2020 version of the Music and Gameplay Class
Your final project is to make a music game! This can be a continuation of any of your past projects, or something new. By now you have some example code at your disposal, and have made projects in some of the main music game genres - focus your attention on making something approachable and well-documented.
If someone found this game on itch.io, would they be able to play it without you walking them through it? This means that things like controls, goals, and cues need to be well communicated, and you should have audio+visual feedback for every gameplay element.
HERE IS A LINK to the final project requirements. Note that it is now a requirement that you post your game on itch.io! You can set it to private if you wish, but it must be a build on the itch page.
As of March 23, we now have a revised syllabus, with updated classroom locations and schedule.
NYU is now fully remote, which means the bulk of our instructions is going to take place over zoom. Check Slack and your NYU Email for the Zoom Links
Monday Class (10 am - 12:45 pm EST)
Thursday Office Hours (10 am - noon EST)
I'm also starting up virtual coworking time, basically an even more informal version of office hours, where I will screenshare my own work on class examples and rhythm games.
Mondays and Thursdays (2 pm - 4 pm EST)
If you're looking for assignment submission instructions, that's now on a Wiki page over here
Assignment (Due Monday April 20): take one of two possible example projects (Block Dog or Tour) and turn it into a "music game."
It's up to you what this means - Block Dog is grid-based, so you could think of it as a step sequencer, or choose to make it rhythmic and industrial. Tour is more freeform and aleatoric; maybe you'd choose that to make a more ambient experience.
Either way, put some thought into how you can map a musical system onto the gameplay. This can be as simple as quantizing feedback sounds to musical intervals, or a a dynamic score with multiple layers.
You should be able to complete this project with minimal to no coding, if desired. In Block Dog, swap out the sound effects and music on the "AudioDirector" game object. In Tour, these sounds are on the "AudioManager" game object and its children. I encourage you to poke around with some coding if you so desire, but keep the core gameplay intact!
Upload your builds here when you're done
DUE: March 30 April 6
Working alone or in groups of 2-3, make a music game proof of concept (basically a more evolved prototype). You can use one of your prototypes as a starting point, if you wish, but I encourage you to branch out or start over with a new concept.
Submit a Windows Build and a Screen Capture HERE
We will be doing a Check-In on March 23 or March 30 that I will grade Pass/Partial/Fail, worth 20 points (20% of your midterm grade). I’m looking for something playable! As always, if you are absent, please upload some gameplay footage to the appropriate Student Submissions Folder
Assignment: Have a playable prototype version of your midterm game ready by Monday March 30. We will do brief group critiques in breakout rooms, and I will be checking progress.
Also watch Fantasia or Fantasia 2000
Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 are both available on Disney Plus. Disney Plus has a free 7 day trial, and is about $7 a month after that.
Classic Fantasia comes with a Content Warning for nudity (it's pretty mild, involving mythical creatures). If you want to skip this in Fantasia, it's between 1:18:00-1:33:00, and again from 1:55:00-1:58:00
Due In-Class Monday March 9
Revise your Rhythm Game, now using a MIDI file for your beatmap (follow THIS TUTORIAL if you need a refresher)
Particular areas to explore:
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Art/Theming - Add particles, trail effects, or sprites! Change the speed, make it look pretty, get rid of the default unity skybox!
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Revise your music - maybe extend your song to be longer, or change it up based on feedback you received during class
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Adding reference points and changing the cues - maybe the cues make noise when they appear. Maybe you could add another visual element that happens every beat, but isn't scored. How could you add a musical "grid" that moves in time?
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Animating background elements - we will explore music-driven animation in later weeks, but even some idle background animation can make the space feel much more alive.
Due In-Class Monday March 2
Option 1: Using the template project, make new music and a beatmap for the game. The beatmap is essentially your level - edit this on the "Beatmap" game object. The audio clip for the music should go on the clock script. make sure to change the tempo to match your song.
Option 2: If you feel comfortable with coding, try making your own rhythm game. you still need to make the music and beatmap, but maybe you change the inputs, the feedback, or the theming (instead of falling sphere's, use a different cue/input system)
Due In-Class Monday Feb 24
Try to go in a different direction with this last sound toy prototype - maybe use a different control surface (for example, you can get input from a MIDI controller using Kejiro Takahashi's MIDIJack: https://github.com/keijiro/MidiJack), do something that plays with timing and rhythm, and get away from bouncing balls.
In addition to presenting these in class, please upload a Windows Build in THIS FOLDER
Due In-Class Monday Feb 10
You can either expand on your original sound toy prototype, or go off in a different direction. If you choose the latter, I recommend experimenting with synthesis in Unity, using the SynthBounce scene, or building off the example repo from pixlpa.
Due In-Class Monday Feb 3
Create some kind of digital sound toy in Unity. I have provided an example project for you, called SoundToyBasic (start with the scene called "BouncingBalls").
At a minimum, replace all of the audio in the experience by changing the PlatformBounce component in the 2dBouncePlatformModel prefab (see this screenshot for reference), and change up the visuals.
I encourage you to do more extreme alterations of the project, or start from scratch!