Indie developer, Tzai Entertainment, are working on a music-powered shoot-em-up, titled Shmusicup, that’s slated for release this year. Inspired one way or another by other shmups such as Kenta Cho’s rRootage, Team Shanghai Alice’s Touhou Project and Treasure’s Ikaruga, Tzai’s game picks up on the “intensity” of a song and uses it to generate bullet patterns.
The goal is to have the game be able to tell the difference between different genres of music, such as upbeat versus a ballad, or even differences within the same song, like, say, a pop song with a slow verse and an intense chorus.
If you’re curious to try the game out for yourself, Tzai Entertainment now have a browser-based “preview beta” of Shmusicup available on their website. The preview beta is free, but if you want access to the “full beta,” you’ll have to pre-order the game. You can also report any bugs you encounter during your beta experience.
I took the preview beta for a spin prior to writing this post. With Kotoko’s “Re-Sublimity” as my track of choice, I managed to rack up 23,357 points in a single round.
