Backbeat News

It's the nicest weather of the year in Stockholm, so we have been enjoying our evenings in the fresh air. But just because it's July doesn't mean the content train has stopped rolling. This month there are lots of little things going on in the office. We welcomed a new design assistant, Andy, who has been helping integrate all of the song packs and dialog data into the game. I just finished giving my talk on studio management at the annual Game Developer's Conference, and now I have my sights set firmly on the Tokyo Game Show at the end of September, because we're releasing a demo!



Exactly two years ago this week we were exhibiting our first playable demo of Hexagroove: Tactical DJ at NärCon in Linköping and less than a month away from submitting to Nintendo for release. This time around though many things are the same, some are completely different. Backbeat is a huge undertaking for our little studio and we're building three to four times more content for our new puzzle/strategy game. In addition to the standard custom song pack we build for our games, in each of Backbeat's levels we have a much more detailed environment with 3D playable characters, NPCs, and a storyline about four dreamers with their eyes set on the future (over 25000 words!). I can't believe it's all coming together at once, but here we are.



This month we've started pouring more energy into increasing the flair and style of Watts' adventure through Hornsburg, adding things to the beginning and end of every level. After solving one of the puzzles in Backbeat, you receive a special music video built from all of the choices you made in navigating the environment. We kick this off with a little metronome animation. The first version looks something like this. In the next milestone we're going to do all the heavy lifting to add those camera cuts, wipes, and decals to dress up the band members' funkiest maneuvers through the level.



Every apprentice needs a master to guide her on the road to glory. In Backbeat this is Cliff, bassist of the funk band that inspires Watts to stop playing covers and become the master of her own progression (musically and professionally). There's a subtle reference in here to a legendary funk bassist, can you guess which?



Cliff runs his management service in tandem with his band's tours. Often when Watts is in need of some musical advice, he's not around so she has to give him a call. In 1995 tiny supercomputers in your pocket were a distant science fiction dream... it was a miracle if you could reach anybody without use of a payphone. Fortunately for Watts she's taken her tips from a certain Zach Morris and has her own cutting-edge technology for enlisting help.



Finally, I'm happy to say the story is 95% complete! This means we are just a stone's throw away from sending it off to translation services for the Japanese version. Backbeat's story covers more than twenty scenes over three acts and building it out with the writing team has been quite an experience. I played a lot of Sierra adventure games growing up with my family, and this love of sharing stories compelled me to try out acting and film studies in college. Writing has been something I've always been interested in but never done professionally, so this has been a very eye-opening experience for me. Writing a short story and creating narrative for games are two completely different things and it's a serious challenge to work in character development and drama alongside the more practical physical conflict that games often require for motivation.

The next two months we have a long milestone to nail everything that we need to get the demo version running smoothly. When that's finished you can enjoy a free taste of the game mechanics, music, and characters of Hornsburg. Look for an intermediate update at the end of August.

[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 me, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Cheers!
-- David, Creative Director

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Last week we were clinking the glasses in the garden behind our office and celebrating not only the Swedish midsummer holiday, but our progress in Backbeat as well. In June we've been working more on our vertical slice, adding things to the in-game experience that sparkle on top of the core puzzle/strategy gameplay that we've been building and user-testing.



We've added a new location to the town of Hornsburg: the video store "Hollywood Movies" where our drummer Josh works part-time. In the 90s brick-and-mortar stores were king and the biggest blockbuster titles debuted in clamshell cases alongside plastic shelves filled with chocolates and candy. We wanted to capture the feel of the industrial carpet, bold colors, and endless rows of VHS tapes.



We've also started creating dialog portraits of our antagonists La Tormenta and the supporting characters that cheer for Watts from backstage. Here are two snaps of Jack, the confident leader of La Tormenta, and heroine Watts' best friend Ashley, who introduces her to both funk music and keyboardist Toshi.



Next month level design goes into full swing and we'll be adding new puzzles and maps for our recently created clubs and businesses of suburban Baltimore. We have a growing palette of objects in our Backbeat editor for creating all sorts of 90s Americana and strategic obstacles.

Finally, we're going (virtually) to GDC next month to talk about our development process on our first game, Hexagroove: Tactical DJ, and Backbeat. Creative Director David Ventura will be talking at the most prestigious conference for game developers shining a little bit of light on how we work together at Ichigoichie. We're really working hard now to have more gameplay videos and GIFs just in time for the conference.

[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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Progress is flying this month so we thought we'd bring you some highlights from all the things going on at the office here in Stockholm. This milestone we're working on that storied checkpoint in game development, the vertical slice. Focusing our efforts on adding all of the world and UI elements into a single level will help lay the foundation for production in the months ahead.



[h2]Just the last four weeks we have added:[/h2]
* models for the Cave of Wonders arcade
* in-game animations for all of heroine Watts' band members
* the beginnings of our dialog rendering system
* three fantasticly funky sound packs for levels early on in the game

and more in-game features than we have space to list here!



The characters of Backbeat are coming to life with every expression our illustrators pen and each keyframe the animation team lays down in Maya. Over the summer we'll start showing more moving pictures and process, so stay tuned!

[h2]Wishlist now![/h2]

Wishlist Backbeat here on Steam and stay updated on important news and information about the game leading up to launch!

[h2]Join the conversation![/h2]

Excited about the brave new world of time-based musical puzzling? Cheer us on and let us know! We’d love nothing more than to hear your thoughts about anything and everything related to Backbeat. You can always leave a comment here on Steam or tap our shoulders over on social media to get the conversation started! 

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We are thrilled to finally announce the project we’ve spent the past year working hard on developing and hope you’ll join us as we continue the game’s journey leading up to launch. 

Here on Steam you can read more about the game’s progress and over on our social media channels (Found at the bottom of this page) we’ll be providing regular updates of the development process, including: snapshots of the graphics and gameplay, concept art, music, behind the scenes dev-blogs and more!



Wishlist Backbeat here on Steam and stay updated on important news and information about the game leading up to launch!

[h3]Announcement trailer[/h3]

The announcement trailer for Backbeat is now up and running on the Ichigoichie / 151A YouTube channel.

Watch the trailer here: Backbeat Announcement Trailer

[h3]Rewind time back to 1995 - Experience The Birth of the Internet 25 years ago[/h3]

The story of Backbeat takes place right in the middle of the 90s, when “surfing” still evoked associations of riding an actual surfboard across a spider’s web of scattered home pages and fan theories. To help set the scene for the game, we’ve created Backbeatgame.com - a time-traveling experience back to the early days of the internet. On the home page meticulously authored by Backbeat gearhead Toshi you’ll find more details about the game design, its characters, and story. 

Prepare to be reminded of all the garish backgrounds, flashy word art and pixelated windows that filled out an authentic 1990s home page. If you’ve grown up with the corporate-smooth internet of today, be ready to catch a glimpse of dial-up yesteryear. 

Click the link and take a step back in time, and don’t forget to sign the guestbook!

[h2]Join the conversation![/h2]

Excited about the brave new world of time-based musical puzzling? Cheer us on and let us know! We’d love nothing more than to hear your thoughts about anything and everything related to Backbeat. You can always leave a comment here on Steam or tap our shoulders over on social media to get the conversation started! 

Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - Youtube