#WeeklyGameMusic: Curiosity (Frog Fractions)

Posted on September 7, 2020 by Taro Omiya

How do you compose an intelligent-sounding music for a comedy game that’s anything but? Indie game studio, Twinbeard might have an answer for you in this week’s #WeeklyGameMusic with Curiosity, composed by…Twinbeard. Let’s pretend to be smart by listening to this calming music from the parody edutainment Flash game, Frog Fractions, where it recounts the completely ridiculous “history” of boxing.

Hmm, how to describe Frog Fractions? Well, as one would expect, it features a frog, and a bunch of “fractional” insects trying to eat at its precious apples. By clicking on the insects, the frog will slurp it up, keeping the apples preserved. The frog earns points when it collects an apple that has dropped from a tree. Later, an upgrade allows the frog to swim right and left across the pond, as well as quite oddly, down. Swimming down will̷͇̈́.̵̢̉.̶̦͌.̶̣̀ḋ̷̘ő̷̤ ̶͈̐ṡ̸̭o̴̭͂m̷̜͝e̸͙͋t̸̮̃h̵̬̍ǐ̶̤n̵̠͆g̴̢̒.̵̪̽

Frog Fractions is available for free on PC via Steam.

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Weekly Game Music: mrs mushroom likes LCD soundsystem (Botanicula)

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Taro Omiya

New week, new music. To celebrate Amanita Design again, here’s a playfully named music, mrs mushroom likes LCD soundsystem by DVA. It’s a nature-inspired, if a little trippy, collection of sounds and composition from the beautiful game, Botanicula.

Botanicula narrates a light-hearted adventure of 5 small friends, Mr. Lantern, Mrs. Mushroom, Mr. Poppy Head, Mr. Feather, and Mr. Twig. Mr. Lantern find himself taking on the duty of planting the last seed from the great tree that he and his friend inhabit. The seed, which gives Mr. Lantern a vision, describes how the mysterious black parasites had started infesting the tree. Quickly realizing the significance of this task, he gathers his loyal friends to help him trek down the large and complex home of theirs.

Botanicula is an unorthodox point-and-click adventure that involves directing the direction the group should go. The game has no inventory system, and most of the actions require assistance from the player rather than the in-game characters themselves. As an example, catapulting things off a twig is done through the player’s mouse instead of the character taking that action. Similar to their previous games, Botanicula is narrated entirely without text. Lastly, the game has numerous hidden secrets, which becomes a fun meta-game in-and-of-itself.

Botanicula was released on the PC, Mac, and Linux in 2012.

Extra!

Title: zatoichi
Game: Botanicula
Composers: DVA

Title: juchu
Game: Botanicula
Composers: DVA

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Weekly Game Music: Soaring In The Stars (Flight)

Posted on August 19, 2012 by Taro Omiya

New week, new music. Time to drop those remixes, and back onto original music. Here’s a movie-like music, Soaring In The Stars by David Orr. The title quite literally points out the objective of the free flash game, Flight.

You can play Flight at its own website.

Flight depicts several disgruntled figures who write their wishes on a piece of paper, fold it into a paper airplane, and throw it as far as possible. The gameplay, of course, involves throwing the paper airplane, and controlling it with limited fuel to extend it’s flight as far as possible. Along the way, the plane can bump into stars, which acts as a currency to buy better upgrades on the next throw. The distance of the plane’s flight accumulates, allowing it to reach to new locations.
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Weekly Game Music: Above the Treetops

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Taro Omiya

Goodness, I keep forgetting about this. Better late than never: I’ve got yet another MMORPG music for all of you. Here’s Above the Treetops from ultra-popular MapleStory. Unfortunately, the name of the composer(s) seems elusive at the moment, but enjoy the mellow tune as it is.

You can play the game for free at Maplestory’s website.

The plot of MapleStory is a simple one: the Black Mage, once sealed by 5 legendary heroes, has unfortunately re-awakened! As the knight of the Maple World, you must fight! Cue all the cute monsters that tries to rock your level 1 boat.

The gameplay is a little more interesting. Much like Legend of Zelda II ,MapleStory is a 2D side-scrolling RPG, with some light platforming. As with the MMORPG tradition, the collectible weapons and character costumes significantly spices up the action. Any player should be able to find their most ideal play style, whether it’d be short-range, brute-force brawler style or long-range, tactical style.

MapleStory was released on the PC in 2005. Offspring versions exists on the Nintendo DS and, oddly enough, Facebook.
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Weekly Game Music: To The Ends (Small Worlds)

Posted on June 17, 2012 by Taro Omiya

New week, new music. A while back, I mentioned a flash game called Small Worlds in Strange Free Games. It’s music, it turns out, are from Kevin MacLeod‘s collection of Creative Commons compositions. The one below is called To the Ends, a mysterious music that slowly draws you in.

Small Worlds can be played in your browser here.

“There is too much noise.” An odd beginning for a game. As a 3-pixel high character, you traverse through each world, heavy under a dark fog. By traveling farther, however, the fog slowly gives away, providing an after-math of a certain event. Since the story lacks any other narrative, however, the player must come up with their own conclusion in what the game meant, and what each landscape stood for.

Despite this ambiguity, it’s atmospheric gameplay is intriguing. Nothing can kill the 3-pixel character, so you can explore at your own pace, at your own leisure. The character can merely move and jump, but by doing so, your width of vision increases. As a consequence, the game begs for exploration, even to dead-ends, as more and more of the stage is revealed.
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Weekly Game Music: Gameboy Tune (Machinarium)

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Taro Omiya

New week, new music. This week’s music is Gameboy Tune by Tomas Dvorak. Despite it’s overly-optimistic beeps and bloops, it’s a surprisingly mellow tune. It best accents the neon game arcade room in an otherwise old-and-rusty game, Machinarium.

Machinarium is a no-text, all visual point-and-click adventure of a weak but determined robot to get his kidnapped girlfriend back. During his travels, he learns the kidnappers has caused a ton of mayhem to the townsfolk, and even hung a time-bomb on a tall tower for a good measure. Frantically working to find a way to diffuse the bomb, our hero must…slowly help remedy each denizen’s misfortunes. Point-and-click at its finest.

Sarcasm aside, Machinarium is a rare game that successfully tells a story without a single use of text or voice acting. It’s puzzles — which ranges from distracting the guard to slip by him, to unlocking a door using a Rubik’s cube — can sometimes veer towards nonsensical and frustrating. Fortunately, there’s a consistent and easy way to find the solution of every puzzle in-game. The minor usability improvements helps guarantee that anyone can play this game.

Machinarium was originally released on the PC, Mac, and Linux in 2009. It has also been ported to iPad and Android as well.

Extra!

Title: The End [Prague Radio]
Game: Machinarium
Composer: Vojtech Zelinsky

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