Inspired by my design idea 1 from milestone A. Based on Andrew's
"drum_machine.ck" example.
Milestone A: Research + Preliminary Design
Design Idea 1: YESBART II
This idea was inspired by my love for trains, maps, and the game
Mini Metro (play it here).
Fun fact: "YESBART" was the codename of "A to JFK", so yes, this is another
SLOrk reference. (When will he stop??)
Thoughts:
Start out as a blank dark canvas (similar to the background of my audio
visualizer)
The user will plot points of different colors on the canvas simulating
different lines in real time (The above diagram is an example with 3 lines
mimicking the BART map. Circles are stations and the rounded rectangles
are trains)
I plan for the sounds generated to be of many layers in terms of
harmonics. In other words, I’m prioritizing harmony over diverse
instruments. I’m envisioning an array of rich synthesized sounds
without any rhythmic elements (like drums). This is very different from
the music I make and is intentional!
I would like the trains to produce single-line melodies when they pass
normal stops, and create harmony when they pass an interchange (such as
the white stations in the diagram above). Only trains produce sounds as
they’re the only moving element!
I plan to depict a combination of dynamics and tempo by the number of
trains, lines, and dots (stations) on the map. The more expansive the
metro system is, the busier it gets and the louder/faster everything
moves!
To summarize, I want to express fundamentally why I love trains in this
project. Subways move massive amounts of people around under the city, and
that to me is similar to our blood vessels. They allow convenient, fast
travel between locations and bring people together, forming countless
interpersonal dynamics. I want to use my subway map design to serve as a
metaphor of the bond between my family, friends, and I.
Instead of multiples of 2, we have different rhythmic patterns on each
grid!!
Gameplay would be similar to the original game. We start out with one
block and a block appears after every user interaction. Blocks with the
same rhythmic patterns multiply and reduce
Different rhythmic patterns produce different sounds, with longer
(towards the bottom) rhythms having deeper frequencies and timbre
More grids on the map (closer to game over) corresponds to more chaotic
music, as there would be more musical elements happening
Ever since I first played the original game, its UI design reminds me of
the layout of a physical electronic music sequencer. Perhaps this is my
calling to finally implement a blend of the two! I wonder if it would be
less or more stress-inducing…
Design Idea 3: Powder 2024
This idea is inspired by the 2013 game The Powder Toy (download it here).
Thoughts:
Multiple choices of textures similar to the original game, including
water, fire, stone (without which everything falls into the void), and
various gases
Sounds get produced when different entities make contact with each other
(e.g. water falls onto stone, water puts out fire, magma touches oil -
BOOM!)
Possible use of SndBufs/LiSas to better emulate certain sounds, such as
raindrops and explosions
The user creates matter using the custom UI and produces sounds in real
time
This idea originated when I was reminiscing about my early childhood years
with a friend a few days ago. Powder was one of my favorite games to play during recess on the school computers
when I was in third/fourth grade. Eight-year-old me would be very happy to
play a modern, musical version of the game!
