Riff

Riff

    Welcome to Riff, a VSRG (vertical scrolling rhythm game) based off of Guitar Hero and Clone Hero, with the intent of integrating some of the modern features of osu!, such as replay saving, a public leaderboard, and automatic difficulty calculations.

    The inspiration to make this project came from my combination of interest in the new open-source VSRG called Quaver, and the modern version of Guitar Hero created by the community known as Clone Hero.

    Quaver's centralized leaderboards and statistics seemed overwhelming at first when I played it, but over time I found the competition very fun. Quaver takes a lot of inspiration from osu! for it's UI design and scoring server.

    After I got bored of Quaver, I started playing a lot of Clone Hero, but it felt a little strange transitioning to the new game because of the lack of online leaderboards and replays. Sure, you could look up "Soulless 4 FC" on Youtube and find the world records for the song, but I wanted somewhere where the trouble of documenting an impressive score is nonexistent.

    I then realized that it was time to make it myself, using my Chocolate Engine. I knew this was going to be a difficult task, because not only do I have to make a cool looking game to compete with Clone Hero, but I also have to set up a large infrastructure for clients to upload their scores and replays.

    Let's neglect the actual possibility of me successfully creating this thing. Let's show off my progress!

Demo

The long-awaited engine simplicity

    As of writing this, I've implemented an almost-complete chart parsing, a score system that mimics Clone Hero's, and an input system which is rightfully followed by a hit engine. As someone who enjoys minimalistic games, this is already super fun to play. The hit engine isn't perfect, as it seems very forgiving on tap sections but is brutal on strum sections.

Going forward

    With the engine improvements out of the way, all that's left is to grind away at making game content! I'm very excited to work on this project, as I'll be able to have my own spin on a childhood favorite game, as well as have the satisfaction of further developing my game engine.

Last updated: Wed 03 November 2021