Roger Hicks (aka Rekcahdam) and Hillmon Ancrum have taken their musical action roguelike Band Saga to Kickstarter to raise the $29,000 necessary to finish its development for PC and iOS (with more platforms available as stretch goals).
It’s a game about two friends travelling across Earth and space in order to fulfil their dream of becoming rock stars. However, the innocent trip soon turns into an intergalactic battle for their lives that beats with the pulse of its chip-hop soundtrack.
What’s unique about Band Saga is that every level and item is generated by the soundtrack, which is itself created on the fly by the game’s built-in FM Sequencer (it produces Sega Genesis type sounds). Each new city you visit in the game unlocks a new “band character” who, in turn, adds another one of the pre-made soundtracks to the blender, churning out more diverse levels and tunes.
“As you progress through the world of Band Saga you will learn to modify sounds and the soundtrack itself to shape the level to your advantage and enjoyment! Advanced players will be able to design and create their own soundtrack,” writes Hicks. You can also share the tracks you make with others by exporting them to midi and wav format.
Band Saga is a mix of Mega Man-esque arm-cannon blasting, albeit from an isometric view, and modifying audio in order to remix the environment to your advantage. Even better is the fact that it’s a single player and two-player co-op game.
The soundtrack to Band Saga has already been completed and is completely open source. You can listen to it here. Artists include Rekcahdam (Celestial Mechanica), Disasterpeace (Fez), Laura Shigihara (Plants vs. Zombies), Stemage, Mega Ran, Danimal Cannon, and more.
You can secure yourself a digital copy of Band Saga on PC by pledging $5 to the Kickstarter. For a $25 pledge you can get early access to the game’s beta. If Band Saga reaches the $45,000 stretch goal it should also be released on PlayStation Vita, as well as PC and iOS.
There’s more information about Band Saga on its website.
