Introduction

The Last Muse is a 2D isometric “music adventure” game for PC, in which players play the last Muse, who’s been kidnaped by some alien music creatures to a strange music realm. They want to imprison Muse so as to eliminate all music on Earth. To break up the scheme, players have to escape the alien music realm, and defeat enemies and traps along the way by “performing music” to unleash various abilities according to the rhythm and melody of the music that’s playing.

Key Features

The Last Muse features a music thematic adventure. In The Last Muse, almost every part of the gameplay is connected with music, from the pace of the game, to attack/defence and music abilities. In brief, the game replaces the conventional gameplay elements in adventure games with music-related ones.

Each level features a different piece of music and each platform/passage features a different section of the piece. As the game progresses, the music becomes increasingly complex in melody and rhythm.

The player’s goal is to escape the alien music realm and try to keep Muse as well as possible. So the score starts with 10000 and every time Muse (the player) takes damage, the artistry decrease.

Music thematic adventure

The adventure of the game will be set across environments (platforms and passages) of music themes, so does the light comic story. The game offers option for an unparalleled game experience of high integration of music and action adventure game.

Pace following the music

The pace of the player and enemies’ movement and actions are in accordance with the tempo of the music. So when in a platform with music of slow tempo, both the player and the enemy move and act at a relative slow pace along the music. The music’s pace also affects the pace of the story and the overall flow of the game.

Act along the music

Apart from receiving the passive effect on pace, the player and the enemy also have to act along the music’s melody and rhythm. For the player, the music actions include restoring inspiration and texture, basic and combo attack/defence and music abilities. For the enemy, they attack, defend and use abilities according to the music as well. Meanwhile, there are music puzzles, such as lock picking, trap disarming, etc. involving similar music actions. The detailed actions will be explained in Gameplay section.

Terminology and Content

General

Term	Description
Pace	The overall pace of the game, similar to the playing speed setting of a multimedia player
Platform	The basic game world structure and gameplay loop
Passage
Artistry	The overall score of the player, starts with 10000 and decreases when taking damage (texture decreases) Can be negative
Normal state	The state when the player is not engaged in combat with enemies or in other gameplay activities (e.g. lock picking)
Combat state	The state when the player is engaged in combat with enemies
Inspiration	The energy/mana of the player Can be restored by completing melody combos in normal state
Texture	The health/HP of the player Can be restored by completing rhythm combos in normal state
Melody combo	2 or more consecutive input commands that fit the melody of the music that’s playing (sometimes the melody also contains the same rhythm to the bass rhythm, but the input of melody cannot replace the input of rhythm: difference between monophonic and homophonic music) The number of the input commands determine the effectiveness of the combo
Monophonic music	A single melody and the rhythm is contained in the melody
Homophonic music	A melody with bass rhythm as accompaniment and the melody and rhythm are separated
Rhythm combo	2 or more consecutive input commands that fit the rhythm of the music that’s playing The number of the input commands determine the effectiveness of the combo
Basic attack	In combat state input a basic attack command that fits the rhythm of the music that’s playing Need to target enemy Cost inspiration
Combo attack	In combat state complete a melody combo Can be attached with an offensive ability Range attack Cost inspiration
Combo defence	In combat state complete a rhythm combo Can be attached with a defensive ability Cost inspiration
Offensive ability	Passive music ability, needs to be used with combo attack/combo defence
Defensive ability
Special ability	Active music ability, cost inspiration to use
Collectables	Items that can be collected in the game levels, has an instant effect or can be used with special abilities
Losing condition	The texture reaches 0 The player will respawn at the nearest checking point
Winning condition	The player reaches the end of the last level
Podium	The leader board

Music Abilities (later in development)

Category	Ability	Description
Offensive ability	Forte	Enhance the player’s attack damage
	Fermata	Cause lingering damage
	Staccato	Add special attack effect, extra effective to certain enemies
	Legato	Add special attack effect, extra effective to certain enemies
	Harmony	Add special attack effect, extra effective to certain enemies
Defensive ability	Piano	Weaken enemy’s attack damage
	Counterpoint	Reflect enemy’s attack
Special ability	Cadenza	Change the current music to the pre-selected one form the collected masterpieces
	Rest	Pause the music for a while during which both the player and the enemy cannot take combat actions

Collectables (later in development)

Category	Item	Description
Instant consumable	Score	Restore some texture Add some artistry
	Idea	Restore some inspiration Add some artistry
Storable	Masterpiece	Music pieces that can be collected to use with the cadenza ability Add some artistry

Enemies (to be designed)

Puzzles (to be designed)

Gameplay

Small Loop: The platform/passage

The platform/passage is the basic game world structure and gameplay loop. It is the location where the main actions take place. In each platform/passage, a section of a piece of music is playing and looping, which directs the pace and all combat actions.

When in normal state, the player can choose to restore inspiration/texture and explore the platform/passage and solve music-related puzzles.

When in combat state, the player can choose to defeat the enemy. In some cases, the player is not required to defeat the enemy in order to proceed to the next location. The enemy has a certain target range.

Note there are two situations of music when considering implementing the music and its input commands i.e. the monophonic and homophonic music. However, the separated input for melody combo and rhythm combo is always needed.

Examples of music actions & input commands:

At the moment, the music that’s playing is a homophonic piece:

x: input for basic attack

o: input for rhythm combo

1 2 3 4 5 6 7: input for melody combo

Action	Input commands
Basic attack	Any x that fits the bass rhythm
Rhythm combo	Any two or more o that fit the bass rhythm e.g. oo, ooo, oooo etc.
Melody combo	Any two or more melody combo inputs that fit the melody(and its rhythm) e.g. 35, 352, 3523 etc.

Each combo has a certain maximum number of inputs.

At certain locations, plots will be triggered.

Medium Loop: The Level

A level consists of 10-30+ platforms/passages. Each level has a piece of music as the theme of the settings (both for the music-related gameplay and the visuals).

At the beginning & end of each level, cut-scenes are played to narrate the story as transitions. And the current artistry will be displayed.

Large Loop: The game

The whole game consists of 5-15 levels (depending on the practical development).

The losing condition is that the player’s texture is decreased to 0, but the player with respawn at the nearest checking point. So there is no real losing condition.

The winning condition is that the player reaches the end of the last level. The final artistry will be displayed and the player may enter the podium if a high artistry is created.

Aesthetics

Settings

The game world is set in a strange alien music realm in ether which consists of many platforms and passages connected to each other. In some cases there are boundaries between them, so before certain objectives are achieved in the current location (e.g. defeating the enemy, unlocking the boundary). A platform/passage may contain certain number/combination of enemies, traps, locked boundaries, interactive objects (portals, etc.) and collectables. Two platforms are connected by a portal or by one or more passages.

An example for the layout of a level:

Reference for the settings:

(The well of daemons from Chinese Paladin V)

(Music track from Audiosurf)

Visual

Perspective

The game is presented is a 2D isometric perspective

Reference

(Bastion)

(Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes)

Visual style

The visual style is set to be a compound of cartoon and surrealism.

The main character Muse and the enemies are cartoon figures, while the game environments should be depicted in surrealist style.

The main character Muse is a white robed figure and as he/she grows in power, the apparel becomes increasingly rich in details. Muse wilds a floating golden treble clef as the weapon.

Interface (to be designed)

(mock-up GUI  by Nathan)

(the music ability menu I can think of now)

Music ability menu: 3-level radial menu

Visual clues:

For players who are not comfortable with playing the music based on hearing, visual clues are displayed by default to hint the inputs of melody and rhythm. The visual clues will be displayed on the top centre of screen as a constantly scrolling timeline, where melody hints are displayed on the timeline and the rhythm hints are displayed beneath the timeline.

Audio

Music

The music should progress from easy to hard. Most of the music will be composed by us. The masterpieces should feature real masterpieces of different genres so players can choose their most familiar and favourite ones.

Sounds

All sounds should be as instrumental as possible to be consistent with the music theme of the game.

Story

Muse is captured by some alien music creatures to a strange music realm. They want to imprison Muse so as to eliminate all music on Earth…

Let’s develop this into a light comedy…

Controls

Two sets of control schemes are available.

On PC:

Control scheme 1 (complex)	Control scheme 2 (easy)
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 keys for melody combo Left mouse button for basic attack Right mouse button for rhythm combo	1, 2, 3, 4 for melody combo Left mouse button for basic attack Right mouse button for rhythm combo

Target Audience

12+ casual game players who like music games and action adventure games

music lovers who do not play many games but would like to have a different music experience through a game.

Target Platform

PC (or any more?)port to iPad if game has good response.