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Steam News1 April 20215y ago

Music Integration (Phase 1)

I decided to add music integrated into Spell Beats, but it works a little differently than the usual rhythm game. Normally the musical beat dictates the pace and when the user should respond.

Full notes

Full Spell Beats update

Read the full published notes in a cleaner layout. The original post stays linked below.

What changed

0 fixes0 additions6 changes0 removals
  • Balance
  • Gameplay
  • UI and audio
changedI decided to add music integrated into Spell Beats, but it works a little differently than the usual rhythm game. Normally the musical beat dictates the pace and when the user should respond. In our case this will only be generating spell boosts such as damage, stamina, or heal boosts. The key difference is that the spell input sequences will now modify how the music sounds. For example, the keyboard sequence of right, right will now adjust the equalization levels temporarily. It is now more like how a DJ modifies their tracks, except in our case the modification is minimal. As development continues I will improve upon the complexity of the what players can do.
changedSlow Time Spell - Slows down time (Max 5 Uses Per Battle). Time is slowed more the better your sequence input timing is. Music is also slowed by this spell.
changedRepeater Spell - Repeats the effect of the last healing or damaging spell used (Max 5 Uses Per Battle). The better your input sequence timing the more repetitions that will occur. Music is also repeated.
changedBPM UI - There is a musical bpm ticker UI at the bottom left of the screen. Players must match the impacts or the casting of their spells with the yellow strip in order to gain spell boosts. Currently the bpm is not synced with the bpm of the music playing. This will be done as part of the future music integration work during Early Access development.
changedEngine Upgrade - There is some missing audio functionality in the previous engine version. With the upgrade, I was able to introduce some of the equalization changes that sequence inputs do.
changedSequence Input Music Modifiers - The button combos that players' input now affect how the music sounds. Some buttons temporarily cause the frequency, bands, or gain of the music to increase or decrease, whereas others adjust the apply a temporary low or high pass filter to the music.

Spell Beats changes

changedI decided to add music integrated into Spell Beats, but it works a little differently than the usual rhythm game. Normally the musical beat dictates the pace and when the user should respond. In our case this will only be generating spell boosts such as damage, stamina, or heal boosts. The key difference is that the spell input sequences will now modify how the music sounds. For example, the keyboard sequence of right, right will now adjust the equalization levels temporarily. It is now more like how a DJ modifies their tracks, except in our case the modification is minimal. As development continues I will improve upon the complexity of the what players can do.
changedSlow Time Spell - Slows down time (Max 5 Uses Per Battle). Time is slowed more the better your sequence input timing is. Music is also slowed by this spell.
changedRepeater Spell - Repeats the effect of the last healing or damaging spell used (Max 5 Uses Per Battle). The better your input sequence timing the more repetitions that will occur. Music is also repeated.
changedBPM UI - There is a musical bpm ticker UI at the bottom left of the screen. Players must match the impacts or the casting of their spells with the yellow strip in order to gain spell boosts. Currently the bpm is not synced with the bpm of the music playing. This will be done as part of the future music integration work during Early Access development.
changedEngine Upgrade - There is some missing audio functionality in the previous engine version. With the upgrade, I was able to introduce some of the equalization changes that sequence inputs do.

I decided to add music integrated into Spell Beats, but it works a little differently than the usual rhythm game. Normally the musical beat dictates the pace and when the user should respond. In our case this will only be generating spell boosts such as damage, stamina, or heal boosts. The key difference is that the spell input sequences will now modify how the music sounds. For example, the keyboard sequence of right, right will now adjust the equalization levels temporarily. It is now more like how a DJ modifies their tracks, except in our case the modification is minimal. As development continues I will improve upon the complexity of the what players can do.

Major Changes:

  1. Slow Time Spell - Slows down time (Max 5 Uses Per Battle). Time is slowed more the better your sequence input timing is. Music is also slowed by this spell.

  2. Repeater Spell - Repeats the effect of the last healing or damaging spell used (Max 5 Uses Per Battle). The better your input sequence timing the more repetitions that will occur. Music is also repeated.

  3. BPM UI - There is a musical bpm ticker UI at the bottom left of the screen. Players must match the impacts or the casting of their spells with the yellow strip in order to gain spell boosts. Currently the bpm is not synced with the bpm of the music playing. This will be done as part of the future music integration work during Early Access development.

  4. Engine Upgrade - There is some missing audio functionality in the previous engine version. With the upgrade, I was able to introduce some of the equalization changes that sequence inputs do.

  5. Sequence Input Music Modifiers - The button combos that players' input now affect how the music sounds. Some buttons temporarily cause the frequency, bands, or gain of the music to increase or decrease, whereas others adjust the apply a temporary low or high pass filter to the music.

Source

Steam News / 1 April 2021

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