Two new titles from Schadenfreude Interactive

[alexxkay]

I have raved about Computer Games Magazine here in the past. One of the things I love about them is that every so often (perhaps when their marketing department doesn't sell enough ad space?) they will run ads for games from a little-known german developer called Schadenfreude Interactive. In the past, they've made such classics as Need for Speed Underhill (the first ever crossover of racing games with Lord of the Rings) and its followup Nazgul Thunder, the urban furniture-robbery game Grand Theft Ottoman, and the fantasy flight sim Secret Weapons Over Neverland. Recently they've started competing with Harmonix in the music game subgenre, with their breakout hit Accordion Hero.

The latest issue of CGM has *two* Schadenfreude ads. One is the fairly predictable Accordian Hero II, which is pleasant but hardly surprising. But the other is a never-before-seen mix of genres: NachtMusik.

The first of its kind in Karaoke Survival Horror! Trapped in a haunted opera house, you must sing as if your life depended on it...because it does! Hit all the right notes to get weapon upgrades, from the Tarnhelm to the mighty Tannhauwitzer. Battle ghostly valkyrie, horribly mutated swans, and rapidly decomposing zombie composers by performing selections from the great German operas.

And remember... It’s not over until the boss monster sings.

Comments

Karaoke Horror

[metageek.livejournal.com]

(ObSnide: isn't "Karaoke Horror" redundant?)

Actually, karaoke-based games might have potential.

Let's see. You play a character with voice-based magical powers; you have to sing your spells. Spells take mana, but singing the spell at quality X provides amount Y of mana,; so, if you sing well enough, you can cast at least basic spells without using up any mana. If you sing badly enough, then the spell fizzles, or misfires. Maybe some advanced spells require physical components, which you have to find in your adventures.

Naturally, you need to practice your songs—preferably without accidentally casting the spell.

You wear a phone-like headset, so that you don't have to worry about feedback, etc. The Wii has Bluetooth; maybe it could use a regular Bluetooth phone headset...though the sound quality might be too low. (The Wii could also support spells with somatic components.)

The sequel would add in the Guitar Hero controller, so that you can cast spells which require both vocals and guitar (perhaps played by different people). Then version 3 would support MIDI, so that you can have players on piano, drums, fiddle, etc. At this point, a really successful group of players is pretty much indistinguishable from a band.

Re: Karaoke Horror

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

Not bad ideas. You are showing your lack of connection to the modern games scene in a few places, though. For one thing, "mana" is now considered a normal english word in this context, and needs no italicizing. Also, home karaoke videogames already exist and are rather popular, so getting a microphone peripheral is no biggie.

a really successful group of players is pretty much indistinguishable from a band.

There are rumors that the Guitar Hero franchise may actually move in more or less this direction.

Re: Karaoke Horror

[metageek.livejournal.com]

You are showing your lack of connection to the modern games scene in a few places, though.

Hey, I was half expecting to be told such a game already exists. ;-)

a really successful group of players is pretty much indistinguishable from a band.

There are rumors that the Guitar Hero franchise may actually move in more or less this direction.

Makes sense. If they set it up so that bands can play together over the Internet (not a trivial problem, because of clock skew), then they could wind up with bands forming that couldn't have otherwise. Add in a way to publish the resulting music, and they'll have created something huge.