A Common Pulse started as another project, named Accelerando. At School of Future Entertainment we had a seven week long course, in which we were supposed to realize a game concept prototype. This culminated in an event called Game Concept Challenge. I was project leader and main programmer for the ten-people-strong team that decided to make a cross between a 3d platformer and a rhythm game. The idea was to experiment and see if the zoning-out synesthesia experience of games such as Rockband could be combined with more advanced gameplay. "A Common Pulse is a game about the primitive joy of rhythm and music. There are few activities that makes us as happy as dancing! Bringing the aesthetics from the 'French Touch' genre, A Common Pulse creates a synesthetic experience where shapes and colors and rhythm comes together and reinforce each other. There are no sound effects, only music. As you progress throughout the level the music advances. The better you play, the more intense the music gets."
		I also held the presentation for the jury which consisted of some of the most important persons in the Swedish games industry, as well as representatives of both Sony and Microsoft. I totally aced it and we won! "For a charming, unique and innovative game concept with pure mechanics, exciting online feature set and commercial possibilities, all presented in a confident and professional manner." Besides getting a free Sony game each (I chose Little Big Planet) we won a year's worth of funding to turn Accelerando into a proper game by a local business incubator. Parts of the team took the offer and are currently working on the game, I decided it wasn't for me. Below: In-game menu Not very happy with the look and feel of the game, me and co-designer Daniel Remle decided to remake the whole project within three weeks for the Swedish Game Awards deadline. Three intense weeks later we had a completely new game, running on a new 3D engine (Leadwerks Engine, Accelerando used Ogre3D), with new graphics, a new level, a new soundtrack and sound fx, a custom made level editor and, of course, a new name.
Kian Bashiri (me) - Project Lead, Programmer, Designer, Art Director Daniel Remle - Programmer, Designer Fredrik Stertman - 3D Artist David Bengtsson - Animator Sarah Kimblad - Rigger Johannes Barte - Character Designer Erik Larsson - Game Asset Implementation Mikael Fisk - Level Designer Dennis Talajic - Level Designer Calle Leppäjoki - Music Composer, Sound Designer Fredrik Häthén - Music Composer, Sound Designer Using Leadwerks Engine, Wwise, TinyXML