Deemo: Rhythm Video Game Accompanied by Moving Story

MDA & 8 Kinds of Fun | CS247G Game Design Fundamentals

One of my favorite games is Deemo, a music video game. It is a score-based game with multiple levels, where players listen to music and hit the marked notes.

Main characters: Deemo the pianist and a little girl

Mechanics

The games provide a wide range of songs from various countries and regions. For each song, some notes are marked based on the rhythm. There are two actions that a player can perform. There is a horizontal line at the bottom and “notes” are continue to approach as the song is being played. The player needs to tap on the regular notes and slide across yellow notes.

Two actions: tap and slide

There are multiple collections of songs with the majority being locked, where the user needs to score high and advance to the next levels.

Dynamics

He won’t say anything unless you have played one song :(

The game starts with a single option to “play” two songs. As the player makes progress, he or she can unlock more songs and collections to have more choices.

Unlock a new song

Occasionally, after finishing a song, the player may see a short video unrevealing a plot. The player can choose to skip and play songs only. For players curious about the whole story, they can go back to the main menu and explore. More rooms will be unlocked and more conversations triggered, and the play can rewatch the videos if he or she wants.

Short videos (I changed my account so I lost all my progress 😭)

When the player reaches the final stage, the story comes to an end as well. However, the play is more than welcome to go back and replay the game and unlock more songs.

Aesthetics

Two aesthetics I enjoy in Deemo are sensation and narrative. In the beginning, I was attracted by the music from Deemo. Beyond the game, I have also saved playlists containing songs from Deemo. (One of my favorites here) The drawing of Deemo is very pleasant as well.

Screenshot of the last episode. I used it as my avatar for a while

Later after reading the whole story, I loved it so much. The little pianist Deemo saves a falling girl, and he needs to play the piano to grow a tree in order to help the girl go back to her own world. But who is Deemo? And who is the mysterious masked lady? At the very end, I found the story lovely and moving.