M.I.N.D. - Oculus Launch Pad 2021

Back in August, I was very excited to announce that my application to the 2021 Oculus Launch Pad program had been accepted.

Now we are just weeks away from Demo Day, a chance for all the applicants to showcase their work, answer questions, and celebrate months of hard work.

After months of iteration, testing, optimization, and one all-nighter to fix a corrupted git registry, I am pleased to announce the result of that effort, M.I.N.D.

I knew I wanted to make something that referenced my work as a music therapist and my love of gaming both as entertainment and an art form. And yes, one truth I would repeat over and over again after working in nearly every aspect of game development is that video games are an art form.

In fact, I'd say they are very similar to what many throughout history consider ultimate art forms, like opera, films, art that is a collaborative effort between many different forms of art.

M.I.N.D. stands for the Music Intervention Neurologic Division, an organization that uses music to help others with their physical and mental needs. Set in a near-future world where people have the technology to "jump" into the minds of others, M.I.N.D. allows players to explore how music affects us and how it can bring positive non-musical change.

The design aesthetic is closely tied to 80's music and synthwave style. The game makes heavy use of purples, oranges, blues, and yellows to drive the visual design as well as late 80's style computer screen graphics to help guide the player through information screens and arcade style fonts.

The music is the most important aspect of the game. The musical style is driven by 80's synth leads and pads and old drum machine percussion. Players are able to interact with the environment musically in familiar and unique ways while solving puzzles and ultimately using music to complete missions as a M.I.N.D. agent.

I am very excited to showcase more of the vertical slice create for the Oculus Launch Pad program as we get closer to Demo Day and dive into more detail about the music therapy influences behind the design, as well as where I plan to go from here.

Stay tuned!