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[TobiasW]

(...and ZERO BUTTONS shall it be!)

Hello, fellow TIGgers!

I present to you my next EGP prototype/game, Dragonflute, where you control this cute little fellow:
<-- Click the dragon (or here) to download the Windows release



Collect the dragon-o-laterns and evade the evil dragons!

As the theme of this month's EGP and the name suggest, you don't do this my mashing franatically on your keyboard, but but by making sounds, recorded by your microphone. I hope you have one.

The dragon will either follow the PITCH of the sounds you make (which I prefer), be it by singing, whistling or by playing an instrument, or the VOLUME (which is fun too, though the game should then rather be called Screaming At Dragons).

Well, try it out, make suggestions, leave feedback, be curious how it will go on and have fun!

Cheers,
Tobias

[TobiasW]

I'll leave this here in the next post so I can update the first post later on:

Current status is that I don't have any goals or gameplay yet, only the calibration and the initial control mechanic, so is a mere (but already quite fun) toy.

Next things up will be some things he can collect, and maybe some enemies.

And yeah, so far there are quite some keys which need to be pressed. This will be changed later, too, of course - I already have some great ideas for the GUI

[Montoli]

aww!  What a cute little fellow!

I can't wait to scream at him for 5 minutes to direct his flight! 

[TobiasW]

Did you try it? Although without collectible things there is no point (other than the pure fun of screaming itself ) to it so far, the current release already features the "Scream at the dragon"-feature!

And since microphones aren't a primary input source yet, I'm in need for some testing - I don't know yet if it works on other computers than mine!

[TobiasW]

Now there are finally things to collect and things to evade! I hope some of you have time to try it out!

Next up, interface and menu.
And sound effects.
And maybe a mode where you direct the dragon through a cave, whatever this genre is called. (Anyone has an idea?)

[Montoli]

I did try it!  It was entertaining, although the pitch detection felt a little off.  (i. e. it sometimes wiggled around when I was holding the same note.)

As predicted, the dragon is fun to scream at.

[tesselode]

I like setting the range of the pitch really high so I have to scream to get the dragon to go up.

[TobiasW]

It was entertaining, although the pitch detection felt a little off.  (i. e. it sometimes wiggled around when I was holding the same note.)

With which method did you make the sounds?

Sadly it's really hard to detect pitch especially in human humming/singing (because especially the first isn't pure enough and features many frequencies, if I understood correctly), although FMOD does the lion's share of work for me.

As predicted, the dragon is fun to scream at.

Heh, great!

I like setting the range of the pitch really high so I have to scream to get the dragon to go up.

Your poor neighbours!
Glad you enjoy it!

[Montoli]

I admit, it was from humming.  (And whistling, I tried whistling too.)

Still though, I felt like if I hummed the same note for 5 seconds, the dragon should at least do the same thing for 5 seconds.  My pitch isn't THAT far off, I don't think?  (Also:  This is totally not fair, but if I have this expectation, unrealistic though it may be, I probably won't be the only one.  So even if there are good technical reasons it doesn't work, average joe user won't know or care, and probably won't read the dev-blog either.)

Also - You should totally add some spring physics to the dragon or something.  It really cries out to be made a bit more snakey.

[TobiasW]

I have to admit I'm not that deep into the technical part behind the pitch recognition, sadly I don't know why it doesn't work the way expected with humming

Luckily it's only an experimental prototype, so I can live with the current state, I hope. It works farely well with whistling, although for a full game it really would need better recognition.

Also - You should totally add some spring physics to the dragon or something.  It really cries out to be made a bit more snakey.

That's pretty new for me - if I decide to make a bigger I game out of it, I will try it. Thanks for the suggestion!

[Montoli]

Fair enough!  It is easy to forget sometimes that the aim is a prototype and that you're not looking for more complex systems to add.

Still, I think it is cool, and has some definite promise.  I think it is hard to overstate the entertainment value of having a game that features sustained yelling as a game mechanic.

[TobiasW]

Yep! I thought about including a fight mechanic with screaming too, but I figured it would be too much for this small prototype. The key topic was the pitch/volume recognition, and this is covered already - maybe another time!

Though... I think it is easy to overstate the accessibility. I don't know how many people would actually sit at home and make loud noises to play a game :/

By the way, I presume you know Gnilley?

[Montoli]

I am familiar with it.

But yeah, actually I was figuring you already had screaming in, since you have the volume recognition part.

Also, the secret to making people want to be home making loud noises to play a game, I think, is to make it a social game.  Screaming is much more fun in groups?  I think it works better if there is some excuse to have your friends over.  I dunno.  Maybe it's just novelty?  This is speculation and theory!  But fun theory, since it's about people screaming!

[slembcke]

It very well with my flutes. They produce pretty consistent sine-wave like sounds, so I'm not surprised it is easy to detect the pitch. It was particularly fun with my 6 hole bamboo flute as it didn't require fancy fingering to control the dragon.

Trying to control it with whistling was pretty frustrating. While you had much smoother control over the angle, it was harder to hold it steady or quickly switch from fast up/down to level flight. Maybe the "buttons" on the flute is considered cheating though. :p

Honestly... This sort of makes me want to make a "Flute Hero" game. Heh. A friend and I decided that we wanted to try and make handmade bamboo flutes approximately 2 hours after giving our senior seminar speeches for our computer science degrees. After about 10 tries and a bunch of math, we finally had a pair that were reasonably in tune. We later were joking around that playing the 5 button Guitar Hero game was not entirely dissimilar to a 6 hole flute, except you get real music out of the latter.

[TobiasW]

Also, the secret to making people want to be home making loud noises to play a game, I think, is to make it a social game.

Yep! Though then it's ought to make a LOT more fun that the one I currently have - and a social aspect, like competition. And I don't know where I could insert this, mhm.

Trying to control it with whistling was pretty frustrating. While you had much smoother control over the angle, it was harder to hold it steady or quickly switch from fast up/down to level flight.

Yep, that's a problem. If I ever make this into a full game, I need better easing of these up- and downturns.

Honestly... This sort of makes me want to make a "Flute Hero" game. Heh. A friend and I decided that we wanted to try and make handmade bamboo flutes approximately 2 hours after giving our senior seminar speeches for our computer science degrees. After about 10 tries and a bunch of math, we finally had a pair that were reasonably in tune. We later were joking around that playing the 5 button Guitar Hero game was not entirely dissimilar to a 6 hole flute, except you get real music out of the latter.

That sounds fun, do it! :D

Upon seeing this game, my father suggested I should do a learning-game for beginners with the flute. Not too bad an idea, hum.




Anyway, with the new update I declare this prototype as finished! Thanks for all the comments and testing! I hope despite all its shortcomings all of you had some fun!