Synaesthete.
http://www.synaesthetegame.com/


Synaesthete
Synaesthete is a music-driven arcade-style shooter which seeks to engage the senses with a synergy of light, color, and sound. Synaesthete creates a harmony between player actions and in-game music, in a way that each influences the other. The rhythm and flow of the music is expressed in every detail of the game so that the visual and audio are not two experiences, but one.
A finalist in the 2008 Independent Games Festival and it's pretty rad.
Take the way Rez builds it's electronic music a little more with each level and add in a Robotron style barrage of enemies from all angles and throw in the beat matching keyboard banging of Stepmania and you have this game.
If you have no idea what that is supposed to mean here is a gameplay video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WbCqBTQ2b4
For an independent student project it's a load of fun if you are into a mashup of everything I listed below. It can be played in quick little sessions, the music is pretty rocking, and the game has tons of style.
And remember, Count Stabbington likes to stab.
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The combination of games seems cool...but what is Stepmania, exactly?
It's a freeware DDR clone that you can make your own songs for(all you need is the .mp3 and a 'stepfile'--Just a file listing what arrows show up when. You can even make 'em manually.).
It's a freeware PC DDR front-end thingy, DDR except done on your arrow keys.
Edit: Yeah, what yalborap said.
I used it for an example here because I can't think of any keyboard based rhythm games for the PC.
Guitar Hero or Rock Band might be a more topical reference as more people would know what I was talking about, but this has no DDR pad or drum kit, just you and your keyboard.
And magic spells.
I KISS YOU!
Anyway, I'll have to try this out.
Battle.net: Fireflash#1425
Steam Friend code: 45386507
You run and dodge with WASD, while playing the beatmania game with JKL(with I for special move).
So you play one handed "guitar hero" while dodging mostners on the screen.
The problem I have with this game currently is the key notes. Too many at once, you can just bash all three buttons repeatedly with no penalty, and the notes don't give any feed back. It seems to go with a music, but not enough. Miss a note, the music still plays. Get a note, the music still plays. Same reason why I didn't like early versions of keymania.
Boss battles are how I'd want the game all the time. Good key notes and you know how to dodge.
edit: and they are gay for C# and XNA as well oh god
edit 2: A better example of a recent game from DigiPen is Empyreal Nocturne. Doesn't look as good as Synaesthete, but the gameplay is leagues better.
uh, why?
I was going to say something about C#, but I realized that the above poster is one of the creators of said game and surely knows tons more than I do. So how much efficiency is lost with C# compared to C++, anyway?
From all the dick waving charts I've seen, 9% sounds about right. It really depends on how the code is written (the more you rely on the garbage collector, the slower C# will be).
Personally, I think the performance decrease is a small price to pay for a better programming environment. Game A might be 9% slower than Game B, but Game A is finished and out the door while Game B is still tracking memory leaks in beta testing.
Damn you to hell.
My only complaints are:
A) The learning curve, which is nonexistent. The first few stages are really easy, and after that, trying to perfectly follow the patterns has like a 500% jump in difficulty. Now, you don't need to perfectly follow them, but goddamn it, with how many hours of stepmania I played, I expect to be perfect by now.
C) Areas need to last longer. You get into the pattern of an area and it's over almost instantly in some, if you're any good. There should be tweaking options like, say doubling-tripling enemy health for those of us who want to take their time and enjoy the areas.
Other than that, I really enjoy this game, despite the complaints of others in the thread. There's just something about rhythm games.