Metrognome is a musical platformer. Each level is a song, and the players actions produce sound effects that will tie in with the music. Players are rewarded for keeping their actions in time with the beat, and for trying levels multiple times until they find the perfect flow. The game will eventually have some RPG elements - additional abilities you can unlock that hinge on your ability to work with the music. My goal for the game is to create the sense that the player is part of a musical.

Monday, March 14th, 2011

It's been a long time. I've gotten a job that pays the bills, which allows to me devote my creative energies towards whatever project I want. I'm not sure Metrognome will pay off as a financial venture, but I strongly believe in the artistic possibilities behind it. Over the past few months I've been working on a new version of the game. It's in straight 2D, rather than the old 2-and-a-half-D. I found that the 3D elements were distracting from the gameplay and detracted from the art style I was going for.

Wednesday, February 10th, 2009

I've put Metrognome on hiatus for a while. While I learned a lot from the experience and would like to return to it eventually, I found that the project was pulling me in too many different directions. For now I am working on the "Spirit" game environment, which has a more narrow focus I think is more relevant as a potential portfolio piece.

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

The environment graphics are significantly improved, although still not fully polished. I redid most textures at higher resolutions and added some fake shadows which help bring everything together. I've also found a good compromise on the music/rhythm system, wherein various objects (such as the crank-wheel by the boiler) can be manipulated to produce a sound that fits the both the object and the music.

Below is the current gameplay video. For some reason it lags when Vimeo compresses it, which makes it a little harder to hear the sounds sync up with the collectibles.

For next week, I plan to have created texture and improved animation for the main character, and a nicer interface.

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

The new site is finally up. At this point the demo level is generally functional, but most graphics are still placeholders and characters need to be better animated to make it more obvious what's going on to the player. Below is a sample playthrough of the current level:

My main focus for now is on improving graphics to help my marketability as a game artist. But there are some interesting design issues I hope to address when I have time. The original intention of the game was to create a feeling of a "musical" world (musical referring specifically to a Broadway or Disney style number, as opposed to simply "anything related to music.) The sounds that played throughout the level were intended to feel like they arose naturally out of the surrounding world, not an arbitrary set of notes that broke immersion. In particular, one of the biggest inspirations for the game is the percussion performance "Stomp", which uses everyday urban items to produce catchy, exciting rhythms.

Unfortunately acquiring a wide variety of appropriate sounds and appropriate graphics to accompany them is a long process, and stretches my abilities in too many different directions for the time being. For now, I'm using simple floating music notes as markers for the player to trigger sound effects. It doesn't nearly convey the feel I'd like, but it at least gets the basic idea across.

A much bigger problem is how to communicate to players the kind of playstyle I'm intending them to have. Staying in rhythm is a lot easier than it looks. For the most part you just keep your character moving forward, jumping up to hit the collectable as they approach. But rhythm-based sidescrollers aren't exactly a staple archetype and the video game community in general doesn't have the "vocabulary" to instinctively play the way they do for traditional sidescrollers, first person shooters or other major archetypes.