Singstar was very nearly a game set in 'aboriginal dreamtime'. That'saccording to Jamie Macdonald, former VP of development at SCE and now senior VP at Codemasters, who confesses: "The central mechanic involved singing to trees in a forest."
It wasalready knownthat SingStar started off life as a third-person adventure game for children, but it's clear now why the exact details were kept so secret. You know, because they're barking mad. Setting the game in a forest and having the player physically sing to unlock new environments? On one level itsounds quite Zelda-like... but on another, it makes Okami look as accessible as Call of Duty.
Above: Singing to a treeis a refreshingly different gameplay experience. Too much bloom lighting, mind
“We realised we needed the technology to identify pitch and rhythm," said Jamie. "In the end we weren’t sure the market was ready for a game about aboriginal dreamtime but by that stage we’d developed a neat bit of technology. Then we thought – we’ve got this, can we use it in a different way?" The answer, of course, was yes.
But we still want the tree game.
17 Aug, 2010
