Quick Look: EX: Dropchord

I think it's awesome that Double Fine is willing to produce a music/puzzle game for a PC peripheral that isn't even out yet. Only Double Fine would take a chance like that.

I remember playing this at pax east, showing more than what they had there. The finger controls worked really well, but a very simple game.

A realtime audio mixer/video editor based on this technology, please.

Can't wait for the leap motion device.

This looks freaking great!

This is interesting. Not sure how long it would keep my attention but if the music stayed great I could see getting into it. Regardless I love how Double Fine has become what it has, putting out these smaller interesting games that people internally come up with. Sorta a Valve on a smaller/faster scale.

genius

Lot of people hate peripherals/games where you have to be active for a video game. I actually like it a lot, it helps me feel less guilty. (Yes I know holding your damn hands in the air isn't really active, but you get what I mean)

I'll be honest, I'm pretty meh on the game and this Leap thing in general. But, I absolutely love that Doublefine has become a company that does different, interesting things. They don't always stick the landing, but damn if I don't love them for trying.

It's cool that someone would try to do this.

I have a pretty bad essential tremor. I doubt this would work with me.

This looks rad

The game looks cool but the motion controller is what looks really awesome. If this thing works this well, then can't we get to the "Minority Report" ideal where you can use your hands to actually control shit precisely rather than waving around hoping the Kinect recognizes you?

Looks cool but would definitely sell more as an iPad game!

Honestly I think I'd rather buy the soundtrack.

edit: Also, shouldn't there be some positive/negative reinforcement feedback loop with mistakes affecting the music track?

I just want the sound part.

I played this at PAX East. Not really a fan.

I know everyone hangs shit on the amount Double Fine are featured on Giant Bomb, but they pretty consistently do make for great Quick Look EXs (which are Quick Looks that have a big chance of being awful). I'm really enjoying this quick look and I'm finding it really interesting.

I played this at Pax and it sold me on the Leap Motion Controller. I'm intrigued by the practical applications of the hardware on a PC.

Game looks pretty cool. Wonder how much the hardware will cost.

@mintyice: Bet it would be hard to use 2 fingers like that, having to wedge the ipad in your lap in a way that stops it from spinning via the friction of your fingers and what not. The game also seems to want some pretty fast and advanced movements other than just the kinda up down swiping that is shown at the start.

But yea, if it COULD work great on an iPad why not, visuals would be rad on a more up close display like that.

Not a fan at all of the leap motion. I see it as more negative growth spurred on by Minority Report that has really hurt UI design for a long time now. It leads to shallow but visually impressive designs that aren't really very good.

Anything where you have to hold your hands out in front of you is going to be badly designed. It's uncomfortable over long periods of time, it's not nearly as precise or as fast as other older devices and it lacks a sort of kinesthetic feedback. The mouse and keyboard do all of these better AND with smaller movements, faster movements.

Touch devices work well because you can still get haptic feedback and you're already limited by the devices you can use for input, on the PC this isn't so and reducing yourself to them is just adding restrictions we don't need. Hell having perfect button input plus super precise pointer precision is basically the mouse and keyboard and I can't see this being much better than 3D movies, it's a neat novelty that really only adds shallow depth.

Hey look another motion controller.

The game looks cool but the fact that it ISN'T a rhythm game seems kind of weird. Maybe I just need to play it for myself but it feels like it needs some kind of rhythmic element to it that just isn't there.

Electronic music isn't really my bag but their isn't anything special about the songs shown in this, so the guy's constant harping on how it is "ear crack" or "ear candy" is a bit off-kilter. I could care less if I heard more of these songs.

This looks like a cool toy. If I had $80 to blow on a Leap+Game, I might be in just to have it to take over to friends and show off. It's nice that it is extremely portable.

All you are is a pair of fingers to this game.

@djjoejoe: Have you played Hundreds? It's a similar concept and works fine on any iOS device.

I'd love to see this tech used with a surgery simulator. It'd would have to be something more realistic than Surgeon Simulator 2013 though.

Looks neat but i dont think i want that controller just for this one game.

Must. Have. This >_<

Looks very very cool, and completely fucking hypnotizing. I've never heard of the Leap, but I'm impressed after watching this.

I wonder if they could get that controller to work with microsoft office through hand gestures? That's where I see the real potential for this thing - as an input device, not a game doohickey

This is a really interesting idea, and I love that Double Fine are out there innovating like this. I have no actual interest in the "game" though, it really just looks like something to occupy your hands while you listen to trance. Also, I'm probably not gonna get a Leap, so there's that.

I'll probably buy the soundtrack though. (release the soundtrack please)

Oh my god you guise! Surgeon Simulator with this :O

The leap is 80$.. or will be. No thanks.

That controller seems pretty interesting. Not sure about the practical application. Especially if it needs to be still on a flat surface to function properly.

Exactly. I think it's fantastic that Double Fine dares to have such a wide scope regarding platforms, genres, techniques, and game sizes/budgets. It really allows for innovation to take place. I hope they're not biting off more than they can chew, though, because it's extremely hard to be good at many things, as well as to capitalize on novel concepts like this. This is especially dangerous with them still being relatively new and small, with not a ton of money to lose before they get into trouble.

But an A effort, that's for sure.

The last time I got a Double Fine motion controller game it made my kids cry.

@slab64 said:

Yeah, Dropchord reminds me of Dyad, except the creators of Dropchord aren't total pricks.

"We had this idea that we wouldn't make the game mechanically difficult, just visually difficult. But in practice that started to make people kinda sick, so whatever. So, we held back."

See, Dyad is the exact opposite of that, and is a worse game for it.

BAD GOLF 3!