Mix Mix Revolution

Albert Dang

3/5/2007

Design Problem

• To help students gain a music literacy that is associated with real-time mixing techniques and dj skills. Music literacy will focus on rhythm, tempo, and pitch.

• Target audience is middle school students and older

• The setting will be the home predominantly, although arcades and schools may also be appropriate

Resources

• Academic research focused on music and learning– AMEEd (ASU)– Interactive Learning Machine (MIT)

• Rhythm Action Games– DDR– Guitar Hero– Karaoke Revolution– Beatmania

• Toshio Iwai– Otocky– Sound Fantasy– Sim Tunes– Electroplankton

Idea Sketches

• Intersection Iwai and rhythm-action games

• Increase rhythm-action mechanic to different principals of dj-mixing

Concept

• A game that encourages understanding of dj literacy through a core mechanic of beat-matching with a mixer

• The interface will feature a simplified representation of common dj equipment as well as a visual mapping of different tracks

• Complexity will be added as the user advances through the game

Level Design

• First stage is a tutorial, introducing core concepts in a step-like manner (for simplicity, the same sample will be played in both track)– Beat-matching– Pitch adjustment– Clocking

• Second stage presents different songs to mix• Successful mixing then leads to power-ups (not

unlike using “star power” in Guitar Hero)– Scratching– Volume toggling or Send– Sampling

Screenshot: Beat-matching

Screenshot: Pitch Adjust

Screenshot: Clocking

Additional Feedback• Crowd Response

– Bad mixing, lowers the set rating– If it gets low enough, the games ends

• Scoring– Tied to crowd response, but with a points system

• Progress meter– Shows how far the player is in completed a particular set

• Samples and tracks become unlocked as the player progresses• New and better equipment may be purchased as the player

progresses– Styli or needles– Mixer– Sampler

Additional Game Play

• Muti-player modes– “Battle” or competitive mode– “Tag-team” or cooperative mode– Other player may be in the same location or in

a remote location (muti-player over the Internet)

Further Self-Evaluation

• DJ sets are saved and may be played back for review or admiration– Accessibility to meta-cognitive learning

• DJ sets may be shared with friends and a larger community over a network– Learning by reviewing “experts” in literacy

(i.e., great dj sets that are voted high by the community)