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I have just released a new installer for Substream at version 1.2. This patch was created to fix a single specific issue seen on one PC, where Substream had no sound playing. On startup the game now checks the audio device to make sure it is playing back and if it isn’t it tries other outputs. Testing on the target machine with this approach seems to have done the trick.
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I’ve developed an aerial shooter called Substream that extensively uses gameplay events and environmental animations that are synced to the game’s soundtrack. This article covers some of the things I’ve discovered; what works, what I can get away with, and how far to push it…
Humans learn that when we see and hear things happening concurrently we can try to draw an association. So when it comes to syncing up music and game events, timing is extremely important. But triggering visuals at the beat isn’t always best. If an animation’s prominence builds over a few frames, triggering it before the beat can provide a better sense of synchronicity, so that the two events (animation and sound) peak together.
I synced up my events by hand, and I’ve learnt to be careful and get it right on the first pass. If I misplace the position of a note by even a quarter beat it creates an interesting kind of problem; I can usually sense that an animation amongst a string of notes was mistimed quite clearly, but not spot where. The illusion that music and animations are one is easily broken, even when you can’t point to it.
Substream’s AudioMarker Syncronization Tool
When making movements that appear to be linked to the pitch of the music, you can lie a lot. As long as things generally go one way when the pitch goes up, and usually the other way when it falls, it’s all good.
Rock Band and Guitar Hero are a great examples of this. You have five buttons on the guitar but many notes in the music. If a note is roughly higher than the previous one the player will usually be asked to press a button that’s somewhere higher on the fretboard. Non-guitar players will quickly get a feel for which end makes higher notes and which makes lower notes and fully accept this system, even though it’s used so liberally by the game.
Rock Band
Although animations need to be timed well, it’s possible to get away with missing notes completely. And this is where things start to get spooky.
If ten notes play and nine have an animation, the one without can appear quieter, or not seem to count as part of the melody. Alternatively, adding an animation usually linked to a snare at a time when no snare is playing can lead you to believe it was there, very quiet – you’re not sure if you heard it. A bigger than average animation can make a note appear louder.
When a colourful musically animated game comes along marketing departments sometimes like to bring out this fancy word. I used it once or twice, but after doing some research I decided to stop.
Synaesthesia is a condition of mind where the experience of one sense is associated with a completely different sense or idea. This can mean that hearing a musical note comes with a certain colour, but it can also mean that numbers have a physical location in space or that certain words form a taste. This is something people experience their whole lives, but it’s rarely considered a negative by them. Although someone with synaesthesia might try to communicate their experiences to others through a game design, you cannot induce Synaesthesia in someone.
A musical game might convince you that a certain object in a scene is creating a sound in the music; but that’s different, and it’s not as special as I’d like to tell you it is. Video games trigger sounds when objects animate all the time. Boom.
If you’re expecting the player to be able to perform an action or trigger something on a beat this can be difficult to balance. If the player presses the button just before a note there’s no problem because you can have your code remember this for a few milliseconds and then perform the action when the beat comes past. But if the player presses it late then you have a decision to make about performing the action late, waiting until the next beat, or not allowing the action. If you’re running at 30 frames per second and you get a late input that you don’t process until the next frame, this will make all of these worse. If you can, check the state of the input device right before you make this decision in the code and do all of that as late in the frame update as possible.
We see shapes moving through TV static because our brains hunt for patterns with meaning. Enough particles will seem like they must somehow be related to an electric guitar.
Sad news. Some people just don’t get it. Maybe all their attention is on the gameplay. Or perhaps they are not musically minded. But a few people have stepped away from my game at conventions and been completely surprised when I’ve told them it was all synchronised to the soundtrack. At least they still think the game looks and sounds nice as separate factors. But unfortunately that special link will always pass a small percentage of people by completely.
First published on gamedeveloper.com 29th September 2014.
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I’ve just found a document on my hard drive which I wrote as part of a Univeristy project in my games programming degree. It nicely describes an algorithm for performing what are often called CSG (constructive solid geometry) operations. BSP (binary spatial partitioning) is another term.
This is an algorithm for taking intersecting 3D or 2D objects and removing one from the other to create a hole, or combining them together. This is frequently seen as a tool in 3D modelling programs or level editors.
Download Binary Solid Operations PDF
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I’ve just released version 1.1 of Substream. This fixes several issues with the intial release.
Substream has two aircraft; “Sonata” is the shiny chrome one and “Alto” is the black gem-like one which presents a harder difficulty with its weaker shield and trickier controls. Previously you had to beat the game with both ships to unlock the bonus features. But now the Alto ship is a part of the bonus menu. This means you get to the unlock the bonus features quicker, which includes an option to install the MP3 soundtrack.
The second set of fixes concern the game failing to run at some resolutions when Windows desktop scaling is active. I won’t go into details, but if you’ve had any issue getting the game to work at higher resolutions this version should contain the fix you need.
Finally, menus are more readable, with fixes on overlapping text in various languages, and more comfortable font sizes.
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I’m super happy to tell you that Substream is finally released to the world!
It’s been a long journey but I’ve definitely reached a point when I feel like this game is solid. Technically the custom engine works well and it’s been played by several beta testers. And the game itself is well rounded and fun!…
Substream is an abstract aerial on-rails shooter for Windows PC.
Pilot alien aircraft as you fly through a world that constantly pulses and morphs with the rhythms, moods and melodies of the soundtrack. Each of the six levels are inspired by the soundtrack, which includes jazz, tribal, techno and funk. The terrain, sky and your enemies are all synchronzied to music by artists such as Souleye (VVVVVV) and Floex (Machinarium, Samarost 3).
Experience airborne combat in looped space, where your attackers appear in multiple positions ahead of you. Look to the sides and you’ll see copies of your aircraft like a squadron stretching off to infinity. You can attack the same enemy in multiple directions and they can do the same to you, but destroy one and you destroy the chain.
In each level you fly over a landscape shooting down robotic alien drones, collecting weapons and scoring points, surviving until the end of the tune. Pick up railguns, pipe bombs and homing missiles. The two aircraft represent two different difficulty levels, each with their own weapon and control style.
Beat the game with both aircraft to unlock the Substream Winner EP, a collection of MP3s from the game soundtrack that are installed direct to your music folder.
