June 2009
2 posts
The Beatles: Rock Band is at zero bugs and lookin'...
Phew. Here at Harmonix, we’re tantalizingly close to finishing up The Beatles game. Lots of new info and a trailer of the game was released today at E3 (check out the link in the previous post).
With The Beatles wrapping up, I should have lots more time/energy to focus on Super Bongo Fury this summer. I’m thinking of a stay-cation this month to really push things forward.
The Beatles Rock Band (Official Site) →
March 2009
1 post
GDC, SBF Gameplay Movie
Returned from last week’s GDC, highlights for me included the Noby Noby Talk and, of course, the Experimental Gameplay Sessions.
It’s been a long time since my last Super Bongo Fury update. It’s so tempting for an introverted obsessive type like me to hold things back until they’re polished and finished. But this blog is supposed to document my design/development process...
February 2009
2 posts
Driving Me Backwards
I just resuscitated an old website about an old project: Space Rock 20XX. It was a pretty weird idea and pretty much a failure. But a fun an interesting failure. It’s strange to read the “artist statement” I wrote back in 2004 and find myself up against many of the same problems, now with Super Bongo Fury.
I’ve been cranking on SBF for the past two weeks and an update...
The Beat
Last weekend at the Global Game Jam, my team produced “The Beat,” a puzzle game with some rhythmic elements.
The Jam was intense and stressful, nearly 48 hours of rapid game design and development with people I’ve never met before! But the enjoyment our game brought to fellow game jammers and my friends made it worthwhile. Working with such extreme time constraints is a...
January 2009
1 post
Global Game Jam
GGJ is this weekend. I’m participating in the Boston jam, hosted at MIT. Hopefully I’ll have some good stuff to report by Sunday night. Also, I’ll post more SBF news soon.
November 2008
1 post
Advanced Visual Beat Editor
aka Microsoft Excel.
One of the nice things about being a one-man team is that I can make my tools as lo-fi as I want. Each “song” in the game is authored in a spreadsheet, like the one above. I use a simple Ruby script to convert the Excel files into comma-separated files, which are then directly parsed by the game (this conversion is automatically done as needed when each file...
October 2008
4 posts
News from My Day Job
My current project at Harmonix was announced today. My role is “lead programmer” on our new Beatles game and it’s nice to finally lift the veil of secrecy.
Early Screenie
Here’s a down-rez’d screenshot of SBF in action. Hopefully it helps illustrate the basic gameplay. Each player sits around the edges of the projected image, orientated so they face the center. The UI is similar to many rhythm/action games. The “notes” scroll from the center of the display towards each player. When a note crosses the player’s bongo circle, they...
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Super Bongo Fury
I’m Marc Flury, professional game programmer (at Harmonix) and amateur game designer/programmer (in my bedroom). This blog contains my game design ideas, updates the world on my current projects, and motivates me to get shit done. It’s focused on games, so you won’t find my favorite recipes, my heartfelt confessions, or any pics of my plants.
My current project is Super Bongo...