The game project that I’ve been quietly working on this summer is finally ready for release! It’s a rhythm-based shmup inspired by the Beatles song Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown). You can download it for PC, Mac and Linux on the game’s website:
Norwegian Wood – No Fun Games
I have more to say about the game’s development process, but I’ll save that for a postmortem post later this month. For now, enjoy the game, and please leave your feedback and suggestions in the comments below.
September 26th, 2009 at 4:38 am
Interesting stuff. The mixed relaxation of the Beatles and the terror filled dodging of the notes (which reminded me of the Raiden arcade game…at least I think that’s what I’m thinking about.”
A couple quick questions and one observation.
What was your driving factor for wanting to create a game like this?
Were you aiming for anything besides gameplay with the game?
Why this song in particular?
Observation. At the very top mid right you can avoid almost all of the notes except for 2 or 3 times. Just thought you might want to know.
And congratulations are in order for actually making a game. You’re already one step ahead of everybody who says they will and never get around to it. hazzah!
September 26th, 2009 at 11:40 am
@Shaun: Thank you!
To answer your questions: I was interested in exploring the intersection of music and games. I wanted to create a game where the player had to indirectly time their actions to the rhythm (unlike games like Guitar Hero that are directly timed.)
I had been thinking about this general concept for several months, but came up with the specific design while listening to the song Norwegian Wood. I thought the song would work well for such a game for two reasons: firstly, it has short discrete notes that are easy to time. Secondly, it subverts the fast-paced chiptunes metal found in most shmup games, and create a more meditative experience.
Thanks for the questions! I plan on elaborating more on the process and ideas behind the game in a future postmortem post.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:26 am
Hi Matthew!
I am the editor for Russian gaming magazine Strana Igr. One of our readers recently proposed a game about John Lennon (you can find the description here: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=8888.0). Norwegian Wood isn’t “it”, but somehow has some similar ideas. Can we put your game on our cover disc?
November 9th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
@Ilya: Norwegian Wood was released under the MIT free software license. You are therefore free to distribute the game with your magazine, and we encourage you to do so! Thanks for your interest.