Author: Martin

Description:

Big Dumb (Papier–mâché) Robot’s Ridiculously Difficult Music Challenge (BDR Music Challenge) is (as the preposterous name implies) to be a music game.  The idea is the topology of the level changes in time with the music. As the guest runs along, stacks of colorful construction paper come zooming out of the ground at varying rates depending on the state of the music at that point in time. Whenever an instrument is soloing the stacks track with that instrument, however when all instruments are working in harmony the stacks track with the main beat and the loudness.

Should the guest fail to run and jump in perfect time with the music they will run into the side off a rising stack, or get caught in between stacks and become trapped. In a case where they run into the side of a stack (while running or trying to escape being trapped) they will explode as soon as they touch the side and have to restart the level. If they become trapped, fail to escape, and decide to wait out the song, they will explode at the end of the song and have to restart the level.

If I were to take this game further I would add obstacles like falling wads of paper and other papier-mâché creatures into the game. However, for this first prototype level I believe it will be challenging enough just to get the mechanic done.

For the prototype of BDR Music Challenge I plan to make a using Vanessa Mae’s rendition of Toccata And Fugue in D Minor. I have mapped out a rough level design sketch to give a sense of how the level will progress. I have also created a sprite sheet and loading screen to give an idea of what the art in the game will look like. You can listen to the MP3 I have uploaded to see just how “ridiculously difficult” playing such a level would really be. Hey, no one ever bought Super Meat Boy expecting it to be easy.

The Music:

I had to compress it down to 1600 HZ to upload it, so there has been some quality loss vMae_ToccataAndFugue_InDMinor_01

Level Design Sketch:

 

The guest should learn quickly that they will have to run from the very beginning to reach the first stack in time for it to rise. Then they will basically be holding forward most of the time and jamming on jump in time with the music for the rest of the level. Any mistakes and they will die. I’m considering using XNA rather than Game Maker or Unity because it will allow me to generate the stacks procedural with the music. However, I may not wish to do this as it will require giving up some control over what instruments to track (it is a question of expediency vs finesse).

Sprite Sheet:

 

So I am going to continue with the sentient (sapient if you want to be technical) equation, or 4 dimensional being. To that end I want to explore a world at string level. By this I mean conceptualizing what the world looks like at the subatomic level (string theory), where micro wormholes form and die every second. If you recall my character is able to control wormholes so I am thinking this is where it would live, or spend a lot of its time. It’s a place where it could go unnoticed and still extrude into our universe constantly.

So, I’m not done (mainly because of spending too much time working on the Maya plugin), but here is some concept art:

The hyper being as a gateway extrusion that the girl character can use to travel.

The hyper being acting unfriendly in the CIA lab.

Meet Graba Cho the manically depressed tree frog:

As Graba you have a serious problem. A lot of the time you don’t feel like doing anything. In fact it is so bad and you are so lazy that you pretty much can’t get anywhere or do anything and if you don’t find some good drugs you pretty much just want to lay down and die. And, it is very possible you will. On the other hand, sometimes you just act like a complete ass. You say things that piss people off. You take the insects other frogs were going to eat without asking; you basically don’t have a filter. You want to be normal, but to do that you have to find a drug that’s right for you. The only problem is there are so many different types. Sometimes when you take a drug you end up curled up in a ball sitting under the water that trickles off forest leaves just crying your eyes out. Other times you think you are Super Frog and can do anything, including jumping between trees that are way too far apart (splat). What you need is that drug in the goldilocks zone, the one that’s “just right” and to find it you will just have to experiment. Hopefully you won’t die along the way.

 

 

Illustration soon to come: Vergatis the equation with a heart of gold

As Vergatis you want people to understand you. But, like game theory, super string, advanced calculus, and many other subjects, most people find you daunting (only more so). You know that if people could just open their minds they could use you to unlock the secrets to life, the universe, and everything (42). Unfortunately you seem to be destined to a life of under utilization where you only get to socialize with stuffy post docs and ancient math professors, non of whom really understand you. Until, one day you meet a high school freshman who just gets you, and she makes you the happiest equation in the multiverse. Can you save her from having her life ruined by the CIA as they seek to exploit her to open wormholes to everywhere they want to go?

SUPPLEMENTAL

Conceptualizing Vergatis motivations and Interactions:

Notes/things to think about:

People use equations differently.

The vast majority of integrals can’t be solved (maybe irrelevant).

As a 4D equation. No one can represent you in less than 3 dimensions.

So I’m thinking about an equation in 4D. This could explain why the girl is the only one who can understand you as the equation. She is able to perceive time in a way that is not strictly linear. You are a completely non-linear entity dealing with linear characters. When you interact with humans you have to force yourself to exist in a linear time frame. Most humans can only perceive a small piece of you, the static piece. Most equations are either none sentient or don’t care about being understood so their extrusion into the perceptive universe of humans, or into linear time is normal to them. However, your motivations are different. You have been endowed with passion, a sense of exploration, and you are lonely. So you are constantly striving to communicate with the only beings that seem to share these qualities with you, linear beings.

When you look at a mathematician you are hoping to find three essential qualities:

• Intellect
• Curiosity
• Love and Empathy
  • This last quality must be a dual quality because some people can love without being empathetic people.
    • Example, some mathematicians love Euler’s identity , but are incapable of understanding the emotions of other humans.

As an equation you could communicated by manipulating the flow of time through the wormholes that those who can first solve you can create. This will create a song which can only be perceived by those who can understand you, and those who can understand you are only those who can wrap their head around non-linear thinking in the truest sense. A person who has some sort of non-linear perception could do this, or a super-computer (created specifically for this purpose by the CIA) could. But the later could never understand the beauty of your song. Those you can solve you can sing back to you if they know how by introducing variables that counter and alter your song, and this can change your actions. But, you can also act allow time to change within your wormholes. You can use your wormholes to change the density of the matter that corresponds to the subspacial or hyperspacial matter the wormhole passes through. With this you can become a force to be reckoned with, you can create wormhole weapons of mass destruction, or time machines, or simple squeeze and enemy into spaghetti no thicker than an electron. But you don’t want to do any of that, you want to help your friend experience the universe, you want to sing.

http://www.superliminal.com/cube/applet.html

http://hypercube.milosz.ca/

I was sitting there, reading all this, looking at these diagrams, and I was struck by how much visualizing a CYOA is like representing the many worlds interpretation of multiverse theory . Which is fitting because that is sort of what the reader is experiencing on a micro level.

Idea 1:

The world is made up on inanimate food stuff objects: soup cans, milk jugs, raman packets, etc. These objects interact like people and live in a world of advanced technology where they can we reused/rejuvenated and essentially live extremely long lives. Each characters’ interactions with the world are governed by their limitations as an object, however they for some reason inexplicably hold objects and use all the senses humans have. As the protagonist, the guest follows a detective who is investigating a case that has been cold for over 100 years, but has suddenly received new evidence.

Idea 2:

The guest lives the life of a tree. They must find the path to the upper canopy, weather great storms, choose when to drop their seeds, and so on. As they do so they observe how the world changes over centuries of existence. They see the rise of cities and suburban sprawl, and the destruction of their fellow trees.

That’s me. So I am an aspiring level designer and grad student at the ETC. I have experience with 3D modeling and 2D art. My background is in fine art and programming, and I work for a number of years in web design and development. I have experience with Unity, have worked a lot with Civ V modding and other modding tools, and I have used Unreal and Flash in the past (though not in a number of years).