Back in 2010, Beat Hazard riffed on the ‘feed the game music to become levels to play through’ Audiosurf thought to show MP3s into twin-stick shooter area battles. The circulation of battle would comply with the circulation of music, all leading to lots of colors and explosions – very important for any shmup. I blasted via a number of albums again within the day myself, having fun with the colors and, y’know, the explosions. Creator Steve Hunt has been engaged on a sequel for some time, and is now beginning to discuss extra about Beat Hazard 2 as he goals to launch a beta model this summer season.
As earlier than, Beat Hazard 2 will construct single-screen shmup battles out of music you feed it, with waves generated primarily based on how a track goes. Listen to music, shoot baddies, get powerups, get factors, shoot extra, colors, explosions – you get it. This time, boss ships will likely be procedurally-generated primarily based on the music too.
Eight years after the primary recreation, the best way folks take heed to music has modified too, with songs throughout all types of codecs and streaming companies (I’ve even heard of younger folks listening to music totally on YouTube?). Beat Hazard 2 will replicate this transformation with an ‘Open Mic’ mode that may use any music at the moment enjoying in your PC, letting music come from wherever and in every single place. That mode won’t work fairly the identical as a result of it received’t inherently know when a track begins and ends so it (most likely) can’t tailor circulation, however Hunt suggests it would work for a survival or boss rush mode. The recreation’s nonetheless early in growth so not every thing is settled but.
Hunt hopes to get a playable beta construct to individuals who pre-order a while this summer season. See Beat Hazard 2’s site for extra on every thing. For now, right here’s a take a look at some vibrant musical visualisations on this first video dev weblog:
