[Septemer 21, 2023]

Basic Attack vs Call - & - Response Mechanic (Design Intent)

After making a "full version" of the base soundtrack for JKL, we brainstormed a type of mechanic that could be implemented in the game. We came up with an idea where the enemy (boss) will have some sort of music prompt that the player need to answer back with set of combinations; an attacking and defending combination that kind of mimics the boss's sound cue.

One of the main inspiration that I have with this direction is Playstation's Patapon franchise. Patapon has a set of four percussions that can be striked only along with the game's internal beat judgement that goes on forever (or during the gameplay of a round). Each percussions are assigned on the main buttons of the Playstation's (portable or PSP) controller (□△◯╳) and specific set of combinations are given to the players allowing the players to execute an attack, defend, or special actions.

JKL drawing motivations from Patapon, but instead of doing the given set of combination freely anytime, the player would only have to execute this combo once the enemy prompted a specific sound cue. For example, a boss will generate a sound cue of Do Re Mi as the first iteration, the player would have to match that cue with Do Re Mi as well. To be exact, in JKL with its three available keys, the boss's first attack iteration would need the player to respond with an input of "K J L" to match the enemy's prompt. If the combination is done correctly, it will generate an attack along with the music that closely resembles the boss's sound cue. If it is done wrong on the other hand, it will play an "off-key" or "off-rhythm" sound to indicate that the player failed to respond the boss's call.

I made three Call-&-Response music for this mechanic with a total of eight sound bites that are composed with multiple layers of intrsuments and synths. The boss's call is mainly made with synth key sound that resembles a Bus Horn, and sub-bass to compliment the higher register of the sound. While the player response has the EXACT rhythm from the boss's call, its composition is much more complex where layers of harmonies, chords, sub-bass, and main melody that rerpresents our main character's (Lucy) guitar tone identity.

• First Call - & - Response:  K J J
• Second Call - & - Response: K L  L
• Third Call - & - Response: K K J

JKL has the same idea with the combinations, but we want to implement a basic (light) attack where striking "J" on beat will generate a projectile from the player damaging the enemy. While pressing "L" on beat has the same concept, but this will be a defending mechanic instead of an attack. This will also generate a music that will be toggled on if played on beat and off if it is not, along with the playing soundtrack that is specifically composed to go on "top" of the base music playing during the gameplay.