Musical Board Games
Hi there ppl. I am trying to do some research into musical board games. My aim to to try build up a system from an analogue game (possibly a card game) in attempt to work on randomized systems of music that also can be put together by people who do not know music at all. Anyone know of any games like this involving music? I am going to attempt to build my own game/composition that can fulfill both functions and possibly become a digital system for random music composition.
Here are some ideas so far.
- Incorporating phones and a QR reader into the game. Cards/tiles can be scanned in to play melodies/chords/basslines (thanks steve)
- A certain amount of musical parts need to be collected to complete the game.
- The winner of the game will not necessarily be judged on the quality of music but the music will be a result of playing the game. Players can then vote or judge their favourite music and that can be a separate title reward as the game ends
- The music should be able to be constructed at random and sound good. Generally it would add an element of surprise that the music could come out different every time someone plays.
-If a player wishes he could take more time over constructing music and choose what parts they like to be able to win the vote for what music sounds the best.
So these ideas are all just brainstorming (brainfarts?) and I'm just throwing them out there.
One version of this game could be based around the idea that there is a game board or collection of un-revealed tiles. Firstly the players need to race to say collect an in game item that allows them to read the music from the QR codes. The next objective would be to collect 3 different categories of tiles and make it to the end tile and the music is then played (almost as a victory tune)
The game would not necessarily be educational. The aim of the music in the game is to give the game an aural aspect but one that changes every time you play. Possibly terminology will have to be learnt.
I was also thinking working solely with MIDI and oldschool sounds initially to make the files sizes tiny.
Another idea my friend Steve ran past me was making it entirely a card game with the same system ( something possibly called Bard Wars) where the players make up decks of cards that perform different actions but also play melodies and the player can play the melodies/chords/basslines as they go and the aim is to build a full piece up but again...at random.
There are probably many unanswered questions for some as I might have left stuff out that is in my head... I would love to get some discussion going on this as my aim to work on this game as part of my master's thesis. Though it may be beyond the scope slightly. Let me know if you peeps know of any games that do something like this or any input people may have about it.
Thanks!
Here are some ideas so far.
- Incorporating phones and a QR reader into the game. Cards/tiles can be scanned in to play melodies/chords/basslines (thanks steve)
- A certain amount of musical parts need to be collected to complete the game.
- The winner of the game will not necessarily be judged on the quality of music but the music will be a result of playing the game. Players can then vote or judge their favourite music and that can be a separate title reward as the game ends
- The music should be able to be constructed at random and sound good. Generally it would add an element of surprise that the music could come out different every time someone plays.
-If a player wishes he could take more time over constructing music and choose what parts they like to be able to win the vote for what music sounds the best.
So these ideas are all just brainstorming (brainfarts?) and I'm just throwing them out there.
One version of this game could be based around the idea that there is a game board or collection of un-revealed tiles. Firstly the players need to race to say collect an in game item that allows them to read the music from the QR codes. The next objective would be to collect 3 different categories of tiles and make it to the end tile and the music is then played (almost as a victory tune)
The game would not necessarily be educational. The aim of the music in the game is to give the game an aural aspect but one that changes every time you play. Possibly terminology will have to be learnt.
I was also thinking working solely with MIDI and oldschool sounds initially to make the files sizes tiny.
Another idea my friend Steve ran past me was making it entirely a card game with the same system ( something possibly called Bard Wars) where the players make up decks of cards that perform different actions but also play melodies and the player can play the melodies/chords/basslines as they go and the aim is to build a full piece up but again...at random.
There are probably many unanswered questions for some as I might have left stuff out that is in my head... I would love to get some discussion going on this as my aim to work on this game as part of my master's thesis. Though it may be beyond the scope slightly. Let me know if you peeps know of any games that do something like this or any input people may have about it.
Thanks!
Comments
its definitely an intriguing idea... The QR cards might definitely work as a means to add some physicality to the whole system. If I am understanding correctly the different musical segments would be pre-composed so that they can later fit together in a puzzle like manner? I dont know how complex you would be aiming but just from intuition I think that the base of "Segments" that you would be pulling from would need to be quite extensive...
I dont know your background, I havent been around here long enough, but have you ever delved into random midi generation? in software like MAX/MSP or PureData??? I did a very rudimentary random music machine when I was still studying, using Max/MSP - it used three different instruments and each instrument would generate notes differently based on a set of rules.
So for example my bass player could generate a random note up or down on strong beats but only within a small range of the last note that was played.... presto - instant walking baselines...
piano could generate the widest range and pick from a pool of notes which I assigned probability ratios based on notes that would work given the Key. etc.. etc..
I think what might be cool is to make it truly random, and instead of the players collecting different pieces of musical "segments" use the cards as power ups or modifiers to an otherwise completely random generation set up. Just brainstorming here... what might be awesome is something along the lines of the player starts of as a simple instrument and then the cards can unlock certain things... i.e. make the range in which random notes are generated larger... different instruments... more simultaneous notes being generated... chordal cards... I dont know.. haha. just spit balling.
Anyway what I think I am saying is that instead of focusing on people combining precut pieces of midi sequences why not spin it in the way that the user rather manipulates the "rules" in which the notes are generated??? Just an Idea...
The idea is the music would be precomposed and also refined slightly so it doesn't sound like random atonal mess but still fairly different each time.
I've looked at random midi genration and that is where the idea came from. I wanted to break it down to a simpler concept, something analogue that I can build on. I guess that's an option in this but it might make the rules more complicated but it's definitely something worth looking into.
Complete random generation is a cool idea but I'm not sure how you would relate that to the game, then the players don't really make choices. The point of having segments of music I guess is to allow the players to collect and collaborate with parts but if it was random I guess you would collect "instruments" and the generation could be random. It's not a bad idea just have to think of how to incorporate it. :D
I think the problem with having people manipulate rules might be that people with no musical ability might be at a disadvantage to those who do have musical training and therefore come out with a worse product. Part of the game/composition would be that it is random each time, so a midi randomiser would do that but then if manipulating the parameters involved terminology then some people may have to learn more than other. I think there is a way to incorporate this I would just have to think about it.... it is definitely a very interesting idea :D So instead of building a piece out of random parts you build on a randomiser that builds up a piece as you collect "parameters"...possibly...
i"m trying to draw up a set of rules soon so that I can start making some prototypes and see where it goes... hopefully I can make some progress before the years end :D
There was this TED talk I saw a while ago that your intriguing idea dredged up from my memory.
4:49 will interest you most. David Merrill demonstrating his Siftables, mini computer-blocks that can interact with each other. No reason you couldn't do a similar thing with cards, codes and a reader.
http://www.ted.com/talks/david_merrill_demos_siftables_the_smart_blocks?language=en
The QR codes may be ok as a temporary solution, but i think you'll find it slow and clunky. If you really want to work with a mixed digital solution, i would look at some of the augmented reality solutions that can read a lot of tracking symbols at a time. Some do use QR, but there are other patterns that are simpler. If i was playing a game, i would like to be able to scan the whole thing at a time, and there will probably be many scans through the game, so it must be seamless.
In terms of game design:
When I read your post, the first thing that came to mind was a tile laying kind of game, like dominoes. So you can only play tiles if you can link it somehow. There are a couple classic games that you can build upon, maybe like Uno, you need to use up all your tiles. Each tile is a phrase or lick, but you can only play them if the key is right, but you can play wild chords that transition between keys.
The other idea i had was a scrabble kind of game, where you need to build phrases that make sense before you can put them down. I had in mind the players are blues guitarists battling off an improvised solo. They have to put together little bits of a lick (licklets?) that maybe go out of key, but must resolve (back to the key) on the last note before they can be played. The longer and more elegant the lick, the better the score.
I had in mind coloured dots that could indicate possible links between tiles or cards for non musical players. Have a look at the deck building game Nightfall. It has a nice chaining system. (Colorblind guys struggle with Nightfall, so add a secondary indicator if you do use it)
Lastly on the pure analogue system, my son has this game where you mix and match the fronts and backs of animals using tiles, and then it plays a sound. Basically how it works is when you plug the tile in, there are 4 plastic pins that the tile presses down in binary style. That tells the circuit which of the 16 tiles has been placed. Obviously this requires some manufacturing tho.
Hope this helps.
Is it creating the "best song"? If so, whose "best" is it? How do you judge it? Peer judgement? If it's not blind then it's susceptible to judgement being about the game rather than the creation. (for example Cards Against Humanity has blind voting on which is "funniest", if it weren't blind it'd be a useless game) (It's already a useless game)
Is it about creating music for fun and without judgement? Like an easy-to-use, analogue synthesiser/sequencer? That sounds rad but lacks the "game" element. But still sounds rad. Imagine placing down cards and bits down and then hearing what that sounds like, then moving bits and trying again. But then, that probably works best/better as a digital experience.
Is it about teaching musical principles by play? So the rules of the game encourages arrangement of stuff in a certain way, the higher you score, the "better" the music that comes out of it would sound. Maybe it's harmonics, maybe it's chords... No I really have no idea :P But is it about that?
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I personally don't like QR code readers. They're really fiddly and depends on a bunch of elements to work. A successful example of boardgame/digital integration is XCom, or One-Night Ultimate Werewolf, where the game is assisted by digital rather than reliant on it... Though of course if you want the music to come out of a device, it'd be tricky to not have a direct input.
What if the music component only "drives" the game? Couple of real-time games like Escape! Does that - where the game is just run by a backing track. Now that's obviously too simple for what you'd like, but what can be done with that? Maybe the game runs on a soundtrack, and players can only do things at certain points of the track. Maybe with simple inputs the track branches and is different each play.
Interesting subject :)
I like the game mechanic ideas, I was also thinking of a tile of block based game that you could slot together. One of the points I want to try get right is that the music is mostly just randomly put together but will still sound like something. My ultimate aim would be that playing the game "randomly" puts together a piece of music that can be played back, almost like an interactive soundtrack rather than using it as a game mechanic. In that sense I like the blues guitarist idea, cos the solo would be a product of collecting the "phrases" or "licks". I really like that idea actually :D ... I should think on that more. I also will check out the deck building game as it seems interesting. I like the idea with mixing different parts together in an analogue way but I do agree the logistics might be complicated for the first iteration.
@Tuism I think I answered some of your questions in my response to mikethetike. I don't think the music needs to have a purpose in the game, it should create a mood/environment/be a reward for winning. There then can be blind votes as to what people like the most, almost a secondary prize to winning the game. So I really would like the game mechanics to be strong and fun and removed from the music, then the music can be added for character and possibly theme/story rather than be a defining mechanic for the game. Maybe the music can also just be a soundtrack that comes with the game and the players edit it by playing the game...
The point is that people who know music shouldn't really have an advantage and will also be making stuff up at random rather than decided what pieces to put together. You could possibly add that in somehow but I feel the idea of making music at random is more fun.
So no the game shouldn't really be teaching you but more playing of the game might make you more familiar to musical terms and concepts.
Sorry so many responses I'm not really sure I've answered all the responses/questions. Please reiterate if I haven't.
---idea!---
A rapping game! Where a bunch of cards a re pre-made with a word on them, the game has a backing beat. Starting the gam, everyone is dealt a handfull of cards. When the game starts, a backing beat starts (different difficulty, different speed) every player has to, in turn, rap a line that ends with a word that rhymes, dropping a card from their hand.
I don't know about scoring yet because this can't do blind judgement as everyone knows who dropped the line. The more people laugh the more points perhaps? It's more a game for laughs, not for points.
So the game flows - 8 beats for rap, 8 beats break for laughs, next player, 8 beats for rap, 8 beats for laughs, next player, 8 beats for rap, 8 beats for laughs, etc. If you can drop two lines of rap during the laugh beats then you're awesome :)
Maybe if you clear your hand you win or something.
(The last game)
@Tim_harbour let me know how it goes. I'm keen to help out.
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/p/pod/dod-idx?c=icmc;idno=bbp2372.2010.061