1. Mix Mix Revolution Albert Dang 3/5/2007

2. Design Problem To help students gain a music literacy that is associated with real-time mixing techniques and dj skills. Music literacy will focus on rhythm, tempo, and pitch. Target audience is middle school students and older The setting will be the home predominantly, although arcades and schools may also be appropriate

3. Resources Academic research focused on music and learning –AMEEd (ASU) –Interactive Learning Machine (MIT) Rhythm Action Games –DDR –Guitar Hero –Karaoke Revolution –Beatmania Toshio Iwai –Otocky –Sound Fantasy –Sim Tunes –Electroplankton

4. Idea Sketches Intersection Iwai and rhythm-action games Increase rhythm-action mechanic to different principals of dj-mixing

5. Concept A game that encourages understanding of dj literacy through a core mechanic of beat-matching with a mixer The interface will feature a simplified representation of common dj equipment as well as a visual mapping of different tracks Complexity will be added as the user advances through the game

6. Level Design First stage is a tutorial, introducing core concepts in a step-like manner (for simplicity, the same sample will be played in both track) –Beat-matching –Pitch adjustment –Clocking Second stage presents different songs to mix Successful mixing then leads to power-ups (not unlike using “star power” in Guitar Hero) –Scratching –Volume toggling or Send –Sampling

7. Screenshot: Beat-matching

8. Screenshot: Pitch Adjust

9. Screenshot: Clocking

10. Additional Feedback Crowd Response –Bad mixing, lowers the set rating –If it gets low enough, the games ends Scoring –Tied to crowd response, but with a points system Progress meter –Shows how far the player is in completed a particular set Samples and tracks become unlocked as the player progresses New and better equipment may be purchased as the player progresses –Styli or needles –Mixer –Sampler

11. Additional Game Play Muti-player modes –“Battle” or competitive mode –“Tag-team” or cooperative mode –Other player may be in the same location or in a remote location (muti-player over the Internet)

12. Further Self-Evaluation DJ sets are saved and may be played back for review or admiration –Accessibility to meta-cognitive learning DJ sets may be shared with friends and a larger community over a network –Learning by reviewing “experts” in literacy (i.e., great dj sets that are voted high by the community)