Making a pony rhythm game and looking for art/music submissions. PLEASE READ!

[MisterChippy]

Ok, recently I've been playing EBA (Elite Beat Agents) and I've been thinking. Wouldn't a pony based music game like this be awesome? Then I realised that I actually have the skills required to make such a game in Scratch (a free and simple SDK created by MIT). I've tested what I've got so far and it works great. Only thing is that I've got a ton of stuff that still needs doing and I can't do it alone.

The basic idea behind the game is this:

You will pick a song to play. As the song plays, you hit keys on the keyboard as arrows move towards a target on the screen, kinda like DDR. In the background a series of pictures related to the song will be shown. For every note you hit you will recieve points, for ever missed note you'll lose points. If your point total reaches zero the song will stop and you'll get a game over.

Pretty simple, right? WRONG. This is really hard to make and I can't do it by myself. The following is a list of why each thing is really hard and why I need help:

Gameplay:

The gameplay is actually fairly simple and I can do that by myself. Each song will be programmed so that at a certaint point in it an arrow will appear and move across the screen until it reaches the target. Strangely enough, the scoring isn't the tough part. What's hard is that I need to program EVERY SINGLE TIME an arrow appears. This is gonna be pretty time consuming and if you know anything about scratch I could use your help doing this. I can send you the needed code blocks and a list of at what time arrows need to appear and you can help program this so we can have more songs.

Art:

Ok, this is the tough bit. Not only do I lack the artistic skills needed to make the stills for the background, I'm not even good enough to design the arrows. If I don't get any help with the art you can consider this game a flop. I would really like it if a bunch of different people would help out with this part.

The biggest thing I need is someone to design the game interface (not sure that's the right word, but it's the best I could come up with). This would be a kinda important job and it wouldn't even be that hard. The biggest thing I need is the arrows and the target, but the game also needs a song selection menu, a start screen, and a score/game over screen. You don't even need to be able to draw ponies, just stuff like buttons and arrows.

Secondly, I'd need people to do the background art for the songs. What I'd like to be able to do is tell a little story with each song, kinda like a comic but with music instead of words. For example, if I were to include the song 20% Cooler by Ken Ashcorp what I'd like is maybe twenty pictures of RD going to a club. However, while for some songs that I want to include I have a general idea of what I want in the background, I know that I'm not an artist. If you're interested in helping out and have your own ideas for background pictures for a song just tell me. I'm fine with 1 picture a song or 50 picutures a song. Either would be more than I have now. I only have two things I would like to ask if you want to help out with this part:

1. Everything submitted is your own work. I'm going to credit everyone involved, and I don't want to get angry emails from people accusing me of stealing their work.

2. Nothing NSFW. For obvious reasons.

I'd be eternally grateful to anyone who helps out, so please do! You'll get credited and it'll be fun!

Music:

Now, I already have all the music I want to include, but if you want me to include your song just say so. Due to time constraints I may not be able to get around to including it immedietly but I'll get to it eventually. I'd love any submissions and I'd be sure to give you credit for your orignial work!

Also, if you know of any good MLP themed music please tell me here. I know a lot of great stuff, but there might be something that I've missed. All I ask is that:

A. The music is free online (legally).

B. You made it yourself.

C. You know the artist and can ask their permission for it's use.

D. You know how to contact the artist so that I can ask their permission.

If you'd be interested at all in helping PLEASE SAY SO! I'd really like this to work but I can't do this alone.

Also, if you don't understand anything or want some clarification, please just ask. I know that I'm terrible at explaining things like this and that this sounds more like a list of demands than a polite request, but I really do need help and if you help me I will be so very grateful. Plus, it'll be fun!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help out!

[Davroth]

You don't have to program anything. Google osu! by chance. ;D

Anyway, I not only had exactly the same idea, I already lined out an overarching storyline and chapters, I just wanted to wait till I have something before I look for people to help with it.

[MisterChippy]

But I like programming things...

I wanted to make sure that I'd have the support required to make this work before investing a large amount of time in it. Still, while I really do want to program this myself OSU looks interesting and it's cool to know that someone else had the same idea I did. I think that I can probably master it pretty quickly, so wanna work together on this?

[Davroth]

Well, the beauty of OSU! is that you still have to acquire a legal copy of the music to play a song, thus eliminating much of the legal hassle.

Feel free to contact me. I'm a little busy at the moment, but I already put a lot of thought into it, and I'd be happy to discuss it. ^^;

[SonicRainboomGirl]

Hiya!

I would like to know what songs you have decided on, because I do enjoy creating art quite a lot. Currently my scanner is broken, so if I did hand-drawn art (if it was ponies themselves, it'd have to be) then I'd need to wait a bit for submission so I can keep working on fixing it.

And pleeeeeeeease tell me you have WoodenToaster in your mix.

[ProofOfBoredom]

I have various pieces of music on my channel. They are not particularly pony themed ( although I used pony samples in them to see if I had any closet brony friends) The links below show all the music with pony samples and if you want to use them let me know and i'll set up a download link for you!

Or if you want an original song making i'd be happy to give it a go for you

[MisterChippy]

Hiya!

I would like to know what songs you have decided on, because I do enjoy creating art quite a lot. Currently my scanner is broken, so if I did hand-drawn art (if it was ponies themselves, it'd have to be) then I'd need to wait a bit for submission so I can keep working on fixing it.

And pleeeeeeeease tell me you have WoodenToaster in your mix.

Hand drawn is fine, just make sure that it looks good on a computer. I'm glad that you want to help out with this! If any of the songs I've chosen look interesting (or you have any ideas of songs that you want to draw for) just say so and we can get to work. The waiting thing is fine since it takes time to beatmap a song, so if you have anything you want to submit you can just take a picture of it with your computer/camera and post that so I can see it.

I only have three songs for sure so far (although if me and Davroth collab on this he might have some himself) and they are as follows:

20% Cooler by Ken Ashcorp, Alex S remix

Discord, by Eurobeat Brony, The Living Tombstone remix

Never Back Down, by Aviators, Thatsonofamitch remix

List of songs being considered:

Everything from Balloon Party (Trying to find which songs lend themselves best to rhythm games)

The Wooden Toaster's work (same as balloon party)

and basically every other piece of pony themed electronic music (that can be downloaded legally for free).

I have various pieces of music on my channel. They are not particularly pony themed ( although I used pony samples in them to see if I had any closet brony friends) The links below show all the music with pony samples and if you want to use them let me know and i'll set up a download link for you!

Or if you want an original song making i'd be happy to give it a go for you

Well, the music is all great and I'd love to include some of it, but remember that this is for a rhythm game and that I'm not selecting songs based solely on their musical merit. Here's a quick list of the things that I'm looking for:

An easily identifiable BPM. The BPM can change throughout the song, but if I don't know the exact BPM then I can't make the game work. Telling me about the BPM will help with this, but if the player cannot find the BPM themselves then they'll have trouble with the song.

A managable pace. If a song is made up of a lot of fast, short notes then it's very hard to beatmap, let alone play in a rythem game. If a song has a lot of fast notes but also has a foreground melody made up of longer notes, that's fine.

A backbeat. If there's an audible, consistant beat in the background it not only helps me beatmap, it provides an anchor for people play the game so they can save themselves if they screw up and lose the beat. Not really required, but good to have.

A chorus. When playing a rhythem game it's comforting to have a series of notes/beats that appear a few times in the song, and the best place to have this is a chorus.

Breaks in the song. This can be in the form of a sample, a lull in the music, or even bit of silence in the middle of the song. This makes it possible to include story images without forcing people to look away from the music.

That said, I'd like to use the first song here. I think it would make a good 'super-intense' level track. However, if you have any simpler songs (or could compose one) that would be great. Since I'm just starting on this game I'm gonna have to make the 'easy' tracks first because nopony wants to play a game that starts out really really hard, so I'm not gonna be able to use any of these songs at the moment. However, I do plan on including one of them in the future, so stay tuned!

[ProofOfBoredom]

Hand drawn is fine, just make sure that it looks good on a computer. I'm glad that you want to help out with this! If any of the songs I've chosen look interesting (or you have any ideas of songs that you want to draw for) just say so and we can get to work. The waiting thing is fine since it takes time to beatmap a song, so if you have anything you want to submit you can just take a picture of it with your computer/camera and post that so I can see it.

I only have three songs for sure so far (although if me and Davroth collab on this he might have some himself) and they are as follows:

20% Cooler by Ken Ashcorp, Alex S remix

Discord, by Eurobeat Brony, The Living Tombstone remix

Never Back Down, by Aviators, Thatsonofamitch remix

List of songs being considered:

Everything from Balloon Party (Trying to find which songs lend themselves best to rhythm games)

The Wooden Toaster's work (same as balloon party)

and basically every other piece of pony themed electronic music (that can be downloaded legally for free).

Well, the music is all great and I'd love to include some of it, but remember that this is for a rhythm game and that I'm not selecting songs based solely on their musical merit. Here's a quick list of the things that I'm looking for:

An easily identifiable BPM. The BPM can change throughout the song, but if I don't know the exact BPM then I can't make the game work. Telling me about the BPM will help with this, but if the player cannot find the BPM themselves then they'll have trouble with the song.

A managable pace. If a song is made up of a lot of fast, short notes then it's very hard to beatmap, let alone play in a rythem game. If a song has a lot of fast notes but also has a foreground melody made up of longer notes, that's fine.

A backbeat. If there's an audible, consistant beat in the background it not only helps me beatmap, it provides an anchor for people play the game so they can save themselves if they screw up and lose the beat. Not really required, but good to have.

A chorus. When playing a rhythem game it's comforting to have a series of notes/beats that appear a few times in the song, and the best place to have this is a chorus.

Breaks in the song. This can be in the form of a sample, a lull in the music, or even bit of silence in the middle of the song. This makes it possible to include story images without forcing people to look away from the music.

That said, I'd like to use the first song here. I think it would make a good 'super-intense' level track. However, if you have any simpler songs (or could compose one) that would be great. Since I'm just starting on this game I'm gonna have to make the 'easy' tracks first because nopony wants to play a game that starts out really really hard, so I'm not gonna be able to use any of these songs at the moment. However, I do plan on including one of them in the future, so stay tuned!

If you want use the first song I can easily find out the BMP, i've still got the orginal Cubase file around here somewhere.

I do have some older slower stuff but it's not pony related at all..

I can get to work on a new song tomorrow which will can be a bit more slower paced as well as make it more pony related than a couple of voice clips, I just got a new DAW so I won't be able to make much crazy music as of yet. Taking all your points in to consideration i'll have a go at it for you, or even make a spec list for me such as BMP/Tempo, number of choruses length, if you'd prefer to do that!

[MisterChippy]

If you want use the first song I can easily find out the BMP, i've still got the orginal Cubase file around here somewhere.

I do have some older slower stuff but it's not pony related at all..

I can get to work on a new song tomorrow which will can be a bit more slower paced as well as make it more pony related than a couple of voice clips, I just got a new DAW so I won't be able to make much crazy music as of yet. Taking all your points in to consideration i'll have a go at it for you, or even make a spec list for me such as BMP/Tempo, number of choruses length, if you'd prefer to do that!

Hmmmm... Well, a good length would be three to four minutes, with maybe a chorus every minute. The BPM should be below 140. In order to make sure that the BPM is good, use this link to test it out. If you get the same BPM as what you intended (it might be smart to have someone else test the BPM too since you already know what the answer should be) then your song is likely to work well with a rhythm game.

The only other thing I'd ask for is a simple, easily remembered rhythm/melody. This makes beatmapping the song wayyyy easier and also makes it really catchy. As long as thats there and the beat is managable the song should work very well with a rhythm game. Please don't feel rushed when it comes to making this song (It'll probably be a month before I could get to it even if you sent it in now) and if you have a great idea that doesn't fit with specs, ignore the specs!( Huh?) Don't let them ruin a good idea!

[ProofOfBoredom]

Hmmmm... Well, a good length would be three to four minutes, with maybe a chorus every minute. The BPM should be below 140. In order to make sure that the BPM is good, use this link to test it out. If you get the same BPM as what you intended (it might be smart to have someone else test the BPM too since you already know what the answer should be) then your song is likely to work well with a rhythm game.

The only other thing I'd ask for is a simple, easily remembered rhythm/melody. This makes beatmapping the song wayyyy easier and also makes it really catchy. As long as thats there and the beat is managable the song should work very well with a rhythm game. Please don't feel rushed when it comes to making this song (It'll probably be a month before I could get to it even if you sent it in now) and if you have a great idea that doesn't fit with specs, ignore the specs!( Huh?) Don't let them ruin a good idea!

Cool, well i've got a couple of ideas of songs I wanted to do.

1) is a new song with original composition but much simpler than my previous songs.

2) a "Pinkie's Parasprite Polka" remix, so a bit more trancy and one which lasts around 3 or so minuets so plenty of time for gaps and is also quite repetitive (perfect for a rhythm game) and is easy enough to tap along to.

What dya think?

[MisterChippy]

Cool, well i've got a couple of ideas of songs I wanted to do.

1) is a new song with original composition but much simpler than my previous songs.

2) a "Pinkie's Parasprite Polka" remix, so a bit more trancy and one which lasts around 3 or so minuets so plenty of time for gaps and is also quite repetitive (perfect for a rhythm game) and is easy enough to tap along to.

What dya think?

The polka remix idea sounds perfect for an easy mode song. Not too long (but long enough to help a new player get the hang of the game), not too fast, not too complicated. It sounds like a great idea and I'd love to hear it once you're done! I'm sure it'll fit in well!

[Davroth]

See, most of my songs are licensed, but as I explained above, that's not really an issue when using OSU!... ^^;

Anyway, what I had planned is a full story mode, telling the tale of Pinkie Pie traveling back in time with Doctor Whooves to fix specific events in the past that caused the bearers of the elements of harmony to never meet. But to get to the rest of the mane 6, they'd have to fix plenty of other pony's lives first, so that the Tardis can home in on the moments where they can jump in and turn the mane 6 into personifications of the elements of harmony again.

On that note, the ones I worked out the most up until now are:

The Ting Tings - Great DJ

We would follow filly Vinyl Scratch who is about to be send of to a music school by her parents and has one last evening to follow her dream to be a DJ. (And in EBA tradition, if you do well enough, her parents see how important this is to her, and let her pursue her dream.

Blood Red Shoes - It's getting boring by the sea

Photo Finish and Picture Perfect have a photoshoot at the beach, but in all the commotion of preparing it, they miss a tsunami warning. So now, you assist Picture Perfect in keeping the photoshoot together, and ultimately avert the tsunami from ruining everything by using A LOT of unicorn magic.

I have a couple of more, but they are in really early planning stages.

Anyway, you should rename the thread into something that gives any indication what it's about. xD

[ProofOfBoredom]

The polka remix idea sounds perfect for an easy mode song. Not too long (but long enough to help a new player get the hang of the game), not too fast, not too complicated. It sounds like a great idea and I'd love to hear it once you're done! I'm sure it'll fit in well!

In that case i'll make it around 2 minuets long and use a simple "Kick, snare" rhythm which would make it supper easy! it should take me too long as I have the sheet music already! i'll send you a link when i've finished my first draft!

[MisterChippy]

In that case i'll make it around 2 minuets long and use a simple "Kick, snare" rhythm which would make it supper easy! it should take me too long as I have the sheet music already! i'll send you a link when i've finished my first draft!

Cool. I'll see it then.

See, most of my songs are licensed, but as I explained above, that's not really an issue when using OSU!... ^^;

Anyway, what I had planned is a full story mode, telling the tale of Pinkie Pie traveling back in time with Doctor Whooves to fix specific events in the past that caused the bearers of the elements of harmony to never meet. But to get to the rest of the mane 6, they'd have to fix plenty of other pony's lives first, so that the Tardis can home in on the moments where they can jump in and turn the mane 6 into personifications of the elements of harmony again.

On that note, the ones I worked out the most up until now are:

The Ting Tings - Great DJ

We would follow filly Vinyl Scratch who is about to be send of to a music school by her parents and has one last evening to follow her dream to be a DJ. (And in EBA tradition, if you do well enough, her parents see how important this is to her, and let her pursue her dream.

Blood Red Shoes - It's getting boring by the sea

Photo Finish and Picture Perfect have a photoshoot at the beach, but in all the commotion of preparing it, they miss a tsunami warning. So now, you assist Picture Perfect in keeping the photoshoot together, and ultimately avert the tsunami from ruining everything by using A LOT of unicorn magic.

I have a couple of more, but they are in really early planning stages.

Anyway, you should rename the thread into something that gives any indication what it's about. xD

That idea sounds cool and while it's not exactly what I had in mind I still think working together would be sweet. Collab projects are almost always better than single person things and even if we end up doing different things I'd still like to help out with yours.

Also, I know I should probably change the name now. I'm just used to working on request forums where the people who get views are the ones who beg the loudest. Now that there's a bit of interest I'm gonna change the name.