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Tech

Step Inside FRACT, Part Tron, Part First-Person Videogame Synthesizer

Almost every videogame ever made has a soundtrack, but there are still very few that let you _become_ the soundtrack. A work-in-progress from Montreal based developer Phosfiend Systems is helping to correct that. "_FRACT_":http://fractgame.com...
Janus Rose
New York, US

Almost every videogame ever made has a soundtrack, but there are still very few that let you become the soundtrack. A work-in-progress from Montreal based developer Phosfiend Systems is helping to correct that. FRACT imagines the insides of synthesizers as interactive, Tron-esque cyberscapes that pulse and throb with sound.

In fact, sound is the underlying source of power within the game, and most of it is generated in real-time as you traverse the game's surreal, stark neon environs. But even further, the game actually acts as a sort of primer to actually making electronic music. Because the various puzzles draw heavily from real music-making software and principles (sequencers, oscillators and whatnot), you'll find yourself actually composing music a means of progressing through the game.

As Johann Sebastian Joust developer Doug Wilson emphatically tweets, it's the difference between listening to a Boards of a Canada album, and being let loose inside their synths to learn how to make music yourself.

Jonathan Mak's upcoming PS Vita title Sound Shapes and Tetsuya Mizuguchi's Child of Eden are other examples of this same (hopefully growing) trend that puts audio, visuals and gameplay all on equal footing. Check back soon, as there's no doubt we'll be seeing much more of FRACT and similar projects next month at the 2012 Game Developers Conference.

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