TOKYO RHYTHM FIGHTER
Original frames of animation
Hurt
Harmonize
Miss
Hit
Center VFX
TOKYO RHYTHM FIGHTER is a rhythm-based fighting game, where Sola, fights with music against an ex-band member, Sforzanda, in order to reshape a broken bond. Players have to hit notes, create combos, hold chords, and harmonize with Sforzanda’s chords in order to fight!
Using the SCRUM methodology, our team frequently held meetings to discuss tasks, maintained backlogs, and followed the sprint system of designing and collaborating. I focused on bridging the gaps in implementation for art, UI, and programming assets. I worked on the implementation of art assets, such as characters, and also programming animation controllers.
Additionally, I created UI assets such as accuracy icons, health bars, and damage numbers and implemented the speech bubbles for the tutorial.
Gameplay
TRF focuses on players’ freedom to mix and match the chords and to make music with combos.
Players can give either a short attack, hold attack, or parry/harmonize whenever the fret indicators reach the middle. Making your own chords in unison with the music is the key to playing along effectively! Features a short tutorial and boss fight.
Animation
I first created the foundations for an animation system for our characters, VFX, and other motions. The initial design revolved around playing a set of frames between each beat but was later changed to sprite changing for each character. This original animation system, which iterates through a list of several sprites was then used for the center hit/parry/miss icons used to indicate player actions.
User Interface
One of my major roles was in UI implementation. Symbols for player accuracy, health bars, combo numbers, and damage numbers were sourced and implemented by me. Additionally, I created player/enemy health bars to show immediate and lerping damage numbers for the boss and player.
Most of the UI additions and changes are designed to give players action feedback and improve user experience.
UI breakdown
Tutorial
For the tutorial, I worked on implementing a team-made speech bubble system, in which I inputted text instructions on how to hold notes, harmonize, and fight your opponent. The text and interlinking of bubbles between different scenes and sections were not only important for tutorializing the gameplay, but for further implementation of character dialogue in the intro as well.
Clarity
One of our primary iterative focuses throughout game development was gameplay clarity. Rhythm-fighting games needed players to know when they were on beat and how to prepare for the next upcoming beat.
I personally worked on the center UI clarity, health bars, audio adjustments, and overall UI positioning in order to best illustrate when combos are created and when attacks are successful. As a team, we collaborated on how these adjustments can be made to give better focus to hitting the beats in the center with punchy, stylish feedback.