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QUEEN: ROCK TOUR (2021)

Platform: iOS, Android

Company: Gameloft

Queen: Rock Tour is a rhythm game that features the journey and history of the legendary rock band, Queen. The gameplay is heavily inspired by the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series and aims to recreate the authentic Queen concerts that fans adore. Experience some of the most popular tours that Queen has embarked on and take control of their performances in historical venues.

MY contributions

I was involved in this project from pre-production until release.

During pre-production, I worked with the audio team to set up the pipeline for level design and helped define the rhythm gameplay layout. During production, I was mainly doing level design for the game. In addition, I was also tasked to build content for collectables and customisations, as well as manage the concert choreographies.

gameplay LAYOUT

We focused on searching for an ideal layout and a rhythm gameplay design that could create a comfortable user experience while presenting the band to the fullest. During the prototyping phase of the game, we tested several different layouts and versions of gameplay.

We settled on split lanes and a guitar hero-inspired gameplay as it provides the ideal solution to feature a more cinematic experience while being able to play comfortably.

Level design

I designed 10 out of 20 levels for the game, each for all the difficulties (Easy, Medium, Hard). For each song, I would deeply analyse the nature and pacing of the songs before replicating their themes through the notes.

My tasks also included choreographing the concert. With limited resources, we were not able to have fully custom-animated concerts. So, I spent months repeatedly binging videos of their performances and worked with the animators to define the required animations for them to create. Then, I worked with a sequencer to implement them where I would also blend and splice some animations to create more variety in the band members' movesets. The movements were referenced from actual actions performed by the band, especially iconic ones.

Some levels I have worked on:

Seven Seas of Rhye

This level depicts Queen's concert at The Rainbow 1974, London. Despite being only the second song in the game, it is quite fast-paced. To overcome this, sections with intense beats were simplified using long notes or swipes, and large gaps were often provided between notes.

Now I'm Here

This level depicts Queen's concert at Nippon Budokan 1975, Tokyo. It was designed with successions of taps to capture their swift guitar and drum beats.

We are The Champions

This level depicts Queen's concert at Madison Square Garden 1977, New York City. This song has a triumphant and epic tone, reflected by the frequent double hold and tap note moments.

Another One Bites the Dust

This level depicts Queen's concert at Olympiahalle 1980, Munich. This song has more bass notes than the others as its beats are very prominent. The relentless notes are set to match the impactful rhythm of the song.

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content and customisation

I was in charge of the game's contents such as the list of outfits, venue visuals, defining band animations, and writing all the facts about the band for the Memories feature.

As the game intends to appeal to hardcore fans as well, a lot of research was done on Queen to gather the best references. Every available outfit is based on real costumes that had been worn by the band members and every venue is based on actual locations that the band has performed.

tutorial