Get To The Gig

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Get To The Gig is a simple browser based game written in JavaScript, built with the Phaser 3 and Tone.js frameworks.

Check out the work-in-progress demo
Source code on GitHub

About

I wanted to build a game that utilized music in an interactive way, and in which the music itself was composed via code as oppposed to only playing back audio files. I thought of a quest style game in which the player picks up instruments and a corresponding musical layer is added to the soundtrack.

The Game

“Load-in was 30 minutes ago and your bandmates are nowhere to be found. Find all your gear and get to the gig!"

The player is presented with a top-down map, with restricted tiles (water) and obstacles (trees & rocks). They must reach the music venue, but can only enter after they’ve collected all of their gear items. The player navigates with W A S D keys. As instruments are collected, a new music layer is added to the soundtrack. Other items (merch) play a sound effect but do not add musical layers.

Status

At present, the game is only a simple, single level. My main goals were to:

  • build a game with Phaser 3
  • utilize Tone.js to compose the game music
  • have game mechanics interact with the music
  • get some experience using the Tiled map editor
  • make some pixel art using Pixilart
    • I’m pretty stoked on the venue graphic, based on thee beloved Shea Stadium BK

Some possible future development may include:

  • additional levels (with other venues near and dear to my heart)
  • additional songs for each level
  • more complexity in the instrumental parts
  • more complexity in song structure (ie. verse, chorus, bridge for longer levels)
  • songs with varying styles to match level vibes
  • tone.js transcriptions (covers) of friends' songs (with permission)
  • custom sprites for player and items
  • Stakes!
    • a countdown to gig time
    • the tempo increases as time left decreases?
    • scores based on time
    • NPCs that interfere with the quest
    • Lasers? magic bolts? to counter NPCs

Deployment

I wrote a short tutorial on deploying the game with Webpack and GitHub pages.

Screenshots

Title Scene

Level01