1. Created by Mads Caspersen Hans Petter Ellingsen Kristian Jespersen Christoffer Holmgård Pedersen Jasper Theisen Kenni Skafte Mortensen

2. What is Bongo Hero? Fusion of two game genres! Rhythm Time pressure puzzles Rhythm puzzle game for consoles

3. Who plays Bongo Hero? Parties The casual gamer Rhythm game fans

4. So what’s new? The combination of puzzles and rhythms Requires… Rhythm Precision Overview Planning

5. The story so far… Dr. Bongo is a high-energy physicist dedicated to bring back the groove to the world mon’ Using his scientific skills and his superintelligent monkeys he travels through time and intervenes at points of especially low groovyness

6. So let’s play already! Demo: The level you’ll see takes place in the 80’s where Dr. Bongo has arrived to save the cocaine sniffing yuppies from the terrible fate of superficial elektropop Dr. Bongo makes the yuppies dance to a new tune by drumming his bongos; the rhythms ultimately destroying the evil Wall Street Tower of Power

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8. Characteristics Rhythms Repetitive… …but that’s good in rhythm games … and you choose which rhythm to play on the fly Perfectionistic gameplay Stressing Time pressure Immersion Puzzles Overview Strategy Easy to generate new levels – easy to hard Outmersion

9. Core game mechanics Correct rhythms yield points Balancing points with time Staying within acceptable intervals Monitoring values under pressure Movement between levels

10. Fun Factors Frenzied gameplay under time pressure Implicit yet complex puzzle solving Rapid increase in skill while playing Special controllers Comic, cartoonish style

11. Development proces Iterative development proces Driven by playtesting Informal internal testing Formalized playtests

12. Early stages of development Focus on development of rhythm features Interimistic GUI Informal testing of rhythms and various keyboard mapping Results: Mappings changed to KB areas rather than specific buttons Rhythms adapted regularly

13. First version of graphics First realization of actual in-game style First implementation and choice of colour- coding of different KB zones Still informal in-team testing Results: KB zoning much better than single button mapping

14. Another crash…

15. Introduction of avatar Coloured dots moved to bottom of screen Feedback on rhythm integrated Animated avatar introduced Informal testing with non-team players Results: Feedback essential Need for ’current dot’ indicator

16. Puzzle implementation ’Current dot’ indicator added Feedback meters added Indicate different levels current values

17. Time indicator and formalized PT Timer added for representing loosing condition (time up) Meters in action – actual values removed First formalized playtest (next slide)

18. First formalized PT - methods Observation Semistructured interviews Questionnaires

19. First formalized PT - results Concept solid Yellow meter means optimal value is non- transparent Difficulties of levels very different Limited visual bandwith; focus on bottom bar More visual and especially auditive feedback needed

20. More visual feedback… NPC’s ad to narrative and vastly enhance game world Dancing indicates level value and meter value Redundant information highlights important values Dr. Bongo indicates active level

21. Audio Feedback Meter increase Yellow zone Red zone Below green

22. Special controllers added Gamecube DK bongo-controllers Add immersion by mirroring virtual world in real world Easier control

23. Playtest with bongo controllers Significantly reduces control difficulty Added immersion … but still less than optimal mode of interaction – players want more bongo- feel

24. Future playtest interests Tweaking of level values Rhythm difficulties Adding more feedback Rewards and penalties Visual and auditive style Lose and win conditions

25. Level editor Create your own beats Create the layout your self Choose between backgrounds Choose node graphics Exchange levels online

26. Multiplayer Mode Battle on the same level Affect the same meter First to reach his predefined state wins

27. Lessons learned from development proces Rhythm game prototypes needs a high level of development before formalized playtesting is valuable Rhytm/puzzle game balancing requires careful playtesting Test/re-test effect is immense with rhythm games => you need many test subjects