Amongst the Borderlands and the Bioshocks, lies a different type of game. Something more addicting, that keeps you up hours at a time, and gets you sucked in with it’s hypnotic sounds and music. This is the Rhythm Game. You can’t escape it’s infectious beats and your hands and body being guided by them. This is such the case in the upcoming Disco Pixel game, Jungle Rumble.
Myrrick had a chance to sit down and talk to head of Disco Pixel, Trevor Stricker about his newest game, Jungle Rumble. It’s a rhythm-based game but not in the traditional sense. Talking to Stricker about his gaming background and where he came from, you’ll see what Jungle Rumble isn’t your normal game.
When Stricker started out his post-graduate life, he was a broker on Wall Street. A far cry from the pixels and button mashing of the the video game world. He was young, single, and hated what he was doing. He always had a passion for video games, but didn’t know how to turn that into a career. So, he did what any normal Wall Street broker did when he couldn’t take it anymore, no, not kill himself, he interviewed all over the country and begged and pleaded until he finally scored a job working on his first video game. A sports game at that.
Through his journey at Sega, 2K, Smilebit, and Quickhit; he came to start his own company, Disco Pixel. He wanted to bring the mobile world rhythm based games and his first outing is Jungle Rumble. Unlike other games of the same genre, Stricker wanted a broader appeal and story than just timing your button mashes to symbols.
The result is a game that takes a story of jungle wildlife getting uprooted and relocated, and the creatures that live there fighting to take it back. Myrrick got her hands on the title and loved the new experience of a game with a rich story as well as compelling gameplay.
The Mofongo tribe lives deep in the jungle. They swing from trees under vast skies. They vie to throw coconuts the furthest. And they pursue the sweet flesh of the banana. Sustenance for the young. Delight for the old. When a rival tribe invades, to steal those bananas, a way of life is threatened and a conflict ignited.
In Jungle Rumble you drum to control a tribe of monkeys as a rival tribe invades. You drum on your mobile screen to move and attack with a rhythmic grammar. It could be called a Rhythm-RTS.
The game has a dynamic soundtrack that responds as you play. As you swing through trees and build your mojo, new drums and rhythms are mixed in.
Jungle Rumble is due out on iOS and Android in the next few weeks. A special thanks to Trevor Stricker for showing us around the booth and being a gracious host!
Check out the DiscoPixel website and Facebook page for more updates on their upcoming games!
~Chaz