Tunescape on the Top IGN Picks list

I just noticed a healthy uptick in Tunescape sales that I was at a loss to explain. Turns out that it is currently in the Top IGN Picks list in the Indie Games section of the Xbox dash. Nice!

More Tunescape Press

Here is an update on various reviews of Tunescape from around the web. I've been pleasantly surprised to find that there are quite a few gaming websites out there that cover Xbox Live Indie Games. Now if only more people read them...

• GamerGeddon now has a full review up.
• The Tunescape Launch Trailer on GameTrailers.com.
• gaygamer says "I honestly wasn't expecting much going into the game. And now I can't stop playing".
• XboxHornet calls it an "amazing little physics/music hybrid".
• The folks at Signed In had a lot of nice things to say about Tunescape on their weekly podcast.
• xblig.co.uk rates Tunescape 4 out of 5, and says "this could be the music driven game to beat this year".
• xblaratings.com rated Tunescape 9 out of 10, saying "This is one of the best musically themed games I’ve played!". Update: They now have a brief interview with me up.
• The Veteran Gamers did a segment about Tunescape on their podcast.
• XBOX 360 Digest gave Tunescape 4/5 stars, calling it "one Indie game that’s hard to put down".
• SFX360 says "this addictive little game can quickly change the way you enjoy music on your Xbox 360".
• Nukezilla gives tunescape a -2 (that's 8 out of 10 on their rating scale), saying "the gameplay is fantastic and the music is great".

Thanks to everyone who took the time to review the game. I really appreciate it!

Tunescape starting to get some reviews

Tunescape has only been available for a few days, but I've already started to see some reaction to it online:

• xnPlay picked it as one of their favorites of the week, and say "finally a 'gameplay is based on your music' game that works well".
•  GamerGeddon calls it "a steal at 80 points and well worth checking out".

Thanks for the feedback!

So far so good, despite the baby...

When Tunescape hit the New Arrivals list on Xbox Live Indie Games, my first reaction was "Cool!". My second reaction was "What's up with that baby?". I'm guessing a lot of other people have the same reaction. Oh, well - nothing I can do about that.

Despite the baby, Tunescape is off to a pretty good start (at least by Indie Games standards). It made the Top Downloads page today, which was a very pleasant surprise. My trial to purchase conversion rate so far is almost 10% 12% 14%,  which I am also quite pleased about.

Tunescape is live on Xbox Indie Games!

Tunescape passed peer review earlier today and is now available on Xbox Live Indie Games for 80 Microsoft points ($1). I know, pretty spendy...

Last time I checked, it was not yet showing up in the "New Arrivals" section, but if you search for it under 'T', you can find it.

The Tunescape page on the web-based marketplace is here.

I've also put together a little promo website:

  tunescape.nostaticsoftware.com

Latest Tunescape Screenshots

I submitted Tunescape into the peer review process for Xbox Live Indie Games today, so I needed to update my screenshots. This is what the game is looking like right now.

Tunescape Tutorial Video

This is the in-game tutorial in Tunescape.

Tunescape DBP 2010 Trailer

This is the Tunescape trailer for DreamBuildPlay 2010.

I suck at video editing...

Tunescape Update

I've managed to avoid my standard behavior and have been pushing to try to actually finish (!!) Tunescape. It is in pretty good shape right now, and I've currently got it in playtest over on Xbox Live Indie Games.

In polishing the game, I've been doing some fun shader work. I implemented a particle system shader for my new explosion effects, and I created a "plasma" shader for the background that uses multi-resolution noise to generate a smoothly moving cloud pattern.

Music-based Gameplay

My latest project is a game that uses music as the gameplay content. I use spectrum information to detect energy pulses in the music and use peaks to trigger emission of particles. The object of the game is pretty simple - collect the particles while avoiding the red boulder-thingies. Grabbing stars increases a score multiplier.



Collecting the particles, in addition to increasing your score, fuels three kinds of colored energy - shown by the three lines inside your circle. This energy can be expended to use a shield, give you a speed burst, or temporarily suck particles toward you.

There are also cooperative and competitive multiplayer gameplay modes. This is a mode where players are "bungied" together:



Here is a gameplay video: