SEAR DevBlog week of 4/14: Enter the Resonator.

3D concept art for the SEAR - Sound-Energized Augmentation Resonator.

SEAR levels align with their associated songs in two ways. The main one, phasing, focuses primarily on keeping the level aesthetics and game mechanics aligned with the mood of the music at any given time by segmenting the song and the level into manageable chunks (called phases). This is the big new way we sync with music, but to make sure those mechanics work the way they're supposed to there's a secondary piece. Think of all the different noises that songs produce and all the different way an artist might choose to represent those sounds as game mechanics. Some of those ways might be events in the level, obstacles, power-ups... but many of them will likely be via some kind of direct interaction from the player. A great example from the prototype level we're working on is a kind of "woosh" sound that builds up, hits a climax, and fades. It's reminiscent of wind and just screams speed boost to me.

But we need a visual way to communicate that that boost is coming, and make sure the player knows they can catch it. The original plan was to light up the vehicle engines, one on each beat, as the sound approached its peak, then prompt the player for a button press at that peak to get a speed boost that would align with the sound in the song fading out.

Then there's a sound later that is a series of beeps leading into a drumshot, each of which prompts a laser fire event that will blow up the car ahead of you. We needed a visual for that too - maybe a targeting reticle that pulses with the beeps that presage the drum, prompting the player for a button press at its conclusion that will pop up a gun and fire the laser. Okay, so far so good.

Then there's a section where it goes dark and the player should be hitting a button aligned to an audio cue to prompt light flares from crystals in the surrounding field, enabling them to see clearly. But how to communicate that visually? And at this point I'm starting to get a bit nervous about every single interactable song event requiring a new visual language.

Eventually I realized the vehicles don't need a gun. They need a thing that can encapsulate all this visual language for mechanics that align with the song, prompting the player to be on the lookout whenever it appears. That's the SEAR - the Sound-Energized Augmentation Resonator.

More detailed lore is forthcoming, but essentially, the SEAR is what translates the energy from the song that's playing into actual events that the racing vehicle can catch, ignite, fire off, or ride. It is an all-in-one device that detects moments of energy from the song, alerts the pilot to them, catches them, and translates them into a real-world effect. When the SEAR pops up, it means you're about to be able to opt-in to a present from the song.

Animation is just to illustrate rigging; it'll be much faster in-game.

Really excited about this idea, as it ties together a whole lot of disparate elements into one clear visual story. Next week I should have some concept art showing the different ways the SEAR can enhance your race.

From a dev standpoint I wish I'd figured this out earlier - with one vehicle model already done, we have to do a bit of rework to retrofit the SEAR in where the gun used to be on the Needle model. But at least it got sorted out early enough for each of the four remaining models to use it right away, and frankly with how critical this little monster's going to be for the game going forward, it will be well worth it. This feels like the distinctive "hook" for SEAR (the game) - the fictional technology the game is named for, its literal namesake. It feels a bit like the missing piece I've been looking for for decades.