''Sound Shapes'' is a 2012

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

platform

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by Queasy Games and published by

Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game co ...

for the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...

and

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...

. It was originally released in 2012 and a port for the

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

was released in 2013. The game, designed by Jessica Mak and Shaw-Han Liem, is a side-scrolling

platform game A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

with a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

focus. The game also features the ability to create levels and share levels with other users. The Vita version of the game features use of the touch screen and back touch pad to place sounds of different musical instruments during creation of levels. ''Sound Shapes'' was shown at industry conference E3 in 2011 and picked up nominations for best of show award from media sites including IGN, 1UP, and Electric Playground. It also received 2 Game Critics Awards (Best Mobile and Best Casual), and received three nominations at the 16th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. At the

Spike Video Game Awards The Spike Video Game Awards (in short VGAs, known as the VGX for the final show) was an annual award show hosted by American television network Spike from 2003 that recognized the best computer and video games of the year. Produced by '' GameT ...

2011, it was announced that

Deadmau5 Joel Thomas Zimmerman (born January 5, 1981), known professionally as deadmau5 (pronounced "dead-mouse"), is a Canadian electronic music producer and disc jockey, DJ. His musical style mostly includes progressive house and electro house music, ...

would be contributing songs and sound material to the project.

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...

has contributed 3 new songs to the game: "Cities", "Touch the People", and "Spiral Staircase". These are still exclusive to the game as of 2017, despite fan desire to see them released digitally. It was included on the "Best of PlayStation Network Vol. 1" compilation disc, released 18 June 2013.

Development

Mak and Liem wanted to develop a game that could give beginners a sense of joyful creation, without the need for harmonic training or complicated music theory. They prototyped their idea for about a year before settling on the coin-collecting musical mechanics that the final game has. To cater to the 'hardcore platformer' player base, Death Mode was introduced. It was important to marry the sound with the style, so each album was a close collaboration between a musician and a visual artist. In some cases levels began with a song, in other cases a style, and evolved naturally from there.

Downloadable content

At launch ''Sound Shapes'' had various

downloadable content content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can be added for no extra cost or as a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain ad ...

(DLC) available. The first round of DLC was released on 4 December 2012, having three sound packs and a curved terrain pack. It introduces five new instruments and Beat School levels. The second round of DLC was released on 12 March 2013, having more milkcrate free updates and a Car Mini-Album Creator pack. It also introduced a much requested feature of offline play. On 14 May 2013, two new sound packs were released. One being an 80s sound pack, adding synth features, and the other DLC being a dubstep sound pack featuring new Beat School features. On 28 May 2013, five new Milkcrate albums were released as a free update.

Online server shutdown

On 15 October 2018, the server for ''Sound Shapes'' was shut down, meaning that players were no longer able to access any online-related information. This included Community-made levels and uploading levels to the Community. This accounted for every console the game was released on.

Reception

''Sound Shapes'' was selected for Best Handheld Game in the 2012

. ''Sound Shapes'' also won for Best Song in a Game for "Cities" by Beck. During the 16th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain Summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentation ...

nominated ''Sound Shapes'' for " Handheld Game of the Year", "Outstanding Innovation in Gaming", and " Casual Game of the Year".

Notes

References

{{Reflist 2012 video games Music video games Platformers PlayStation 3 games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation Network games PlayStation Vita games Queasy Games games Santa Monica Studio games Single-player video games Sony Interactive Entertainment games Spike Video Game Award winners Video games developed in Canada Video games with user-generated gameplay content Wholesale Algorithms games