Friday, July 01, 2005
Electroplankton, or How I Love Musical Fishes
Electroplankton is really amazing. It's so easy to speak positively about too, I feel like I've been suckered into some sort of confused hype. It had a decent amount of time dedicated to it during Nintendo's press conference at E3, but I'm not sure anyone in the room, including myself, knew what to make of it. And I didn't want to go near it on the show floor, knowing sound was half or more of the experience. And you can't hear shit at E3.
I'm sure some of the media won't approve, because it's not a "game". There are no goals, no scores, nothing pushing you forward (artificially or not). You move and interact with several different amoeba-like water critters in different set pieces, all of which heavily incorporate music into the interactivity (I'm doing my best to explain this, so bear with me). One such example starts four lil' critters in the corner of a grid of arrows. At any time you can alter the direction of each arrow simply by tapping it, and the critter will follow it's direction when he gets there. So they all bounce around the screen following whatever paths you've created. You can also move all the arrows at once in one direction by using the D-Pad. Here's the kicker - each arrow, and each angle/direction from what I can, creates a different musical tone, so you can set up little loops of sound, create harmonies over them, and even do solos if you wish. It's all very simple, but it's so intuitive and so simple to make gorgeous and mesmerizing "songs". The visuals are again simplistic but beautiful; you can zoom in and out from whichever critter you'd like to follow, and man are those little dudes hella cute.
Not only is this a perfect demonstration of what the unique design of the DS can truly accomplish, it's a completely enthralling way to kill some time, as much so as any traditional game on the system. I'm sure the longevity leaves something to be desired, but judging it in that regard just feels wrong. As much as Nintendogs could potentially be HUGE for Nintendo in America, Electroplankton could start a serious cult following of musicians and A/V nerds (a group which comprises a fairly decent percentage of the market, I imagine).
I'm sure some of the media won't approve, because it's not a "game". There are no goals, no scores, nothing pushing you forward (artificially or not). You move and interact with several different amoeba-like water critters in different set pieces, all of which heavily incorporate music into the interactivity (I'm doing my best to explain this, so bear with me). One such example starts four lil' critters in the corner of a grid of arrows. At any time you can alter the direction of each arrow simply by tapping it, and the critter will follow it's direction when he gets there. So they all bounce around the screen following whatever paths you've created. You can also move all the arrows at once in one direction by using the D-Pad. Here's the kicker - each arrow, and each angle/direction from what I can, creates a different musical tone, so you can set up little loops of sound, create harmonies over them, and even do solos if you wish. It's all very simple, but it's so intuitive and so simple to make gorgeous and mesmerizing "songs". The visuals are again simplistic but beautiful; you can zoom in and out from whichever critter you'd like to follow, and man are those little dudes hella cute.
Not only is this a perfect demonstration of what the unique design of the DS can truly accomplish, it's a completely enthralling way to kill some time, as much so as any traditional game on the system. I'm sure the longevity leaves something to be desired, but judging it in that regard just feels wrong. As much as Nintendogs could potentially be HUGE for Nintendo in America, Electroplankton could start a serious cult following of musicians and A/V nerds (a group which comprises a fairly decent percentage of the market, I imagine).
// posted by Nick @ 10:32 AM 
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