Year
2022
Client
Studio Glitchr
Category
VR Audio and music production
Product Duration
16 Weeks
When the developers at Studio Glitchr approached us with a proposal to work on “Taiko Frenzy”, we were immediately thrilled by their project: Create the music for a rhythm action game explicitly designed to rival legendary titles like *Taiko no Tatsujin* or *Donkey Konga* and doing it on a platform we had never worked on before: virtual reality.
The Studio Glitchr team had already established all the core gameplay mechanics and laid out a clear, strong artistic direction. Our goal was to recreate, within virtual reality, the fluid and organic sensation one experiences when playing the taiko, or indeed, any type of drum.
Our challenge was multiple.Design a rich musical universe, one that is respectful of Japanese culture, alongside an evolving gameplay experience (onboarding), centered around the Taiko, manage the interplay (between gameplay and music), and manage the level design.
The music not only had to stand on its own merits and provide players with ample synchronization cues, but it also had to function effectively across every difficulty level.
Along with the developers, we chose to create 20 tracks, each featuring a Japanese flavor achieved through the use of traditional instruments (Koto, Shamisen, and Taikos). To ensure cultural respect, we composed pieces that are simple and elegant, not getting inspired by any traditional Japanese music but only using their instrumentation.
We divided the 20 tracks into four distinct packs, each with its own unique style (Rock, Acoustic, Electro, and Orchestral), thereby ensuring a rich diversity and a sense of freshness. For the interplay, we composed in rhythmic and melodic "blocks," and mixed the tracks in such a way that the listeners could effortlessly lock onto a specific instrument.
Finally, we designed game levels and created scalable difficulty curves specifically tailored for VR by determining that the level design had to be handled by musicians rather than developers, drawing upon traditional drumming rudiments.
The result was fascinating. When you play Taiko Frenzy, you get the authentic sensation of being a real drummer.
This project has demonstrated that Meize treats music not merely as a simple asset, but as the foundational structure of the gameplay. The design process begins neither with the tool nor with the style, but rather with the specific bodily and emotional experience sought for the player. This concept is then translated into musical, rhythmic, and ergonomic rules that can be implemented within the game.
“Taiko Frenzy” has shown us that when music is conceived as a living system, it becomes a central driver of gameplay, emotion, and replayability.
