ProjectProposal-JimmyNguyen
From CS 160 Fall 2008
Contents |
Music tHero
So you've all seen Dance Dance Revolution, Rock Band, and Guitar Hero... this is the theory behind the concept of music and rhythm... Music tHERO.
Target User Group
The target user group of this game would be to anyone with any interest in music and/or rhythm, from kids just learning to play an instrument to aspiring musicians. Users can use this game in order to learn to distinguish different music frequencies so they can identify pitches better. Another reason would be to listen to a mini-track/composition and be able to identify different parts of the song/sound wave. This function would seem useful to DJs, dancers and drummers/percussionists.
Problem Description
There is a large fan base that play the music games by banging on the drums, pressing guitar buttons and screaming into the microphone producing "music", but in terms of the music itself, the theory behind it gets lost. People do eventually build a rhythm, but think of the different sounds as different game buttons, as opposed to different instruments being used.
Problem Context and Forces
The casual player may have anywhere from little to no music experience, which makes it hard to understand the concepts of music outside of these already existing music games. There are many times when knowing some music theory will help you, especially in my experience. As an online DJ, learning to count and identify different beats helps me come up with different transitions. For dancers, I've noticed that some people in dance groups don't always listen to the rhythm or do not understand how to move correctly to music. For drummers, it would help if they were trying to replicate a song to identify the instruments and beats that they hit so that they can learn the song.
Solution (sketch)
Since this is an audio-based game, these are potential screenshots of what it could look like.
Guess which note I am playing...
Listening to this sound clip, can you establish a rhythm and identify the bass and snares?
(Screenshot courtesy of Sony Acid)
