Backbeat News

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!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]On the agenda[/h2]



We'll start by walking you through the design concept of the games we create at Ichigoichie. We'll then touch music creation and how the rules of music are built into our game design. We'll then address the unique resource and constraints the player must manage deeper into the retail version of the game. To illustrate we'll use a number of special test levels showing off:

* premade character paths
* "doors and keys" mechanics
* stagger and align resources
* solo and assist resources
* cooldown-managed power moves

Wishlist Backbeat and stay updated on important news and information leading up to launch! A single click is all it takes to dive into our world of funk, humor, nostalgia, and strategic puzzling madness!

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

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

Got a quarter? Give us a call!

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!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[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 provide a glimpse into the full version with some of the more sophisticated mechanics and scoring that show up farther into the game. We're streaming live from our studio in Stockholm so this is your chance to ask us whatever's on your mind about the game.

Wishlist Backbeat and stay updated on important news and information leading up to launch! A single click is all it takes to dive into our world of funk, humor, nostalgia, and strategic puzzling madness!

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

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

Got a quarter? Give us a call!

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!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[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 provide a glimpse into the full version with some of the more sophisticated mechanics and scoring that show up farther into the game. We're streaming live from our studio in Stockholm so this is your chance to ask us whatever's on your mind about the game.

Wishlist Backbeat and stay updated on important news and information leading up to launch! A single click is all it takes to dive into our world of funk, humor, nostalgia, and strategic puzzling madness!

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

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

Got a quarter? Give us a call!

Twitter - Facebook - Instagram - Youtube

It has been more than a couple of months since our last dev blog, but that doesn't mean Backbeat hasn't been getting bigger and better! Since we last wrote in March, we've been doing a lot of polish and under the hood work to improve how Backbeat looks, sounds, and runs. But we'll save that for another post.

The last few months have been brutal in hitting the event scene. We travelled to Kyoto, Japan for BitSummit and were nominated for Best Sound Design! We also had interviews with IGN Japan, Rock Paper Shotgun, and went on the main stage to talk about the game.



No sooner than we got back from the sweltering summer heat of Kyoto, we packed our bags and headed to Cologne, Germany to exhibit at Gamescom and share our progress with Europe. This was a great experience as well and we got some good feedback to help adjust the level design of the demo slightly.



And now it's less than a week until we head back to Japan to show our title at the Tokyo Game Show in Makuhari, where we've been selected from one of 78 games from around the world as a featured indie.

There are more events coming in October but we'll leave off for now as there are more story scenes to adjust and perfect.

[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

More great news this week as we are happy to announce that we have just reached our alpha milestone so we are now feature complete! To celebrate, we have added some extra content to the demo so now is a great time to come get another taste of Backbeat before our release later this year.

[h2]New content[/h2]



The full version of Backbeat has forty levels that progressively introduce four musical resources, twenty themes, special power moves, and point-based tricks. A lot of the unique mechanics in Backbeat are spread out slowly so the player is not overwhelmed at the start. To help give you a tiny taste of some of the time management challenges, we've added an additional level to the free demo where the player may learn about the keys/doors mechanic which requires synchronization of the four characters' timelines. A new character, the saxophonist Chaz, showcases the mechanic.

[h2]Audio polish[/h2]

Starting in this version we have added chatter sounds to the dialogue engine so when characters are talking you can get a deeper sense of their personality. The four members of Backbeat each have their own instrument timbre, and NPCs are unified with softened woodblock when they speak. An new musical theme is also included in the expansion level.

[h2]Usability tweaks[/h2]

We have a number of features designed to help the player when breaking conditions occur in the game. When a musical resource or turns have been depleted, the character triggering the conflict will appear and specify exactly why play cannot continue. This is especially important when a timeline break is about to occur.



We also adjusted several levels in the tutorial slightly to improve visibility of obstacles.

[h2]More to come![/h2]

All levels in the full version of Backbeat are now complete! In the next month we will be working on adding the unlockable instrument and audio effect customizations, graphical polish, and performance optimizations. We're looking forward to sharing more with you in April's dev blog.

[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