Research for Music Hero : Part 1 - Platforming

So since this game kind of has two aspects to it, a rhythm game and a platforming game, I decided to start out by researching each specific genre linked to Music Hero.  I will say what I feel could work in our game and what I think might not work.

So to start out, I would like to introduce you to...

I have had this for my Gamecube since 2005, and it is one hell of a game.  You use a peripheral sent out by Nintendo called the DK Bongos to move left and right, perform combos, and fight the baddies as you try and accumulate the highest banana total for each level.

I picked this game for its use with the Bongo controller.  You use the left pad to move left, the right to move right, and a sound sensor was used to hear claps, which performed about everything else.  Because it only had 3 different buttons, the game worked and didn't work in a few aspects.  It was easy to get in and start pounding the drum, moving across the screen to your goal, and it was lots of fun!  What became hard was the advanced aspects of the game.  Ground pounds, punches, slaps, and wall jumps became hard to use because they were used only in specific instances.  There wasn't a couple of buttons to fiddle around, you just had to be lucky sometimes.

The concept of a musical instrument can work, and the game still was a blast to play, and where our game can benefit is in using more than 3 buttons to work our attacks, combos, specials, jump, whatever we need to make our game fun.

Speaking of Donkey Kong, this is by far my favorite 2-D platformer of this generation.  Never have I experienced truly breathtaking level design than in this game.  This is where we can learn the core mechanic and fun for our game.

I praise this game mostly due to the little things it has.  There are secrets littered everywhere in each level, and only by stopping and examining bits and pieces can you find what you are looking for.  This could be a cool mechanic to include in our game, but I am looking a lot deeper.

This game made me realize how well you can design a level.  For example, some of the minecart levels include tricky jumps.  For a beginner new to platforming, they might just jump the highest they can to make it, and most of the time it works.  But these levels include what can be called "short-hopping".  It essentially means how long you hold the jump button is how long you stay in the air before coming back down.  I soon learned a lot of these tricky jumps meant I didn't need to reach the peak of my jump, just halfway.

What also works is the seamless way they do their design.  They include, after you beat the level, to do a speed run of that level, and the faster you get to the goal, the better medal you achieve.  They designed these levels with speed running (where you try and beat a game in the lowest amount of time) in mind, and then made all the little secrets and features later to play around with.

Our game can benefit with that deep design feel to it.  When we play our instrument as a controller, I feel a need for it to work in specific ways so it feels like we are truly playing an instrument in game.  Sure we can look around, just mash buttons and make it sound like an instrument, but when it's done in a specific way, then we truly feel like playing the rhythm section of this game.

Oh, and it includes a level based around the background music, shown above.

The last platforming game I will talk about is Rayman Origins.  This is my second favorite 2-D platformer of this generation, but also my favorite multiplayer platformer as well, far exceeding New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Just like Donkey Kong Country Returns, Rayman Origins has the pleasure of having some of the best level design I have seen in a long time.  And just like DKCR, it also has hidden areas, speed running, and great music.  However, it is not as difficult as DKCR (there are no lives, you can just resume at the checkpoint every time, and characters can balloon themselves just like in NSMBWii), but it has a really great art direction.  It is funny, zany, over the top, and filled with unique characters and crazy bosses, which I feel our game can benefit from.

But I feel this game shows how multiplayer can be used the best in a platformer beat-em-up style game.  This game lets you compete and cooperate at the same damn time!  Sometimes jumps cannot be made, and you need a partner to give you a small boost (by letting you stand on them or jump on them), and maybe even just stand there as you try and get a pesky secret, in case you die and need a friend to pop your balloon life.  But as you collect the Lums throughout the game (the equivalent of coins in Super Mario Bros. or bananas in Donkey Kong Country, without the 100 = extra life bit), you are competing with your friends over who can grab the most.  Or maybe you sacrifice getting Lums yourself so you can increase the amount of Lums your partner, and by all accounts, your team as well can achieve at the end of the level.

This game pictures a great use of using your friends as a means to an end, whether good or bad.  It's competitive and cooperative.

One more quick word.  This game is getting an exclusive sequel for the new Wii U system, and in the demo was included another music based level.  However, this level doesn't just feature a level where the music plays a key role in determining the traps and perils, but it becomes the level!  By using little things like jumping at the right part or punching through a barrier, we can include little parts like cymbals crashing or a guitar riff behind the background music, so it feels like we are indeed playing the instrument we have in our hands.