Backbeat News

November's dev blog comes about a week late due to some nasty colds decimating the Stockholm population, but now we are plugging on and adding more features for the the full game.

When the members of our band Powerslyde are relaxing, they go where anyone else in the 90s would think to unwind: the mall of course! The Hornsburg Towne Mall is the scene of events both epic and comical in our game, so our environment artist Andreja worked hard to build "the mall with it all". The in-world brands have yet to appear, but we'll save that treat for later.



Also this month we are working out the kinks and logic bugs for the four power moves you unlock later in the game. Having the ability to break through a wall, slide past guards like Pete Townshend, or blow away enemies with an epic sax toot increases the complexity and number of solutions possible in the more advanced levels of the game. We did a pass of visual effects to begin with, and are now putting together audio clips with our composer before integrating them into some grey box levels.



Speaking of our composer the fabulous Pete Fraser, he is now set up with the tools needed to create some of the vanity unlocks that allow musical customization of the game. Behold the mighty AKAI Electronic Wind Instrument (EWI)! This will be used to produce a sultry synth sax that Chaz can obtain after a significant amount of puzzle solving aplomb from the player.



Finally, we have put together all the assets for the two alternate portrait styles which are optional in the game. The "sleek" and "speech bubble" styles give the character portraits new cutouts, backgrounds, and colors to allow you to set up your own narrative experience. We're adding this feature as a homage to one of our favorite 16-bit action RPGs, Secret of Mana.



If you are in the Stockholm area, we'd love to see you! We are schedule to do a beta test of some of the levels from the full game at Indie Game Dungeon next Wednesday the 15th. Attendance is free so hit us up on social media for more info if you'd like to drop by.

[h2]Join the conversation![/h2]

Do you have an idea for a dev blog topic? Curious about the team and story of Backbeat? Comment on this post or tweet at us, we'd love to hear your thoughts.

Stay cool and funky!
-- The Backbeat team at Ichigoichie

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Thanks to all of the players who have tried the Backbeat demo in its first month. Production of the full version of the game is continuing, and we have some small updates to the sights and sound of the game to make playing the demo a little easier and a little more funky.

[h2]Options and usability[/h2]

As before you can toggle between fullscreen and windowed mode with Alt-Enter/Cmd-F. Fullscreen is now the default and you can change the window size manually in the new baby Options menu. Language is also no longer constrained to a Steam launch option. You can change between English and Japanese at any time as well. Button guides and WASD prompts have been added until we are able to add mouse support in a future version of the game. As we get closer to release of the full version we'll be adding for options for customization of the dialogue and sound.

[h2]Realtime reverb[/h2]

Speaking of sound, as in Hexagroove, we run our own custom audio engine inside of the game. This month we have upgraded our signal chain to include realtime reverb to simulate the sound of different locations inside of the game. In the full version this will help create a live feeling based on the venue Watts' band is playing, regardless of which pack of sound clips and instruments are used (did we mention the full version has over six configurable instruments and instrument playing styles?), but for now you can hear how music in Josh's Hollywood Movies has gained a more cavernous feeling.

[h2]Club mode++[/h2]



On the other side of the coin, we've added some graphical enhancements to make playback even funkier. When Watts, Toshi, and Josh are strutting to the goal area, the playback feels more like a music video with the addition of camera tilt, disco balls, and pulsing spotlights. Check out their saunter to the stage in Callahan's dive bar for maximum effect.

[h2]Removal of Prologue, 2-1a, and 3-1a[/h2]

Several story-heavy levels were removed from the demo to make the path of trying the mechanics and getting to the big STAGGER resource reveal on level six even faster. If you have already played the prologue, you got a sneak peak! The three removed levels are now sealed and will be waiting in the full version, so if you find them missing it's not a bug, it's a feature!

In addition to the larger adjustments above, there are buckets of smaller stability and performance improvements under the hood. To reinforce the system requirements, when you run the demo on an unsupported version like Windows 7 or macOS High Sierra, a popup will tell you about the baseline.

[h2]More from you![/h2]

Some of these improvements came directly from suggestions made by superfans like you! Do you have another idea for an improvement to make the funky story of Powerslyde even better? Drop us a comment below or shout at us on social media.

Stay cool and funky!
-- The Backbeat team at Ichigoichie



Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - Youtube

It's late October, we are still tingling in the afterglow of our demo launch last month, and the game dev marches on.

If you've played to the end of the demo, you may remember how funkmaster Cliff portended a serious situation for our heroes involving a metal band. We won't say any more about that but on an unrelated note we have finished another of our internal showrooms, the live house DC10. This is a place where our heroes find themselves out of their element so we worked extra hard to make it a stark contrast to the cozy brown haze of Callahan's where their live gig journey began.



Also this month we are finishing up visual effects for the band, adding little touches like these two. First we're adding some simple light animations to the music during playback, and another where band members will play accompaniment in the goal area while waiting for the last character to join. One thing we thought of when doing environment animations for Backbeat is the frequency and synchronization. With funk there is more swing in the beat so it doesn't make sense for everything to flash off and on to a pumping four-on-the-floor like you'd find in Hexagroove. So we make the color changes and speed a bit more organic and less unified in the presentation.



Finally, we're getting ready on the marketing side by adding some new branded art for splash screens and dashboards. The key is to show up visibly in all storefronts regardless of the size of the thumbnail when scrolling through, so the logo has to be prominent, while keeping the background eye-catching enough to make you want to see the image enlarged. What do you think?



We made a sneak appearance with Backbeat at IndieCade's GameTasting last weekend, and have entered our first competition as well. Keep your fingers crossed and cheer for us!

[h2]Join the conversation![/h2]

Do you have an idea for a dev blog topic? Curious about the team and story of Backbeat? Comment on this post or tweet at us, we'd love to hear your thoughts.

Stay cool and funky!
-- The Backbeat team at Ichigoichie

Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - Youtube

Today we are proud to announce that the demo version of Backbeat has been released! The last year we've spent working on the mechanics, music, and visual style of Backbeat have all built up to this point. In terms of content the game is less than 15% done, but the first six levels that set up the story and the mechanics are complete, and now you can experience the beginning of our creative puzzle/strategy title, for free and at your leisure.



The demo introduces you to Watts and two of her friends as they start on the road to stardom and form a funk band. The concepts of our multilinear time-based puzzles and the first of four musical resources are also presented. We hope this first taste of Backbeat's gameplay and characters will make you hungry for more, and that you'll share your thoughts with the development team.

Join us for two livestreams this weekend during the Steam Next Fest, at Sunday 19:00 CET / 13:00 EST / 10:00 PST, and Monday night at 23:30 EST / 20:30 PST. We'll talk about the game's design, art, music, and much more showing off advanced mechanics and levels in development from the retail version. We may also raffle off a copy or two of our award-winning musical RTS, Hexagroove: Tactical DJ. So wishlist and stop on by. Until then, hit that DOWNLOAD DEMO button on the store page and take the game for a spin!

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1585730/view/2978556685280871698
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1585730/view/2978556685280987999

[h2]Join the conversation![/h2]

Do you have an idea for a dev blog topic? Curious about the team and story of Backbeat? Comment on this post or tweet at us, we'd love to hear your thoughts.

Stay cool and funky!
-- The Backbeat team at Ichigoichie

Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - YouTube

The Steam Next Festival is coming and we are thrilled to show you our new Backbeat Demo. Join our livestream to talk about different aspects of the game and production!

[h2]NOTE THIS STREAM WILL BE ENTIRELY IN JAPANESE[/h2]



[h2]On the agenda[/h2]



We'll start by giving you an introduction Backbeat, highlighting controls, mechanics, and gameplay in the demo. We'll also talk about the setting, characters and inspirations that went into building 1995 Hornsburg.

We'll also give you a glimpse into the full version with some of the more sophisticated mechanics and scoring that show up farther into the game. Finally, we'll celebrate our new demo launch with a giveaway of the full version of our award-winning DJ simulator, Hexagroove!

Wishlist Backbeat and stay updated on important news and information about the game leading up to launch! A single click is all it takes to bring into the world of funk, humour, nostalgia, and strategic puzzling madness!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1585730/Backbeat/

Stay cool and funky!
-- The Backbeat team at Ichigoichie



Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - Youtube