My Process

Fortissimetal was my second foray into rhythm games, and my second time working with unique hardware. Guitar rhythm games are now a rarity and are difficult to obtain hardware for, let alone find software to develop games for it. I ordered and had the team try to use multiple incompatible products before we found solutions. Nevertheless, we persisted.

This game went through many iterations, from interface redesigns to the reworking of core mechanics. The first interface I proposed was originally going to look more like sheet music, akin to Taiko no Tatsujin, though eventually the appearance shifted with the gameplay to a bigger space for the game’s flashy characters. The goal became to make the players feel cool, so we shifted to using a downscroll model instead.

I worked with the tram to redesigned the core mechanics many times. My focus was on promoting interactivity between the two opposing sides. Originally, both sides were supposed to be able to attack each other, having health bars with the Villain’s being bigger to compensate for being ganged up on. However, I wanted to add mechanics to make it more than just playing the rhythm game, so the team added on a 3-element magic system that the Villain would use to try to gain the upper hand against the Heroes, which the Heroes would have to try to keep up with. However, through playtesting, we realized that players could not focus on both the magic and the rhythm game at the same time, so we knew we needed to simplify. Eventually, I proposed a system where the Heroes had the advantage of teamwork, but their core gameplay would be disrupted by the Villain sabotaging their view of their screen.

My primary area of coding development for Fortissimetal was to implement the Villain’s sabotage attacks. Under my direction, I had my team implement the functionality of each attack while I built the framework to make them usable by the Villain player. I also implemented the functionality and scoring of the held notes throughout each song, and had a part in writing and implementing the beatmaps for the notes. Lastly, I was the sole implementer of the game’s animations and their triggers, such as when a missed note makes a character flinch or when the Villain begins to madly laugh as lightning strikes down.

Fortissimetal taught me a huge amount about the necessity of open communication channels and the struggles different disciplines can have understanding each others’ workflow. Flexibility and patience are key.