Do you want to make more music? Sure, we all do.

Music creation is the nature of this game that I am going to create, first and foremost. I want to ensure that anyone can pick up the game, successfully performing combos and creating a symphony, just as any 'core gamer would. When it comes to music, I have a bunch of ideas, but I believe ultimately that each "hit" that you perform in a combo will activate a string of notes, and each successful hit after that will continue the chain, until you have completed the combo or you stop shooting the highlighted spots on the enemy(ies). These sequences will be nothing more than translating the simple data of the sequence into music through the engine. The hard part is making the engine sync the music, but that might be solved by a looped time segment or have a background process running that tells the game when the bullets will fly into the targets.

What this post is really about is the music creation process. When I say that, I am not actually referring to the in-game song creation, but am actually referring to the system I wish to implement that creates a song for you out of what you composed during the stage/level/area. If done correctly, it will take the shots you made, take the corresponding sound files, and compile it with the beat in the background, making an mp3 for you for each level, which you should be able to choose where you want to save (if you care to). I also want to create a community site for the game that gives you the ability to not only post your reaction to the game/levels, but your crafted mp3's as well that come from your gameplay.

I want to ultimately have the ability to replay gameplay, such as the "demos" that are used in the Unreal series. Each level will auto-record all the statistics of the gameplay, and will allow for playback through a feature accessed from the main menu. You will be given the option of whether you want to save your gameplay or not after each level; the file size of the gameplay will be minimalistic, unlike a recorded video, and will allow for camera manipulation so you can use that for machinima or to craft music videos or whatnot.

I want the game to feel like an experience, something you can't find anywhere else. It should be an escape to a place that can only be accessed from within the game, that allows passive personalization, to where you end up with goodies (the songs) when you are done playing. Replay value would be substantial; since every time you play, you could be creating a new song. I want to offer the game at a reasonable price, because I feel that if the game is worth playing, word of mouth will more than pay the difference from the cheaper sale.

That's it for me.
Happy April Fool's Day Everyone!
Bryan

"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams"

I've currently been discussing other things with team members and friends about the game, but it's about the storyline and not something I can put up here, without fear of it ruining the game for anyone wishing to play it. So, instead of me posting about that, I am going to be talking about the game's enemies.

Since you are a virus in the game, it only makes sense that your opposition would be some form of combatant against viruses, or an "anti-virus" as I've said more times than I care to have. Mithos and I were discussing this and we figured that since we as humans use reference to illicit memories, then it would only be appropriate for everything in our future computer systems to have reference to real-world application. This also works in the situation of viruses, where physicians/doctors assist in curing our viruses as humans, it would only make sense for them to be the ones to stop viruses in the virtual world. Norton Antivirus' stethoscope is a good example of this implication that such a program solves your ailments, just like a doctor would. Now I know its weird to think you would face doctors, but they can just be agents sent by the main AI, just as doctors are given authority by the governs of law to practice.

It makes sense to a degree to have authority fighting you, but ultimately, what do cops know about curing diseases? They would get infected just as easily as the residents they are trying to protect. I think there is a great deal of things I could do to expand upon this idea, but I think it fits perfectly within the realm of my game's concept. Also, I think it would be quite comical to have ambulances pulling up with doctors pouring out of them for you to fight. I'm sure its not politically correct, but we all hate paying our doctors obscene amounts of money for minimal service anyways, right?

Life in a Digital City

I have decided to go with a more realistic approach to the graphical style. I obviously can change this at any point, but every time I visualize the game in my head, it appears the same way to me, partially from the suggestions of my friend Erin. I see a cityscape with one main road running through, huge skyscrapers, crowded sidewalks; basically a populated city.

I was originally thinking of using arenas and a gate system (like an actual door) sorta like (if you have played it) the scene in Metal Gear Solid 4 where you are fighting Screaming Mantis in the tech center. The areas would flow down towards the center of the arena, where the guardian would be. I decided against this, mainly because it's too.. plain. Sure it provides a solution to the problem, but it's not really a creative one that would be memorable. So, the city idea was born.

The way the environment would work is that the "Conductor" is actually a resident in the virtual world, similar to an MMO, like Second Life (even though I loathe SL) or There. He utilizes his avatar to appear like a normal user in the computer system/network, and all along is plotting to take it down. The anti-v agents blend in with the crowd of the city, but the hacker has built a widget for his avatar than allows him to see their code. Battles would break out in the crowds themselves and take place in different locations (just like in real life, we have different cities, so would our systems), and you would be confined to a sector of the city before you could access the next.

The Guardians will actually be towards the outskirts of the town, or in front/on top of a base building. Your character can modify the space around him, so running up walls of buildings and such is not a problem. Just as a virus can manipulate your computer system, so too can a Conductor. When you defeat the Guardian, it will give you access to a new city, of which I have not figured out the method of transportation.

That's pretty much all I got so far. I'll update more as I come up with it. I feel this would be the best way to represent the game, but I'm always open to suggestions.

The design of the game, or in short, Game Design

I am still trying to figure out what kind of style I want to utilize in the creation of this game. Since your character has a "Virtual Representation Virus", he's going to be somewhat formed as he would be in real life, if maybe for his own preference in the aesthetics of it, but the game is going to be in the future, and currently Operating Systems are confined to binary code and have no physical representation.

I was thinking that the OS' in the future would be reliant on a physical space representation, utilizing holographs where all the data is represented by a visual form. This would make more sense to why Anti-virii applications are represented by soldiers/human forms. How cool would it be if everything in your computer was like a small city, such as the 90's cartoon ReBoot. The way technology is going right now, it's only a matter of time before we all have personal heads up display, whether it is built into our glasses, contacts, or is an implant (which is least likely, considering the controversy of biomodification without 'need'), I feel it will eventually happen.

A lot of what I am going to need to accomplish with this game is immersing the player in a virtual world. Now, what comes to mind when you say the word "virtual"? Is it a land akin to the endless polygonal halls of Tron or is it an avatar? I think everyone will soon adopt a virtual representation of themselves as a cross-platform avatar. If our world as a whole is so dependent on what we look like, why not alter it? Who says we can't look like we want to look in a virtual world? Online interaction is primarily a facade anyways, we don't talk the same, we don't act the same, we are able to personify our inner thoughts without instant repremand. Why not take a virtual representation to a new level then?

Back to the primary question at hand, the art style. I'm really torn from whether I want to design the game around polygonal/vector shapes and stick to the look of the aforementioned Tron, making it somewhat similar to Rez, or whether it should look like a real city, just have a bunch of binary floating around and make it similar to what the Matrix tried to portray. Either way, the technical aspect will be shown, but it's a matter of will a bystander be able to tell what's going on, will the player feel like they are experiencing life inside of a computer?

If you guys want, let me know what you think. Maybe I'm thinking too much into this, but I sorta have to decide on a visual style before I can make the visuals.

E.Code Symphon.exe

Here is the Game Design Document for the game. Let me know what you think!

E.code Symphon.exe

Bryan J. Taylor

High Concept

A first-person musical shooter. You are a hacker inside a computer system, using a VRV (virtual representation virus) to implant yourself into the OS and combat an AI that is trying to regulate data flow on the internet. Codenamed a "conductor", you use music to overload servers and shut down anti-virus executables, and ultimately their host programs.

Features

• Music is your weapon, and instruments are your guns, choose between strings, piano, and guitar.
• Combos control the chaos! Segments of your enemies will light up to show you paths for combos, then you can fire shots at multiple enemies at once and activate a sequence of music!
• When you are done setting up your combo, the bullets will fly out of your gun and slow down when they get near your enemies, and then will slam into them in sync with the background beat.
  
• The more combos you land within a specific time, the higher your score.
• As you defeat enemies, you'll fill your health and your energy meter. Once your energy meter is filled, you can use the collected energy to overload the gate to the next area.
• Once you activate the gate, all the music you've conducted so far will echo back to you and will store in your database.
• When you arrive through the final gate, there will be a guardian for you to battle. You will use a combination of tactic against the guardian's weak point and the symphony you've already conducted to destroy the guardian and shut down the sector!
  

Player Motivation

The player battles against an AI and it's forces that is trying to restrict data flow and enforce censorship on the internet. (subject to change)

Genre

Artistic FPS

Target Customer

Anyone that enjoys music and wants to play a somewhat casual shooter.

Competition

None are similar to this game that would directly conflict with the sale of this game or the other.

Unique Selling Points

• Dynamic musical shooter, compose a symphony of virtual destruction!

• Hacker-themed storyline, cool tech-based graphical style
  

• Cover system
  

• Intricate and challenging boss battles

Target Hardware

Windows PC, Playstation Network, or Xbox Live Arcade

Design Goals

Awesome: Every moment in the game should offer an opportunity to pull back from the game and appreciate the musical gameplay.

Musical: Give the player the feeling that they are conducting a masterpiece while playing the game. Ensure that they are given the opportunity to play the game differently each time.

Fusion: The combination of light, color, and music will envelop the player in a controlled synaesthesia experience.

Welcome to the site!

This is our blog for the independently developed musical first person shooter, E.code Symphon.exe.

I will update it with progress as the game progresses. We are shooting to have a beta developed by next year, hopefully in time for the IGF or PAX.

Contact me if you think you may be able to assist in the production of this game (especially coders).

Thanks,
Bryan