Work-in-progress!
- Using Unreal Engine's Quartz and MetaSound to script beat timing and input systems
- Developing dynamic visual and audio feedback systems with Unreal Blueprints
- Utilizing GitHub for version control to manage files between computers and track development
- Creating fully original music and art to support a cohesive style
This is a work-in-progress rhythm game that I began developing solely to give myself a better understanding of the Unreal audio tools Quartz and MetaSound. I wanted to learn how to use these tools to help with somebody else's project, and I ended up developing this game as a learning exercise for myself. The player explores a small hub world where they can play multiple unique tracks in a classic rhythm game style akin to Guitar Hero or Dance Dance Revolution. Their goal is to get 3 other musicians to join their band for a big concert. After each musician is convinced to join the band, their respective instrument is introduced to the background music of the level. I achieved this through the use of a MetaSound asset, where I have control over each instrument track that feeds into one audio output.
Initially, I began developing the game with no understanding of Quartz, but I discovered how integral it is for quantizing game events to active music. I learned very quickly that without Quartz, game events (such as falling arrows) will desync from the music. I made the decision to have the game run its note-spawning logic on every sixteenth note. This means that I can fit a maximum of 16 notes per measure on each input. Extending to divisions of 32 would be good to allow for more rhythmic variation, but I chose sixteenths for simplicity and to ensure good performance.
The game is not completed, but for now you can watch the attached video where I play through some of the tracks in the game and show off how it works.
