Module 11: Audio Design

Module 11:  Audio Design

Rush Bros.

For this week's module, I figured I would talk about Rush Bros.  Rush Bros. is a platformer game on Steam that uses music files in a unique way.  You can either play using the tracks that the game comes with or you can import your own mp3 tracks.  This game also features a multiplayer mode.

In this game, objects react to the music you play.  There is one object that emits a pulse based on the music you play.  To get through certain levels, it's best to have some variety to your music with some songs with strong bass.  There are also colored bars that move in rhythm with your music.  Some of these bars will help you while others are obstacles to avoid.  They can speed up or slow down based on the music that's playing, so you want a variety of fast and slow songs.

The game can be found here, although I wouldn't recommend buying it:  http://store.steampowered.com/app/234490/

Unfortunately, this game along with certain other games such as Grand Theft Auto:  San Andreas on the PC, has actually gotten worse with updates.  Instead of adding content, they removed it.  One of my favorite tracks in the game, "Cities of the Future" by Infected Mushroom was removed from the game.  The game went downhill after this and no one plays the online multiplayer anymore.

Like GTA: San Andreas, the tracks were removed due to an expired license.  Sadly, if you played the game earlier, just to come back to it and find out that a key track that you enjoyed using was removed, you would never want to buy another game from that developer ever again.  This is one of the worst ways to get ripped off- having existing content removed with a mandatory update.  Imagine Rock Band or Guitar Hero having its track list cut in half with an update.  You'd be furious!  Cutting perfectly fine, working content from a game is absolutely terrible for gamers because we already paid money for the game and its content.  Developers need to find ways around this such as making the tracks paid DLC given for free to owners of the game before the update.  This way the company can try to renew their license for the track but not punish people for buying the game early.