This week, Rob and I finally began to hammer out a more solid idea of what we want this game to look like. We have in mind a world similar to what we see in this day and age, except that the environment is full of musical imagery. Landmarks may include piano buildings, trees that look like organ pipes, trumpet cars, and tuba fire hydrants. This is going to be done in a cartoony style with a lot of bright colors, and the main characters will be humanoid in appearance. Most likely, the players will be young adults, dressed in a style of clothing that represents their instrument (For example, if one were a pianist, he might be dressed in a tuxedo, like a concert pianist.). Rob led me to this game called "Home Run in Berzerk Land" as a possible color reference.
Each of us was also supposed to come up with a few different ideas for monster variations. So, here are some I have thought of.
"Bomb": This enemy cannot be destroyed by your instruments. He sits in the back waiting to be activated by an instrument (possibly guitar). Once activated, he marches forward. After a couple of measures, he is supposed to reach the players and explode, destroying himself and dealing heavy damage to all players. He can be held off, however, by the beat of the drum, which slows him down. He will still explode a few measures after activation, but as long as he isn't near the players, they suffer no damage.
"Flamingo": This enemy normally struts along the ground, so the guitar's lightning that should hurt her is ineffective. You must first shake the ground up with your bass or drum to encourage this beast to fly. Once she is off the ground, lightning shuts her down.
"Flame": We started to discuss putting horns or woodwind instruments into the game that blast out strong winds. Fiery enemies like this could be extinguished or even vanquished. Otherwise, the roaring flames drown out other sound.
"Mini-Golem": This enemy throws rocks at you from a distance to hurt you. They are protected by a shield, usually, but if you smack them with their own rock by deflecting it with wind, then they will be briefly stunned. Then, you can wail on him to destroy him.
"Wizard": A rather difficult foe to beat. This monster throws fireballs at the band from a distance. These fireballs can not only damage you, but they absorb much of the sound you can play. Snuff the flames out quickly with wind to lower his defenses. After casting his magic a few times, he may forget to close his cape and leave himself open to attack. Any instrument can do some damage to him, but he suffers a lot from hearing 4-note chords (1st, 3rd, 5th, and 8th notes of a key) being played. If he isn't vanquished quickly, he'll reseal himself and restart his routine.
"Rising Wedgehead": This enemy takes about equal damage from all instruments, but he is beaten more quickly if the notes being played go up their respective scale. (Do Re Mi...)
"Falling Wedgehead": The opposite of his rising brother, this enemy is driven off when the players play down the scale. (Do Ti La So...)
"Flying Electromagnet": As long as one of this enemies exist, all lightning strikes from the guitars hit this enemy instead, and he takes no damage from the lightning. They usually appear with swarms of flying or aquatic foes. They self-destruct if shaken too much, but since they fly initially, bass lines won't strike them until the wind or drums can knock them down.
"Screamer": Fast-moving flying monsters that let ultrasonic blasts out of their mouths. These blasts do no direct damage, but they can disrupt your song by screwing up a note of any instrument. They are not very tough, but missing them completely may end up trashing your tunes.
"Sidewalk": These crablike foes move quickly toward guitar and bass players in an attempt to cut the strings of their instruments. They attack these ones because they wish to stop the sounds that they make. They can dodge lightning and quakes as long as there is no drum slowing them down.
Just examples we might be able to work with. These don't even have to be the names.
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