Sound Games

[Christian Duprey]

Hello everyone,

I am an intern here at Looking Glass and I was wondering what would anyone like to see in a game where everything is controlled by sound? I have just posted my current version of a platforming game here, where the amplitude of the sound controls the y axis, and the pitch directs the z axis. I believe that the Z axis could use some more tuning, but I would like to hear everyone's opinion on what else I could improve on within this game.

An idea I am thinking of creating, using the base movement of this game, is to have a boss battle. The boss would be constantly attacking the player through different colored spheres and objects that the player would need to avoid. The player sphere would have a color changing shell that would be able to reflect spheres of the same color  back at the boss harming it and decreasing it's life bar. The boss itself probably wouldn't be too detailed, but I was thinking red eyes, and a face of some sort that just throws at spheres at different locations at the player. 

Another idea that would be simple to create, would be a helicopter styled game, which would require gravity, and movement on the x-axis. The goal of this game is to dodge different obstacles and then correctly landing on a platform at the end. 

Thank you for your time, and please post any feedback you have.

- Christian Duprey, Programming Intern

[Werner M.]

Hi Christian,

Although I appreciate the concept and the programming effort it took you to do this, in practical terms, I think the use of sound as input for a game would be, IMHO, a bit restrictive. I don't think everyone will feel comfortable at all places to play with a game that requires constantly "yelling" at different pitches; if I were to design a game for the cube, I'd definately take advantage of the built-in accelerometer. That'd make it more haptic, easy to control and it would appeal to more people.

For your concept, I believe doing something more "sound-tailored", as in perhaps a "visual theremin" visualization where the sound volume would control the amplitude and the pitch would control the movement of the X or Z axis (e.g., trying to think of a dynamic lissajous figures generator, if you're familiar with the concept).

Just my couple cents.

-Werner