter the indies: music video games

2006-present

fire and forget (2006)

norwegian wood (2010)

inside a dead skyscraper (2010)

gather the feathers

design process

band: madelinenew album: black velvetsong: gather the feathers

goal: eat chickens

- dog runs at constant speed, birds slightly faster- ride picked strings to catch up- avoid obstacles created by fretting

speeding up:

when a string is picked, the dog will "ride" its vibration for a very short time (visualized as a rainbow). by alternating between picked strings, the dog can catch up to the fleeing birds.

avoid blocks:

when a chord is released, it sends a fence backwards along the string. birds fly over the fence, but if a dog hits it, it will be slowed down for a significant time. move strings to avoid it.

[full view for rotoscope]

[left hand close-up for fret coding]

[how to code the chords]

[right hand close-up for pick coding]

travis picking

Middle | X X | X X Index | X X | X X Thumb | X X X X | X X X X

thumb alternates on bass notes while index and middle alternate on treble

extra-design considerations:

- advergame: designed explicitly to sell another product--> analytics: code embedded in game will track links out to band's web page and iTunes sales pages--> follow impact of game collaboration on branding

- edugame: shows players another kind of guitar-play other than the simple strumming seen in Guitar Hero, etc.

- personal design: designed by a friend of the artist (me), for the artist, taking into account feedback, needs, and desires of artist

the future: less talk, more rock!?