It is a virtual reality music management game where the player controls a monsters' conductor during a concert. The concept is to transcribe the experience of the conductor in a playful and offbeat way to make it accessible to the most novice players in terms of music.
I worked on this project on the Game Design (controls, mechanics, game modes), 3D graphics (environment and props) and ergonomics (UI design, playtests, gamefeel, signs and feedbacks).
Context
The player is immersed in Metronopolis, the capital of an imaginary world of monsters where they have been elected to lead the commemorative concert of this year's Metronomic War. This celebration is a magical ritual using ceremonial relics: the Magic Wand, the Metronomicon and the Magic Potions Factory. Through a tutorial in the form of a dress rehearsal, the Monstronome learns how to use these relics and how to guide the Instrumonsters.
Rules and mechanics
- Global orchestra management: the Metronomicon displays information about the style, speed and power of the orchestra's performance. The player can then use his Magic Wand to beat time and change the speed and power. To change the playing style, he can throw a magic potion on the orchestra.
- Management by Instrument Family: When a family in the orchestra starts to play cacophonously, the player can target it. This is done with magic potions, which must be cast on the family concerned in the order indicated.
- Structure: the concert is divided into musical blocks and transitions. The global management is done during the transitions, while the reframing by family is done during the musical blocks. However, nothing is rigid, if the player does not act in time, or makes a mistake, like dropping a potion by accident, he will have to correct it as soon as possible.
- Optimization: the game offers friction in the design. The Magic Potions Factory elaborates potions during the concert, but they will pile up and get mixed, it's up to the player to use the different storage places around him to act faster on the orchestra, and avoid breakage.
Game modes
The full Monstronome experience offers three game modes:
- Tutorial: the first option offered to the player to get the hang of the controls and learn the rules of the game.
- Play Mode: the great annual concert, it corresponds to the Evaluated Mode and offers a complete experience of Monstronome.
- Free Mode: it extends the basic experience of Monstronome by allowing the player to evolve the characteristics of the orchestra as he wishes, with more flexibility and customization than in the Ceremony mode.
Graphic creation
Here are some of the graphical elements that I modeled on Blender and imported into Unity.
Above you can see the Metronomicon, an electronic toaster that displays the user interface and guides the player. On the right is the Maestronome, a TV + soundboard that displays the game menus and sound options in a diegetic way.
This is the magic potion factory, its design is based on distillery tanks that I have strongly stylized to give them an organic and contemporary sculpture look.
The storage visible on the right allows to store all the potions that come out of it, with adapted and affordant storages for the players.