Freestyle

Make musical choices as the deadline approaches you!

Core mechanics:

• The duck swims around a maze-like river (remember Stanford's duck syndrome?)

• Intersections are made of musical choices

• The duck makes a turn to decide which musical element to add

• The duck is chased by a rotating log that represents the “deadline”

• When the log touches the duck, and deadline has arrived, and the game stops

Potential binary musical choices:

• Simple vs compound meter

• Melody notes
  

• Scales: pentatonic, major, minor, jazz

  • Ex. choose 1 2 3 5 6 with random octaves

• Key signatures: starting note, flat vs. sharp

• Timbre / instrument

• Chords

Potential distraction objects:

• Netflix / YouTube / TikTok

• Text / Messenger / Instagram

• Video game (ex. Mario sounds)

• Boba (slurping sounds)

Final Project Milestone #2

Final Project Milestone #1

Emily Kuo

November 25th, 2023

MUSIC 256A, Stanford University

Design Goals

1. Create a cohesive ear training game that is fun to play

2. Train players’ ears implicitly (prefer giving no instructions)

3. Connect musical ideas with abstract visuals (ex. use heights / colors to represent intervals)

Project Ideas

1. Tempo Run (inspired by Temple Run)

   1. Goal: train players to hear fundamental musical concepts

   2. Players need to quickly decide which path to take based on notes played

      1. Higher pitch vs. lower pitch

      2. Increasing jump vs. decreasing jump

      3. Consonant intervals vs. dissonant intervals

      4. Major chords vs. minor chords

   3. Game mechanics: turn, tilt, jump, slide

      1. Ex. play one note on the left channel and one note on the right channel, character should only turn towards the direction that plays the higher note

      2. Ex. character should tilt towards the path that plays the same pitch as the previously played pitch

      3. Ex. character should jump when the played notes jump up and slide when the played notes jump down

   4. Game gets harder as time passes

2. Harmony Karaoke

   1. Goal: train players to sing harmony

   2. Use the player’s voice as the main input (pitch tracking example in Chuck)

   3. Game levels

      1. Match the pitch of a note

      2. Match the pitches of an interval

      3. Match the pitches of a melody

      4. Match 3rds above a pitch

      5. Match 3rds above a melody

      6. Match 3rds below a pitch

      7. Match 3rds below a melody

      8. Sing harmony based on given chords

   4. Use recognizable melodies / songs as examples

   5. Develop two player mode if time allows (ie. let two players sing at the same time)

3. Dictate It!

   1. Goal: train players to learn music dictation

   2. Game levels

      1. Choose the right melodic contour

      2. Dictate melodic fragments (4-5 notes)

         1. Play a chord progression to determine the key and then play the melody

         2. Players click on objects that correspond to the right notes in order

         3. Players have the option to replay the chord progression or the tonic

      3. Dictate intervals played separately

         1. Play two notes

         2. Players choose the object that corresponds to the right interval type

      4. Dictate triads / seventh chords

   3. Maybe include all of these dictations in an open world?

Design Questions

1. Would players be able to figure out how to navigate the game without instructions?

2. What are some artful ways to visually represent musical concepts like intervals and chords?

References

1. https://trainer.thetamusic.com/en/content/music-training-games

2. https://www.eartraininggames.com/

3. https://utheory.com/app/skills