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[Dailyman]

Hardly. Just because there wouldn't be blocks doesn't mean the whole level is a waste of time. It just means that a layer of that game isn't present in it's representative level because it would unnecessarily complicate gameplay.

You have a point, there would need to be some connection to music, but it doesn't have to be the blocks. Perhaps the audio surfers appear at specific intervals in sync with the song. This would require some syncing and creating a custom song (that wouldn't be hard though; I can do that much), but it'd be a lot easier to work out than putting blocks in there.

Of course, you could have been referring to a completely different aspect of the background. That would pretty much make this entire post pointless.

[Soulliard]

i guess there's no problem but i got a question for soulli: is it posible to do curved grounds?

Yes. See the Seiklus level, for example.

An Audiosurf stage would need to be synced to music to fit the original game's concept.

The issue I have with a GGC stage is that, while the game was fun, its environments weren't terribly memorable. It was just an ugly brick building in front of a city.

[thewojnartist]

Well, to me, it's not the location, but the building itself that is memorable. I mean, a building on wheels, how wacky was that. Maybe the building and gnome can act together as a support character, with the building towering up and off the screen and the gnome bungeeing down, whacking people? It's a stupid idea but I'm trying to bring us somewhere closer to bringing GGC in.

Edit: Maybe we could just have the gnome bungeeing, not the entire building.

[medieval]

It would be awesome if, for the audiosurf stage, some people were to compose a rock/techno/other type of song, and if it's not too much work or too complicated, let the ninja ship run over a pre-set pattern of blocks, based on the music


I mean, that is the whole point of Audiosurf

[Dailyman]

Well yeah, that's pretty much the idea.

[Landshark RAWR]

I don't think anyone mentioned the possibility of "gravity" getting higher or lower based on whether the audiosurfer is going up or down

[-Frikman-]

i did a draw on school today of the audiosurf stage but is basically a mid platform that stays quite, the upper way that scrolls to the right and the bottom way that scrolls to the left. also audosurf has his own theme, and it has 2 versions. the main one (appears on the main menu. faster and more loudly) and the secondary one (appears after you finish a song. is slower and more peaceful). the point is that instead of creating a custom techno/rock remix we need a remix of the audiosurf theme  . btw i'll upload a photo of what i did tomorrow ^^

[Dailyman]

In the idea I had in mind, the level is a scrolling, looping level with randomly generated slopes and inclines(with boundries of how many slopes there can be and all that, so the playing field wouldn't become to ridiculous).



In sync with the song, audiosurfers will appear and drive to the other end.

The red line is the actual platform that the players walk on. The light grey and the dark grey are just the foreground and background, and cars may drive through these lanes, but it's purely aesthetic and does not affect the player.

The colors are purely hypothetical and do not in any way reflect how I want the final design to be. I'm just using it to make explaining the level easier.

[Sir Raptor]

The main problem with your Audiosurf stage is that the other ships that are not part of the official playing field will prove to be amazingly distracting.
And the MAIN main problem with an Audiosurf stage altogether is that it has no music of its own, only the music that you put into it, which isn't very indie, unless we restricted it to only playing songs by Secret Machines and The Honorary Title.

All I'm saying is, I can't see how one would make music for a stage based on a game that is generated by the music that is given to it.

[mokesmoe]

I think the stage should incorporate blocks as platforms somehow.

[Dailyman]

Death Worm is getting original music. A little bit of original content where there needs to be isn't a mortal sin

I don't think distractions in the foreground and background will be a problem if it's obvious which ones the players have to avoid and which ones are there for show. And as long as they don't all flood at once, it should be fine.

[Karuvitomsk]

3 different "cars" from the game serve as the platforms for the stage. The track can be stood on, but it moves backward as the stage/cars move forward, so if the player doesn't jump back up quickly, they'll be swept out of the stage. The floor randomly (but slowly) switches between flat and the two up and down extremes (may or may not depend on BGM). The cars move independently; the front and back ones move slightly while the middle moves back and forth much more noticeably. There should be at least enough space for the largest character to stand under each car.

Because of this requirement, some of the cars might look longer than they actually, functionally, are. A lip should be added to the front of the things, at least on a collision level, in order to prevent unexpected falling. A car's back edge should be obvious, but if it isn't, a lip could be added there, too.

The gates you pass under are one of the more unique things about the track, and I think we should illustrate that. Under normal conditions, that is, when you're passing them during regular gameplay, they should maybe glow blue or something.

Here's an idea: Maybe at some point, the gates turn red, and the cars stop and land, allowing fifteen seconds or so of uninhibited ground combat. The gates could flash and then finally turn green before the cars float back up and begin to "race" again, at which point the gates return to their original blue.

[Soulliard]

A few quick notes before I go to bed:

Dailyman: The foreground and background cars would just be confusing. It should not be difficult to tell major hazards from harmless decorations. There's absolutely no need for it.

Sir Raptor: Um, Audiosurf Overture? (Or even the title theme)

Karuvitomsk: That idea sounds better to me, since it would better capture the movement and rhythm of the music. I don't think the ships should ever stop completely, though.

All: The slopes need to be tied to the music. That is one of the most distinctive aspects of Audiosurf.

[Sir Raptor]

Sir Raptor: Um, Audiosurf Overture? (Or even the title theme)

Okay. So I've never played Audiosurf. I have a bit of a disdain for games I have to pay money for. So sue me.

[JMickle]

There's a free demo that lets you play like 5 songs. Get that if you want to listen to the title music at least.

Also, I had a look at GMFMOD's functions, and I don't think I can see something to return the current amplitude of the music/sound playing, which would kind of be essential for this level (I was thinking the track would slope upward when the music gets louder and downward when it gets quieter). If anyone else knows how to do this please let me know and i'll try and code up a test.

[Soulliard]

We'd probably have to hardcode the level to be timed with the music. We're not remaking Audiosurf here. 

[MaloEspada]

Uh, I imagined the Audiosurf stage with a view like in the game, and not sideways.

Sideways just seems... wrong, somehow.

[-Frikman-]

omfg how many of you ever played Audiosurf? the main theme, if i remnber good, is called "Circuit Breakdown" and you can found it on [C:\YourHardDrive\BestGameEver\Audiosurf\engine\laddermusic]. i'll edit my post later to show you how i imagine the Audiosurf stage 

EDIT: http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/465/audiosurf.jpg (too big to post it here. it'll just anoy people if i do it)
the black platform is the center of the screen (forgot to draw the border so use it has a reference) and it's statical, the blue way scrolls right and the red way scrolls left. i love the idea of dailyman of 3 ways but it seems just too stupid having 3 cars at the same time. how should we fix this? remenber that in the game you can move to the sides and switch ways, so our audiosurfer should do. what does this means? just one car on the screen but it can move to the foreground and the background.

[Soulliard]

I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you just said. 

[-Frikman-]

i wrote it too fast so i didn't thinked it (the lunch was ready so.... ). the point is we need 1 Audiosurfer and 3 tracks, so the audiosurfer can move and switch between one and other. just like Dailyman said the players can walk on the center track, so if the audiosurfer can move between tracks you got a chance to avoid it without jumping (of course, the audiosurfer will need to give us a signal of where is it going to move next. pusher arrow would be nice ^^). but what do you think of my draft and the different scrolling idea? (don't forget to take a look of it ¬¬ http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/465/audiosurf.jpg )