Hello everyone! I’m Blake Gross, co-founder and CTO of DB Creations, a VR game studio in Bellevue, Washington. We’re excited to announce that our game, Rhythm ‘n Bullets, is coming to PlayStation VR very soon.
In the game, you will travel through the virtual zone and defend the core as you guide a pair of star hunters through multiple shooting action modes. Enemies fly all around, plunging towards the core to the beat of the music. Time your shots to the beat for maximum effect and collect awesome bonuses for completing each stage. Keep the core safe in the multi-level campaign, then try to dominate the leaderboards in endless mode, where enemies never stop! If you just want to vibrate to the beat of the music, go into Relax Mode and practice your skills at any level – spawn all the enemies you want and change the beat to suit the mood.
Rhythm ‘n Bullets takes inspiration from classic retro shooter games with its wired aesthetic, bullet color-changing mechanism, and music-infused gameplay. We wanted to recapture the magic of those arcade games that many of us played when we were younger, while also creating an awesome and immersive experience for the latest generation of VR technology. Rhythm ‘n Bullets takes these classic ideas and renews them by putting you at the center of the arcade action.
The music was composed in-house by Jesse Holt, our amazing songwriter and audio director. The soundtrack, like the gameplay, mixes the classic with the new retro patterns infusing modern electronic music. Each level has a custom track composed for the environment – we have built the levels and the soundtrack hand in hand, so that they blend together harmoniously. Levels also respond to music as you progress through them – a spectrogram guides your way through the Japanese Garden, constellations light up the sky to the important notes of the Galaxy Zone, and the whole world vibrates to the beat of Tech City. The music blends into the gameplay, mirroring the way you play – as your combo multiplier increases, the music builds up to match it. When you play your best, you’ll feel maximum presence as the music, environment, and gameplay blend seamlessly together and pull you into the action.
For the PS VR version, we’ve added a bunch of awesome improvements to the game, ensuring that this truly is the definitive Rhythm ‘n Bullets experience.
First up, we’ve added a new challenge system that rewards you for exploring all the game has to offer. We wanted to make sure everyone who plays the game gets rewarded, while also giving the finalists even more to hunt down (besides that top spot on the leaderboards). From campaign erasures to endless fashion executions, there is something for everyone to pursue and complete. And what do you get for completing those new ambitious goals? Ship the skins! These skins allow you to customize the appearance of your ships as you play, in any mode. Each is a brand new look that really stands out, with a unique paint job and color palette. Collect them all, if you can.
We’ve also made some big improvements to the music generation system, which dynamically adjusts the sound effects played depending on the music. Our generative notes now better match the track being played in the level, dramatically improving the audio experience at each level.
This version also includes full localization for French, Italian, German and Spanish, so more of our friends around the world can play.
Finally, we’ve added a brand new Retro level theme, which includes all new music and an abstract environment that looks straight out of the gaming era of the 2000s. The Retro theme is inspired by the classic games of our lives and is meant as a nostalgic throwback to the games we loved in the past. With a chiptune rock inspired soundtrack, we thought there was no better way to make it the true definitive version of the game.
We’re excited to bring the incredible retro arcade action of Rhythm ‘n Bullets to PlayStation, and we can’t wait to see you all climb the rankings in July.
