What changed
0 fixes4 additions2 changes0 removals
addedA Little Bit of VR Rhythm Game HistoryOne of the motivations behind that was to use the new medium, VR, to take players to different places. So trippy visuals turned into a beach, desert and ice desert, three environments up in the air, at varying altitudes, and three underwater environments with dolphins, whales, and increasing levels of pollution due to industrialization. Finally, an apocalyptic machines against humans 360° dystopia, an asteroid field and a place beyond time and space where you would meet "the blue mother of all dragons".
addedA Little Bit of VR Rhythm Game HistoryWhile Story Mode, with its dragons, did (and still does) have its fans, to be honest, it became clear quite early in Early Access (which began April 5, 2016) that the original idea probably would have been the smarter approach to creating a VR rhythm game. But we live to learn, so in October 2016, the very first version of Free Mode was released: This added support for osu! beatmaps (turning 7 or 8 songs available at that time to more than 10.000 songs with high quality community created beatmaps). For Free Mode, I also added new environments/arenas, including two clubs, two sci-fi arenas and a crazy 360° gameplay prototype. And the whole game started moving from its initial fantasy/environmentalism-style towards a more sci-fi approach, and kind of back towards its origins.
changedA Little Bit of VR Rhythm Game HistoryLong story short: Also, the scope and complexity increased hugely, Story Mode development almost completely stalled and that's why we were still in "Early Access". Still in 2016 (September 2016, to be precise), the idea for a smaller scoped, more streamlined rhythm game called Beat the Rhythm was born, a game that is primarily focused on the actual game mechanics instead of mixing dragons with Retro Clubs (anyone got the Ruirized achievement ? ;-) ).
addedA Little Bit of VR Rhythm Game HistoryBeat the Rhythm is its own game, with its own style, and I like to call it Holodance's young brother. The cool thing is that often, the elders learn from the younger ones - so quite a few of the things you see in Holodance today were actually developed for Beat the Rhythm and ported back so our existing players can enjoy those new features already.
changedA Little Bit of VR Rhythm Game HistoryAnd that's where the custom BeatSaver-map support comes in: The big project that I'm currently working on, which will become its own (free) standalone tool but also part of both, Holodance, and Beat the Rhythm, is a universal beatmap editor designed for the community to be able to BAM! "Beatmap All Music!" ... osu! beatmaps work quite well for catching and punching orbs but if you have ever tried the slicing mechanic with osu! beatmaps in Holodance, it's quite obvious that it doesn't work that well.
addedA Little Bit of VR Rhythm Game HistoryThe BSMG-community has done a tremendous job mapping songs specifically for that kind of mechanic, and you can now play those maps with our engine, just like osu!, and the procedural mapping that lets you play any music file
Holodance changes
addedOne of the motivations behind that was to use the new medium, VR, to take players to different places. So trippy visuals turned into a beach, desert and ice desert, three environments up in the air, at varying altitudes, and three underwater environments with dolphins, whales, and increasing levels of pollution due to industrialization. Finally, an apocalyptic machines against humans 360° dystopia, an asteroid field and a place beyond time and space where you would meet "the blue mother of all dragons".
addedWhile Story Mode, with its dragons, did (and still does) have its fans, to be honest, it became clear quite early in Early Access (which began April 5, 2016) that the original idea probably would have been the smarter approach to creating a VR rhythm game. But we live to learn, so in October 2016, the very first version of Free Mode was released: This added support for osu! beatmaps (turning 7 or 8 songs available at that time to more than 10.000 songs with high quality community created beatmaps). For Free Mode, I also added new environments/arenas, including two clubs, two sci-fi arenas and a crazy 360° gameplay prototype. And the whole game started moving from its initial fantasy/environmentalism-style towards a more sci-fi approach, and kind of back towards its origins.
changedLong story short: Also, the scope and complexity increased hugely, Story Mode development almost completely stalled and that's why we were still in "Early Access". Still in 2016 (September 2016, to be precise), the idea for a smaller scoped, more streamlined rhythm game called Beat the Rhythm was born, a game that is primarily focused on the actual game mechanics instead of mixing dragons with Retro Clubs (anyone got the Ruirized achievement ? ;-) ).
addedBeat the Rhythm is its own game, with its own style, and I like to call it Holodance's young brother. The cool thing is that often, the elders learn from the younger ones - so quite a few of the things you see in Holodance today were actually developed for Beat the Rhythm and ported back so our existing players can enjoy those new features already.
changedAnd that's where the custom BeatSaver-map support comes in: The big project that I'm currently working on, which will become its own (free) standalone tool but also part of both, Holodance, and Beat the Rhythm, is a universal beatmap editor designed for the community to be able to BAM! "Beatmap All Music!" ... osu! beatmaps work quite well for catching and punching orbs but if you have ever tried the slicing mechanic with osu! beatmaps in Holodance, it's quite obvious that it doesn't work that well.
If you have never heard of Holodance before, here's ...
A Little Bit of VR Rhythm Game History
When I began development of Holodance in early 2015, the original idea was to create a synesthetic Virtual Reality clubbing experience with trippy visuals, and twelve songs produced specifically for the game and its twelve "environments". While playing with the early prototypes, somehow the idea of making the game about dancing with dragons came up, and the direction shifted into what later became "Story Mode": Three dragons returning to planet earth to remind the human species of their duty of care for their planet.
One of the motivations behind that was to use the new medium, VR, to take players to different places. So trippy visuals turned into a beach, desert and ice desert, three environments up in the air, at varying altitudes, and three underwater environments with dolphins, whales, and increasing levels of pollution due to industrialization. Finally, an apocalyptic machines against humans 360° dystopia, an asteroid field and a place beyond time and space where you would meet "the blue mother of all dragons".
Still twelve "levels" but quite different from the original plan.
While Story Mode, with its dragons, did (and still does) have its fans, to be honest, it became clear quite early in Early Access (which began April 5, 2016) that the original idea probably would have been the smarter approach to creating a VR rhythm game. But we live to learn, so in October 2016, the very first version of Free Mode was released: This added support for osu! beatmaps (turning 7 or 8 songs available at that time to more than 10.000 songs with high quality community created beatmaps). For Free Mode, I also added new environments/arenas, including two clubs, two sci-fi arenas and a crazy 360° gameplay prototype. And the whole game started moving from its initial fantasy/environmentalism-style towards a more sci-fi approach, and kind of back towards its origins.
Long story short: Also, the scope and complexity increased hugely, Story Mode development almost completely stalled and that's why we were still in "Early Access". Still in 2016 (September 2016, to be precise), the idea for a smaller scoped, more streamlined rhythm game called Beat the Rhythm was born, a game that is primarily focused on the actual game mechanics instead of mixing dragons with Retro Clubs (anyone got the Ruirized achievement? ;-) ).
Beat the Rhythm is its own game, with its own style, and I like to call it Holodance's young brother. The cool thing is that often, the elders learn from the younger ones - so quite a few of the things you see in Holodance today were actually developed for Beat the Rhythm and ported back so our existing players can enjoy those new features already.
And that's where the custom BeatSaver-map support comes in: The big project that I'm currently working on, which will become its own (free) standalone tool but also part of both, Holodance, and Beat the Rhythm, is a universal beatmap editor designed for the community to be able to BAM! "Beatmap All Music!"... osu! beatmaps work quite well for catching and punching orbs but if you have ever tried the slicing mechanic with osu! beatmaps in Holodance, it's quite obvious that it doesn't work that well.
The BSMG-community has done a tremendous job mapping songs specifically for that kind of mechanic, and you can now play those maps with our engine, just like osu!, and the procedural mapping that lets you play any music file
