Star Tracker (Meta-game).

We added another feature to the game based on some more feedback. One thing that other music games have which we never had was more user feedback. So we decided to implement a star tracker system…. This system is always visible and flashes when the user reaches the requirement to make the star(s) fill up.

We don’t really wanted to go into depth about this feature because this is one of the Meta games within Perplex and explaining how this works would spoil the fun for you PreAnimals. Just wanted to let you guys know about this.

Box Art – Perplex Beats

After the redesign of the frontend we were able to create the box art. This is really strange because when we was brainstorming on how the box art should look, it was a nightmare to create something that looks good when the only iconic references for the game was the name and the game logo (the cube).

So by doing the frontend artwork the box art just fell into place.

 

Tweaks / Remix

With the new XNA 4.0 update, Jeremy decided to disable the game screen so it was not scalable, as stated previously. This led me to tweak a lot of the in-game UI and frontend menus. I raged at first because I thought this would be a huge task, but by tackling this take made me look at the game in a different light and notice areas that needed to be changed / tweaked. A blessing in disguise for Perplex Beats because the game now has a more exciting feel from the get go and now all the game menus are unified.

I have to give a shout out to Sam Beard our superstar sound engineer for producing an epic remix for the frontend of Perplex Beats. Maybe we could put the original version up for the loyal PreAnimals to hear one day, but trust me the new version is a million times better with traces of the old track imbedded. I guess we now got the best of both worlds.

Safe zones and more safe zones.

Jeremy has been telling me for a long time now, that we need to move things around so it fits into the safe zone.  I on the other hand felt the best thing was to allow the user to adjust the screen, because I have always believed that choice was one of the many keys points to creating a fun experience.  I later found out that was a silly move (as the other team members constantly remind me of my past poor decisions).  When testing the game on different TV’s and monitors we started to notice the problem of not placing things in the safe zone.  Also having to enter the adjust screen option every time you play the game on a different TV or monitor was starting to annoy us, so Jeremy disabled this option which forced me to tweak the layouts so it fits properly.

I am so glad Jeremy took it upon himself to do this otherwise this would have been a problem for the final release.

Perplex Beats – 5 Cubes Video

Hey PreAnimals as promised an update on how the game is taking shape. We have reached the stage where things are set in place and just the ironing of all the creases are left to be done.  Within the industry it is called bug catching.  It is a really great feeling considering we have been working on it for some years now.

Here is our latest gameplay footage and it is safe to say the game will not change much from this new and exciting look. This was played on 5 cube mode (Hard difficulty / more notes)

• The new multiplier system is shown
• The updated symbols are included in this video.
• The new rotate bar is now in the game.
• And many other things which may have be forgotten.

Thanks for your support over the years and enjoy your new video.

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