Ride the Spiral - A Rhythm / Puzzle Game

Taymo · Post by **Taymo** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 2:40 am

Overview:
Ride the Spiral is a rhythmic puzzle game based on the Tool song Lateralus and a Fusion Frenzy mini-game called Twisted System. The main character will be thrown into a twisting spiral screw on which he'll have to run and avoid obstacles and execute actions as they spin towards him. The spiral is composed of regions that have their own special qualities. These regions are called lines of reason (the different colored regions in the screenshot), and each line of reason will define it's own gameplay, obstacle avoidance/action execution technique, look, and overall experience.

Gameplay:
Like I said, the character is unknowingly thrown into this mystical spiral he'll have to conquer to not meet his dreary, lonely end. As the character is running, he must navigate obstacles rotating down the spiral towards him. The obstacles coincide with the current Line of Reason's experience. The first L.O.R is the normal or "sober" stage. You'll have to leap hurdles and jump threw hoops, just as in normal life

. Then, during the 1st line of reason, once navigated a set amount of beginning obstacles, things will start to get a little odder.
No longer will you have to navigate obstacles, but actually make things happen, particularly actions that will initiate what's called Spiraling Out. This is like beating a level and means you've conquered one line of reason and can start the next one. Since the second L.O.R is "openminded", to spiral out to it will require one to execute actions that will lead to a state of open mindedness. I'll leave you guys to figure out what that might be

.

As of now I've 5 L.O.R in mind ranging from "sober" to "Devine Moment of Truth". Each one will get successively more complex, require a higher level of strategy, and be much more visual. I'm not completely decided on the number of L.O.R, and I'll be more sure about it once I start to design the programmatic implementations.

One menu idea..

Another, both are animated..

If you can't tell, the game is going to have a psychedelic "feel" to it, especially once you get into higher L.O.R. I'm a fan of the work of Alex Grey and Tool, I'm a believer of the ideas of Bill Hicks and Terrence McKenna. You could say I'm trying to aid in opening people's third eye with this game, like the artists I just mentioned.

As you can tell I've used a lot of other people's art, and this is normal for prototyping, but I would like to incorporate Alex Grey's art style. I would really love to play Tool songs as the game goes on. I've a cool idea for the music which is basically gameplay intensity = music intensity, like during most games. I'll distribute the game for free, but I'm pretty sure I can't give away other people's music in a video game. Just a fantasy, now that I think of it..

You can follow my, as of now, short development journal at spiralride.blogspot.com, and I'll make sure to post major milestone / achievements / playable demos there, and here in this forum as well.

Thanks for all comments!

JP · Post by JP » Fri Sep 05, 2008 7:52 am

You absolute ****...

I thought i was gonna get down to the bottom of the post and find a playable demo! How cruel!

Seriously man, sounds very good and i can't wait to play it!

night_hawk · Post by **night_hawk** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:49 am

Sounds mindbendy

And that means fun!!!

JP · Post by JP » Fri Sep 05, 2008 8:56 am

The only suggestion i would make from those screenies is to use an image on the buttons in the menu as they look a bit ugly in grey over such an awesome looking background.

rogerborg · Post by **rogerborg** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 12:13 pm

Does each copy come with a free tab of acid?

This looks innovative. Or at least deranged, which is largely synonymous.

Taymo · Post by **Taymo** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:42 pm

JP wrote:The only suggestion i would make from those screenies is to use an image on the buttons in the menu as they look a bit ugly in grey over such an awesome looking background.

Yea absolutly, I need to derive my own skin and simply have not yet.

rogerborg wrote: Does each copy come with a free tab of acid? Wink

Only in certain countries

rogerborg wrote: This looks innovative. Or at least deranged, which is largely synonymous.

I'm trying to make something here that noone's seen before. And I'm completely deranged so you're mostly right.

stevend · Post by **stevend** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 3:00 am

hey its nice to see some metal music fans around here

or atleast someone showing it through the art in their game lol

*surpirsed nobody noticed the tool artwork*

Halifax · Post by **Halifax** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 3:12 am

Yeah, great game idea. I can't wait to play it. Have you ever heard of something like an X360 game that has a minigame like this? Well actually, the whole game is just minigames because it is meant as a party game. At any rate, it is a much more simplified version of your game, but quite fun, so I expect your game to be fun as well. (If any of that reasoning made sense.

)

Taymo · Post by **Taymo** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:28 pm

Halifax wrote:Yeah, great game idea. I can't wait to play it. Have you ever heard of something like an X360 game that has a minigame like this? Well actually, the whole game is just minigames because it is meant as a party game. At any rate, it is a much more simplified version of your game, but quite fun, so I expect your game to be fun as well. (If any of that reasoning made sense. )

That made complete sense. You must have missed in my post, at the beginning, when I said Ride the Spiral is based on Tool and Twisted System. Twisted System is one of the many mini-games of Fusion Frenzy, and Fusion Frenzy was a demo on the Halo 1 disk (brilliant advertising). That's how I played it.

Also, I wouldn't mind to hear what you guys would like to see in the game. Cool ideas, pitfalls to be weary for, or just a cool effect. Just post them here, and I'll comment on what I think.