Petrichord
Petrichord is a music-focused narrative video game exploring the feelings of isolation. Players can use a simple wheel to play music and progress through the game.
For the times that we live in, we wanted to tell a story about isolation, and how music can help bring people together. We wanted to give players the freedom to play music, and we achieved this through the music wheel. Games rarely give players this musical freedom, so we believe that there is a niche for this kind of game in the industry.
Typically, music games follow a similar structure to Guitar Hero. Music is played by pressing the right button at the right time and relying on visual instructions. Petrichord hopes to show the use of music in interacting with the game world. Games such as the Last of Us: Part 2 allowed players to play music, but did not progress the game in any way. Petrichord however, uses music as the primary tool to progress.
From our user testing, we’ve seen that our game can make playing music accessible to a wide variety of people. We’ve been able to tell a narrative through visual and audio storytelling, and have seen players make meaningful connections with the characters in our game. There is still work that needs to be done in encouraging players to make their own music, but we feel that our game has laid a solid foundation in achieving this goal.
Video Overview
Examples from this Project
The music wheel gives players the ability to manipulate and change their surroundings through freeform play.
In Petrichord players journey through unique settings in a varied world designed to evoke specific emotions using colour theory, lighting, soundscapes and music.
In our game, you meet different characters in unique experiences that help you to bond with these characters and overcome their emotional turmoil.
Our team used a variety of skills and programs to produce our game. From music production in Ableton, designing visual pixel art assets in Pyxel Edit to compiling scripts and coding Petrichord in the game engine Unity.
Each of the characters you encounter personify an emotion related to isolation, with the 'Dreamer' being our protagonist and playable character.
Concept images and sketches helped us to envision the game at an early stage.
A breakdown of our user testing methods which we used to enhance the game.
Our team of talented programmers, project managers, sound designers, music producers and visual artists.