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General discussionCrypt of the NecroDancer: Developer Q&A(87 posts)(87 posts)
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Posted August 17, 2015
Got some Q’s you’d like the devs behind the game to A? Join the team behind Crypt of the Necrodancer for a special forum Q&A session!

A gamedev duet from Brace Yourself Games, Ryan and Heather, are here to answer all your pressing questions about the game, the life behind game development, or their favorite cat video of all time, from from 8pm GMT to 10pm GMT (click the times to check when that is in your time zone).

Here’s a short bio of our guests to give you something to start off with:

Ryan (Creator/Designer, BraceYourselfGames)
-- Has been creating independent games professionally since 2004, including games like IncrediBots
-- Started programming games as a hobby when he was 6
-- Designed Crypt of the NecroDancer by accident, with help from Michael Jackson

Heather (Community Manager/Producer, BraceYourselfGames)
-- Been working in video games for over 10 years.
-- Designed her first board game in middle school, but gave up that lucrative career due to homework demands.
-- Office mates include 1 dog, and 2 cats.


Now that our Crypt of the Necrodancer guests have been introduced, we’d like to remind you our Q&A rules for this Q&A to work as smoothly as possible:

Not all questions might get answered during the Q&A. This means your specific question might go unnoticed or unanswered, but feel free to read along anyway and hang out with us - it’s gonna be fun anyway!
Be nice. This means no abuse, harassment, name-calling and the like.
Don’t spam or take over the thread to go off-topic. This will help us all keep track of incoming questions and help you get the most out of this event - and keep our guests involved!
Try to look through some recent questions before asking a new one. If the Q&A has been going on for a while, it’s likely your question has already been addressed.
Try to keep it about Rampart. Just kidding, we’re sure the devs have lots of subjects aside from Crypt of the Necrodancer that they’d love to have a chat about with you guys!

Let’s get this show on the road!
Posted August 17, 2015
Ryan, how exactly does one design a game by accident - and why should I believe you guys when you say that an accidental game is any good?
Posted August 17, 2015
Do you recommend a dancepad or controller when playing Necrodancer? Which is better?


What are some of your favorite tunes to play Necrodancer by?
Post edited August 17, 2015 by undeadcow
Posted August 17, 2015
Which tools did you use to create this game? (Programming language, animation software, etc) :)
Posted August 17, 2015
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undeadcow: Do you recommend a dancepad or controller when playing Necrodancer? Which is better?

What are some of your favorite tunes to play Necrodancer by?
We recommend PrecisionDancePads.com for a hard pad and DancePadMania for soft pads. If you want a NecroDancer themed pad, check out this page on our site: http://necrodancer.com/dancepads.php (we make no money from these pads.)

My favorite way to play the game is to Danny's soundtrack, but when I want custom music I like The Electric Six and dancey pop music like Katy Perry.
Posted August 17, 2015
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justMaku: Ryan, how exactly does one design a game by accident - and why should I believe you guys when you say that an accidental game is any good?
I didn't intend for it to be a rhythm game, at the start :)

I was inspired by Spelunky. I enjoy the fact that when you die in Spelunky, it's always your own fault. There is always something you could've done to have avoided that death. Spelunky feels fair in a way that most true roguelikes don't. I wanted to make a more "true" roguelike (top down turn based dungeon crawler with permadeath) that also felt fair like that. But one reason that Spelunky feels fair is that there is a lot of real time skill involved.

I didn't want to get rid of the turn based nature of my "true" roguelike, so I tried a hybrid: Keep the turns, but force the player to move quickly. When I tried this it worked well, but it also felt like I was moving to the beat of something! So I tried playing it to the rhythm of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and the rest is history :)
Posted August 17, 2015
Was this game tested with classical music? If so, what worked well and what didn't?
Posted August 17, 2015
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undeadcow: Do you recommend a dancepad or controller when playing Necrodancer? Which is better?

What are some of your favorite tunes to play Necrodancer by?
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NecroHeather: We recommend PrecisionDancePads.com for a hard pad and DancePadMania for soft pads. If you want a NecroDancer themed pad, check out this page on our site: http://necrodancer.com/dancepads.php (we make no money from these pads.)

My favorite way to play the game is to Danny's soundtrack, but when I want custom music I like The Electric Six and dancey pop music like Katy Perry.
I prefer keyboard myself! If you do use a controller, I would recommend setting up BOTH the dpad and face buttons as movement keys. (The game lets you do this.) That way you can do most of your movement on the face buttons (which feels the most natural to me) and when you need to do a multi-button combo (to drop a bomb, for example) you can hit DOWN on the dpad and LEFT on the face buttons.

I've never heard of Heather's "The Electric Six"! I'll have to try that out :) When I was prototyping the game early on I often played it with "Hey Ya" by Outkast and "Take On Me" by A-ha. Both are quite fast!
Posted August 17, 2015
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dtgreene: Was this game tested with classical music? If so, what worked well and what didn't?
I came in later in the process, so I don't know how much we tested it with classical but I do know that it works best with music that has a strong beat.
Posted August 17, 2015
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Experiment513: Which tools did you use to create this game? (Programming language, animation software, etc) :)
We used MonkeyX and C++ to code it. Ted and Jesse used Photoshop for all the art. Danny used Cubase for the music! Not sure what tools Kevin uses for audio...
Posted August 17, 2015
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NecroHeather: We recommend PrecisionDancePads.com for a hard pad and DancePadMania for soft pads. If you want a NecroDancer themed pad, check out this page on our site: http://necrodancer.com/dancepads.php (we make no money from these pads.)

My favorite way to play the game is to Danny's soundtrack, but when I want custom music I like The Electric Six and dancey pop music like Katy Perry.
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BraceYourselfGames: I prefer keyboard myself! If you do use a controller, I would recommend setting up BOTH the dpad and face buttons as movement keys. (The game lets you do this.) That way you can do most of your movement on the face buttons (which feels the most natural to me) and when you need to do a multi-button combo (to drop a bomb, for example) you can hit DOWN on the dpad and LEFT on the face buttons.

I've never heard of Heather's "The Electric Six"! I'll have to try that out :) When I was prototyping the game early on I often played it with "Hey Ya" by Outkast and "Take On Me" by A-ha. Both are quite fast!
They have a lot of dance themed lyrics and are very ROCK. :D

Sorry I didn't see that you edited your question undeadcow - I prefer a controller. Usually use a PS3 controller because it fits my hands best and I feel slightly more able to keep the beat than I do with a keyboard.
Posted August 17, 2015
Would you ever consider creating a new playable character that was Michael Jackson-esque in appearance (perhaps in Thriller or Moonwalker attire) to honor the source of your inspiration?
Post edited August 17, 2015 by Barry_Woodward
Posted August 17, 2015
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dtgreene: Was this game tested with classical music? If so, what worked well and what didn't?
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NecroHeather: I came in later in the process, so I don't know how much we tested it with classical but I do know that it works best with music that has a strong beat.
Yes, that is true. Even though classical music is often light on the drums, there are still some songs that are more rhythmic and driving (like "William Tell Overture"). Flowy strings-heavy songs may not work well. Songs with percussive piano likely will.
Posted August 17, 2015
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Barry_Woodward: Would you ever consider creating a new playable character that was Michael Jackson-esque in appearance (perhaps in Thriller or Moonwalker attire) to honor the source of your inspiration?
Ha! I'm not sure if we could get away with a model of MJ but that would be a lot of fun. :D
Posted August 17, 2015
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Barry_Woodward: Would you ever consider creating a new playable character that was Michael Jackson-esque in appearance (perhaps in Thriller or Moonwalker attire) to honor the source of your inspiration?
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NecroHeather: Ha! I'm not sure if we could get away with a model of MJ but that would be a lot of fun. :D
Yeah I think I've heard that people have been in trouble in the past for using some of his trademark looks, such as the red leather jacket, gloved hand, etc. We wouldn't want to do anything too risky.
Post edited August 17, 2015 by BraceYourselfGames
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Community
General discussionCrypt of the NecroDancer: Developer Q&A(87 posts)(87 posts)
(87 posts)