Audiosurf to be released this Friday on Steam

By: Xander

On: February 12th, 2008

There really is no avoiding Valve/Steam these days as news comes in that Audiosurf, one of the IGF finalists for a number of categories (including the Seumas McNally Ãœber Special Prize won by ‘The Underwater’ last year), will be released to buy on Steam this Friday, accompanied by a free demo.

For those that don’t know, Audiosurf is a kind of music-rhythm-puzzle game where you drive across a track designed by the music you choose to play. Layout, mood, and the placement of the score-arousing coloured blocks are all affected by the type of song you choose to play. Choosing your ship at the start also determines the overall difficulty of your challenge and the style of play, where some ships will initiate a typical match 3 colour system (come back! It’s not a flashy Bejeweled clone, I swear! You can’t play Reggae Remixes of IK+ in that for starters) and other ships like the Mono-types which turn the game into an insane test of reflexes as you dodge grey blocks and try to collect the colourful lumps of pointage between them.

Price will be the wonderfully squiggly number of $9.95, though as usual customers will get a pre-order discount of 10%, so check it out if you feel like taking a chance. Included in this release is also a free copy of the Orange Box soundtrack, which, given the nature of the game, is a pretty sound deal. Through the new Steamworks feature you’ll be able to gain achievements for your profile and rub your ego at the same time (but can you do it whilst patting your head?). It’s a solid package at great price, but I can’t help feeling a little shunned. We get the full game of this, but not even a taste of Noitu Love 2?

Where’s the love, Konjak? Where’s the love?!

Posted in Abstract, Action, Audio, Highly Recommended, Windows

Al King

Given that you (can) provide your own music one would hope it’s cool :P
Lord of his Castle

But I already have a full working version of Audiosurf…
and I don’t care for steamworks or other such rubbish…
why would they release a pay-for version when it has already been released free of charge…
GirlFlash

wow, last time I checked their forums it seemed it wasnt sure how they would release, steam must be a pretty efficient deal.

also, I am so glad to be able to play this again since the beta, I’m tottally going to get all my muse highscores back!
http://www.retroremakes.com Oddbob

“why would they release a pay-for version when it has already been released free of chargeâ€¦”

Umm, no it hasn’t.
Zeno

They released a beta, which pretty much works fully as intended, as far as I know. The beta was supposed to only be used for that one weekend, but it can easily be made to work permanently.
Alec

My left nut can be made to work permanently.
Lim-Dul

[quote]The beta was supposed to only be used for that one weekend, but it can easily be made to work permanently.[/quote]

Yeah, Windows Vista must be activated as well but can be made to work permanently, too. You know what that’s called? PIRACY.

I’m especially ruthless when it comes to pirating indie titles because the developers usually have a very personal approach to their projects and the fan community and really expect to make some money with a project they’ve been working on for a long time.

Not paying for the given game is like slapping them directly in the face.
http://josephkingworks.blogspot.com Joseph

I remember seeing Noitu Love 2 a while back, it looked fuggin tight! I’d rather have that…
Groogokk

(Slightly) off-topic: tigsource.com was unavailable for about an hour or so just now, and I find that this happens quite often… is there a problem with the server/traffic?
Roxxboxx

I was too late for the beta weekend, and the cracked version wouldn’t work on my computer, so I haven’t actually tried the game. But there’s plenty of Youtube videos of people playing their favorite songs, and man, it looks awesome!

PROTIP: It looks like heavy metal is the way to go if you want to play it on hard mode. Just load some old-school thrash metal shit and watch those little colored blocks fly past you at insane speed.
I should settle on a name

Multimedia Fusion apps cant be tied in with the anti-piracy stuff on Steam. Which it needs to have to appear on Steam.
Tantan

It’s not mmf…
Al King

He was referring to Joseph’s comment about Noitu Love 2, I assume.
http://www.oxeyegames.com jeb

I had a very bad experience with Audiosurf when I tested it for the IGF audience award. The main problem was that it only allowed me to play one song, so I never got the chance to see what it actually did with the music.

However, after watching this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkiMMjkljag I’m a lot more positive. It looks sweet.

I wonder why they put such a low price tag on it, though…
skaldicpoet9

Sweet :)

I was totally expecting it to be like 30 bucks or something.

I was sold before, this is just icing on the cake.
http://www.oxeyegames.com jeb

Ok, I gotta admit, this is an awesome visualizer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EsVyEnhxWY
Lim-Dul

> *Ok, I gotta admit, this is an awesome visualizer*

Yep. Although it might not be the best visualizer or the best puzzle/action/rhythm game. The thing is that I completely agree with one of Dylan’s statements in an interview he gave:

The fact that Audiosurf is a game makes it a better visualizer and the fact that it is a visualizer makes it a better game.

It’s a combination of these two elements that make it an awesome experience.

Let’s face it – you have the perfect soundtrack to the gameplay because the gameplay matches the soundtrack (and you have chosen it yourself to match your taste in music =). It’s an endless circle of positive feedback. :-D
Smithy

Tarkus.
dustin

It’s cool to look at but the more you play the more you realize it is only connected to the music you select in a few arbitrary ways. At that point it just becomes “dodge gray blocks.”
Lim-Dul

I disagree. The more you play the more you realize that the game is very much connected to the music you choose.

Don’t be fooled by the IGF demo or the old beta 1 (beta 2 hasn’t been “cracked” AFAIK). When I played the game during the last beta weekend the blocks and the rhythm aligned perfectly. Just wait till Friday and (hopefully) you’ll see how much the game has been improved.
bumsplikity

Its friday. Its been pre-loaded. Now i just wait. Any hour now i should be surfin to some megadeth.
Smithy

Audiosurf+OCRemix=countless hours of pure win!

Another program I want but cannot currently afford.
I should settle on a name

You can’t afford Â£5?
Smithy

Nope.

I’ve been living in an abandoned building in the woods for the past six months, working as a farmhand to keep myself fed.

Just got back to the city and have been looking for work for the past two months.

I’m trying to spend what little I have sparingly at the moment, to make it last until I have a job.

And there you have it. My life story, posted on TIGsource.