So with that in mind, I tried to create play that gives you the option to rescue your partner but at the price of an additional challenge. If I can give a life to rescue my little boy just to watch him drop in the spikes five seconds later, it gets really hard to progress. During development, I often wondered: “Can I play this with my 5-year-old boy? Will it be fun for him and for me at the same time?” When I’m playing with my kids, the completionist in me is frustrated. Just Shapes & Beats also wouldn’t be “mainstream” without my kids. It’s by far the most difficult thing I’ve ever done! Some bosses took me three days while “New Game,” the biggest one of all, took me two months. I wanted to tell a story through the levels themselves and that was very challenging there’s a lot of information to convey to the players while respecting the three rules above. The boss levels were the most difficult of all. It wasn’t my original idea, but that’s OK it rarely ever is. I tried to represent that visually, and ended up with the game’s pill shapes slapping the ground and jumping around on pistons. In the case of the song “Vindicate Me,” after a couple of listening I was seeing an industrial theme with mechanical shapes that stomp the ground as they progress along an assembly line like in one of those How it’s Made videos. Once in a while, a song really gets stuck in my head and I start to visualize a theme, or I imagine a certain visual pattern that would match the music. I’m more likely to eliminate the song if it has lyrics, because I feel like they distract players who are already panicking enough. I start by listening to chiptune songs, usually in the car or at the gym. If a surprising challenge gives me goosebumps while I test the levels, that’s usually a good sign.īefore following those rules, I have to begin my process for creating Just Shapes & Beats levels. “I swear honey, I’m working!” Sometime I would sacrifice some of Rule 3 because the visual warning combined with the music was too intense. I always tried to explain that to my wife. I don’t know how many many of those I’ve watched to get inspiration for levels. Toddlers were staring at the screen, sitting atop their parent’s shoulders, trying to analyze it like those baby Mozart shapes animations. I’ve seen lots of people at conventions pass by Just Shapes & Beats and stick around simply because they were hypnotized by the minimalistic patterns on the screen. The presentation is an enjoyable art form all on its own. These rules are in order of priority because even if you’re not into video games at all, at least you can appreciate the spectacle. Rule 3: It always warns the player what’s coming up. Rule 2: It has to be orchestrated around the music. Rule 1: The level has to be visually appealing.
I have three main rules while making Just Shapes & Beats levels:
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