Pipe Dream for a Project

A friend of mine said to me "you should just make your own game!" Now I'm kind of considering it.

Here's an idea I just had.

An iOS title that's Fl0w + Ikaruga (but not as hard) + Bloom.

You control a ... thing ... like you do in fl0w, pushing a button on the screen to move to the right, and tilting the iPod/Phone/Pad to move up and down. You have to go through gates, and avoid obstacles. And you get weapons, should the obstacles become a little too hairy.

But, of course, it's a music game.

As you go through gates, the difficulty level increases (like, every 10 or so gates). Each new difficulty level introduces a new layer to the music.

Very Basic Example:
Difficulty Level 1: just drums
Difficulty Level 2: guitars fade in
Difficulty Level 3: some other instrument fades in

So you start out with just a bit of music, and you end up with a full piece of music.

The gates start out large, and get smaller. Depending on where you enter the gate (high or low) a tone will sound, either high or low in pitch. Maybe the pitches you end up with could be remembered, and come back every so often throughout the game, creating an overarching melody that gets logner and longer. I want an element of user-generated creativity in this game.

Getting near obstacles will fade a "danger" sound in and out, and this sound will mesh with the music of the level.

Getting hit could warp the music, make it more dissonant, until you stay away from obstacles for a while, entering enough gates. Continue to get hit, the music gets more and more dissonant, and then you die (?).

Weapons are also musical.
Bullet type: Pure sine tones, like in Bloom. Tap the screen. High or low on the screen = different pitches.
Bomb type: Big ass wagner orchestral bass drum sound.
Laser type: Fluttering strings.
Etc.


And maybe there could be a boss at the end of each level, with his own musical contribution.



So, has this been done to death? I don't really play many iOS games, so I'm not sure.


Also; don't steal this, or I will find you, and I will kill you.

tilt controls just aren't very good generally, so it could end up being way too difficult to actually play. cool idea though

Also, LOL how the hell would I even make something like this!? 

tilt controls just aren't very good generally, so it could end up being way too difficult to actually play. cool idea though

That's true, but I generally don't want this game to even be that difficult. I want it to mostly be about the music, and the creative element the player can add to it.

the main thing is tilt controls need two things

1. a fairly large deadzone in the middle so you aren't accidentally moving either direction so every move is deliberate. but not such a large deadzone that you're craning your wrists to get it to do anything.

2. A way to reset that deadzone so it's center point is however the device is currently being held. you can't assume everyone is playing it in the same seated position. some games on smart devices shit the bed when you lay on your back and try to use tilt controls because it's assuming you're holding the phone(or tablet) in front of you while standing or sitting.

now that i think about it, skyward sword for the wii does both of these, with out it the game would be horrifying to play any way other than standing in an empty room.

Good advice! Thanks.

2. A way to reset that deadzone so it's center point is however the device is currently being held. you can't assume everyone is playing it in the same seated position. some games on smart devices shit the bed when you lay on your back and try to use tilt controls because it's assuming you're holding the phone(or tablet) in front of you while standing or sitting.

Ya, "Tilt to Live" had this

i like it. i don't think i've seen anything quite like this, and it certainly hasn't been done to death.
i like how that user-generated melody is a really interesting game mechanic, but you're planning on doing it quite subtly. that's great stuff right there.

Stencyl has iOS support, along with accelerometer control. It's not too hard to get started with if you want to give it a shot. Most of the mechanics you've described sound like basic action-platformer stuff and shouldn't be that hard to implement.

So I haven't made much progress on this, but I DID make THIS: http://ryanleber.com/content/AdaptiveDemos.swf

lol, I put it up on my website as a demo for the adaptive music stuff I can do.

I'm trying to throw together a really simple "sneak past enemies without getting caught" example, but I can't find any good top-down sprites to use.

If it says anything, I would buy this. If you do this I request a Windows port lol for cheapo's like me lol.