Music games are loved by players who like to challenge rhythm or physical movements. There are “Cytus“”, “Hatsune Miku-Ming Actor Project -” and other rhythmic types that follow the beat; dance types that need to move the whole body, such as “Hot dance revolution（Dance Dance Revolution，DDR）》、《Dance the whole body(Dance Central)” and “Just Dance”, among which the “Dance Central” series is a dance game that is still fixed for one year. In this theme report, we will focus on the music and dance game “Just Dance”, leading players to review the changes in the work over the past 11 years. At the same time, the GNN editor also interviewed “Just Dance” creative director Matthew Tomkinson to understand R&D concepts and perceptions of the disappearance of somatosensory lenses, etc.-
From the perspective of the entire history of music games, the “Just Dance” series came out only after the somatosensory technology gradually matured. Music games can be traced back to the physical toy “Simon” in 1978, and the earliest historical record of video games is in 1997’s PS original work “Dynamic kid(PaRappa the Rapper)”, then “Rhythm DJ(Beatmania, also known as the fanatic beat)”, “Hot dance revolution》、《Pump It Up》、《Dynamic music》、《Happy Samba“Games such as mushrooms have sprung up. Among them, the 1998 “Hot dance revolution“Bringing innovations to the game environment at that time. The foot-stomping method broke the limitations of traditional controllers or buttons. Coupled with the addition of dance moves by god players, it created the trend of dance games. The next year’s “Happy Samba》With the addition of somatosensory technology, players will follow the beats to shake the traditional Latin music instrument “sand bells” up, middle and down.-
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After the somatosensory technology has matured, Nintendo launched a Wii console that combines somatosensory technology and emphasizes physical interaction in 2006. The first “Just Dance” was born on this console; until now, only “Just Dance” The “Full Open” series still maintains one work every year, continuing the craze of dancing games. And in these 11 years, what changes has the “Just Dance” series experienced?
The first work of Just Dance came out on the Wii platform in 2009. Players need to hold the Wii controller in their right hand and dance to the melody and the characters on the screen. From a current point of view, you may feel that the gaming experience is almost the same, but it is very new to the environment where somatosensory technology only emerged at that time. It is a breakthrough that you can sense by just holding the controller and swinging it without a button. In terms of song selection, it is very different from Japanese music games. Just Dance includes many popular pop songs. The first game has songs by Katy Perry, who is still very active. “Hot n Cold”, in addition to Elvis Presley,SweetieSongs from well-known singers and groups such as Britney Spears and Spice Girls at the time. In the past, most of the tracks in the games of Japanese manufacturers were specially invited to composers to create game tracks. Just Dance directly used the method of buying the copyrights of popular pop songs to create a unique difference in the field of dance games.-
“Just Dance” official channel’s first promotional video
Every year thereafter, “Just Dance” will have a formal work. Up to now, a total of 11 works have been released. During the period from 2010 to 2012, in addition to the original work, other development studios AiLive, Longtail Studios, etc. Tried branch works of different themes to provide dancing experience to players of different ethnic groups. Digression, “Just Dance” is the same game type “Dance the whole body”Came out in 2010. Although the style is completely different, it was also one of the games that caused the craze at the time. However, there will be no sequel to this work since 2015. The latest work is In 2019, as a new technology attempt, “Dancing the whole body VR version。-
From 2010 to 2012, the “Just Dance” series broke out
2010’s “Just Dance Children (Just Dance Kids) “As the name suggests, this game is created for children. It contains many songs that are loved by children, and it is also very suitable for parent-child fun. What’s more special is that the dancer coaches in this game are directly presented in real people. The coaches in the “Just Dance” biography have almost no obvious facial features, while “Just Dance Kids” is just the opposite. Put the complete look of the dancer coach clearly into the game. The second generation was released in 2011.-
In 2010, there was also the “Dancing on Broadway(Dance on Broadway)”, incorporates many Broadway-related elements and provides tracks such as “You Can’t Stop the Beat” of the evergreen musical “Hairspray Star Dream”, allowing players to feel that they have become a Broadway superstar, not just Listen to Broadway songs in the audience. However, because there are only 20 musical songs, many people are a little disappointed in the richness of the content. In addition, the induction is somewhat inaccurate. Although it will not affect the fun of playing, the game has not received high ratings.-
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Singer compilations are of course indispensable. From 2010 to 2011, the development team launched three exclusive singer compilation games, “Michael Jackson Superstar Experience (Michael Jackson The Experience)”, “Black Eyed Peas Superstar Experience (The Black Eyed Peas Experience)”with”ABBA: You Can Dance“They are all well-known singers and orchestras all over the world. Fans can enjoy the songs of their idols in the game and dance with them.-
Among them, “Michael Jackson Superstar Experience” can be said to be Ubisoft’s tribute to the dead ※The project made by the popular lottery king Michael Jackson, the game contains the classic songs of the king “Beat it”, “Dirty Diana”, etc., players You can listen to songs and dance classic dance steps, and even record teaching clips of professional dancers to learn the correct movements step by step. In particular, the game has also designed a “singing mode”, in addition to jumping, you can also sing along! In addition, “Michael Jackson Superstar Experience” also launched a PSP / NDS version, using traditional music rhythm game play.
In November 2011, the “Black Eyed Peas Superstar Experience” and “ABBA: You Can Dance“These two games continue the game mode of “Michael Jackson Superstar Experience” and include “Boom Boom Pow”, “Pump It” and “Dancing Queen”, “Mamma Mia” and other well-known songs.-
Black eyed peas
ABBA
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After 2012
The period from 2010 to 2012 can be said to be the heyday of Just Dance. Various tentative works broke out in these three years until the release of “Just Dance” in October 2012.Just Dance 4After the launch, the game was gradually finalized. The “Just Dance 2014“Changed the naming method of the entire series, from the “algebra” method to the “year” method. It has become a bit like the previous “Dance Empire” kind of music collection, with the singer’s New songs are released every year. From then on, Ubisfot maintained the form of launching one work a year until today’s latest sequel “Just Dance 2021“, and the release of the game has been launched in different versions from various places, gradually becoming a global simultaneous release with the same content.-
It is worth mentioning that in 2014, in response to the rise of smart devices, the team also tried to turn mobile phones into somatosensory controllers and applied such technology to launch “Just Dance Now》, and then let this kind of gameplay be added to the home computer board, no longer can only use the camera or game exclusive controller to play.-
In addition, with the advancement of the Internet and the birth of the subscription model, the “Just Dance “Unlimited” subscription service allows players to play hundreds of tracks from old titles through the streaming content of the subscription service in addition to the 40 songs included in this biography. It is very convenient to jump to physical exhaustion without changing the film!-
Songs are the core experience of Just Dance. Everything in the game starts with “songs.” It is understood that after determining the song, the team will then come up with an artistic concept to correspond to the music and mood, including character design, background and visual effects, while the costume and choreography are the next steps. The team will take care of all the design and production tasks. In the third stage “dance shooting”, the choreographer, costume designer, makeup artist, and hair stylist are also nearby to prepare the dancers for the shooting. After the shooting, there is still a lot of post-production, special visual effects, scoring system, etc. After everything is completed, players can enjoy the final content experience.
However, there are not only differences in songs among the many works of Just Dance. From the improvement of the screen resolution, the change of game operation, the addition of game modes, the simplicity to the gorgeous background effects and other details, each game brings a new experience. The following will be divided into several projects to discuss the comparison:
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Game operation
The earliest Wii version of Just Dance requires a handheld controller to match the screen, and then the game system has evolved to match the Kinect and Playstation Eye video cameras with motion detection. Players no longer need a handheld controller, just follow the coach Just dance together, and the score calculation range extends from the right-hand controller to the player’s whole body. In addition, the video camera has a built-in microphone, so a karaoke function has been added to turn players into singers!
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In 2014, the “Just Dance” development team moved their brains to their phones because of the rise of smart phones, turning everyone’s phones directly into motion controllers. PS4 and Xbox One version players can use “Just Dance Controller App” turns the phone into one of the controllers, or through the app “Just Dance Now》Connect your phone to any PC, Mac, iPad or Apple TV that supports the Internet to play Just Dance. This approach lowers the hardware limitations and thresholds. The easiest way to go out can be reduced to only requiring a mobile phone and iPad to dance with friends at any time, and there is no upper limit on the number of players!-
The development team gave players many different ways to play the game between the handheld controller and the whole body sensor. It’s just that in various gameplays, the whole body sensor is more popular. On the one hand, you don’t need to hold the controller all the time and you are not afraid to throw it out. On the one hand, players who earnestly learn the dance steps of the game can study well, calculate their scores more accurately, and compete with their friends for “dancing” skills.
now,”Just Dance 2021》Entered the latest generation of consoles, somatosensory technology has reached a period of decline. PS5 lens periphery no longer supports somatosensory, and Xbox Series X no longer supports Kinect, and future games will only be controlled by the controller. Many players feel sorry for this and lack a more precise way for everyone to challenge themselves, but the game can still be played through the controller to continue to bring players the joy of dancing in the series.-
Play mode
In addition to the classic mode, each generation of “Just Dance” will have game modes created in response to hardware technology, player needs, age groups, etc. The karaoke function is one of the changes.
“Just Dance Kids” has no independent works after the release of two generations. The team directly added the “Children Mode” to the original works to meet the needs of both adults and children with one game. There will be different tracks between the two modes, but there are also the same songs specially created for children, such as “Footloose”, the choreography and scenes are greatly different; and “Moana“The theme song “How Far I’ll Go” happens to be another situation. The choreography scenes for both the adult and child versions are the same, but the score in the child mode is not so important, reducing the child’s frustration.-
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“Footloose” Regular Edition VS Children’s Edition
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In addition, the game also challenges the “Party Master (Party Master)” that can be randomly assigned dance steps and can also jump to the perfect beat, the “sweat mode” that can enhance fitness effects and calculate calories, and the corresponding network connection mechanism On the world dance floor, players can dance with master dancers from all over the world. In this mode, there will be red and blue confrontation and cooperation to defeat the BOSS.
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Dancing together and defeating the boss!
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Corresponding to the characteristics of the Nintendo Switch console, the team specially created a “dual vibration mode”. In normal mode, NS players only need to hold the controller with their right hand. However, in the dual vibration mode, two controllers are needed, allowing the player to use both hands together for the first time to simulate more actions, such as “Sports’Til I Drop” Players can follow the beat to play billiards, rafting, golf and other sports simulations, or experience becoming a member of a mariachi band. Although the action is simple, it is tiring to finish a song carefully.
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Although it is just a rhythm, it can still be exercised
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In 2019, in order to celebrate the 10th anniversary, the officialJust Dance 2020“Added the All-Star All-Star mode, allowing players to follow the panda mascot through the single-player story mode to review the classic songs that have been loved by players in the past works of Just Dance. The choreography is the same as in the past, and the screen is aimed at the current technological improvement, and the scoring interface is also adapted to the current version, so the whole experience will not feel uncomfortable, and you can easily review the course of the past 10 years. However, the editor believes that this model is not only for retrospective purposes, but can also indirectly display annual fashion trends, and even see the popularity of singers. Of the 10 songs, Katy Perry accounted for three of “Hot N Cold”, “California Gurls” and “Swish Swish” shows that she has been a mother since she started her acting career, and she is still charming! this year,”Just Dance 2021》Fast play mode has been added. Players can create an unlimited playlist according to their preferences and dance directly and easily.-
song
“Just Dance” series includes more than 700 songs, recent new songs, popular songs, classic old songs, etc., so that players of different preferences can enjoy. In the beginning, the game used popular song authorization methods, and when it was launched, it created a difference from (at the time) most of the music games on the market that were self-created songs. After that, the team extended its magic to other areas, such as the aforementioned “Dancing on Broadway“; Animation theme song, like a gathering “Blue elf“Wii of movie songs”Blue elf The Smurfs Dance Party”, “Just Dance: Disney Party（Just Dance: Disney Party)”; game theme song, including “Just Mario” by “Super Mario” or “Just Mario” by Hirokazu TanakaTetris“Themed music, which has been more closely related toLeague of legends》The virtual group K/DA “DRUM GO DUM” cooperated, and even joined the brainwashing divine song “Beep Beep I’m A Sheep” circulated on the Internet in 2017.-
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“Just Dance” appeared in the MV of Katy Perry and Justin Bieber
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And “The Way I Are (Dance With Somebody)” also has a MV in the game, look carefully at the background!
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However, there are two sides of the same thing. After all, it is authorized, so there may be some restrictions or disappointment for fans.
The first is “cannot use the original song”, for exampleSweetieBritney’s “Toxic” or “Baby One More Time” is a cover of “Just Dance”‘s exclusive team “The Hit Crew” and “The Girly Team”.-
Second, because of different music copyrights and marketing strategies, regionally-limited content will be launched. For example, Kali Weixin’s “PON PON PON” is limited to the Japanese version of “Just Dance Wii 2“, Jay Chou’s “Cowboy is busy“Is only included in the Chinese version of “Just Dance: Vitality”, and now even”Just Dance “Unlimited” will have a similar situation. If the creator has very high authorization requirements or the copyright of the work itself is more complicated, it may be difficult to hear these songs in the game, such as Taylor Swift.-
In an interview with the editor of Bahamut GNN, creative director Matthew emphasized: “Just Dance” aims to provide a variety of experiences and music styles, and since the song list is the “core of the game experience”, it is necessary to provide “Dance” every year. It’s difficult to choose a list of songs that are really suitable for “Just Dance”. Usually a new work of “Just Dance” will include 40 new songs, but the number of music works released worldwide in a year far exceeds this number. How did the team decide? With “Just Dance 2021“As an example, the team will ensure that the latest works in the playlist, such as Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande “Rain On Me” and Doja Cat “Say So”, will also keep other types of songs, such as the viral ” “Kulikitaka” is included to achieve a balance of types; in addition, from Latin music to K-POP or electronic music, every style is presented in “Just Dance”. The most important thing is to make players have fun. From this perspective, in fact, every “Just Dance” also indirectly shows the popular trend of songs in Europe, America and the world every year!-
In fact, “Just Dance” still has its own song. At the beginning of “Just Dance 3”, the team will cooperate with different composers and musicians to release original songs, such as “Baby Don’t Stop Now”, “Chiwawa” selected as the annual song of the All-Star All-Star mode, and the latest “Just Dance 2021“There are “Paca Dance” and so on; among them, “Dance All Nite” is worth mentioning, which is the first Ubisoft song with MV in the original series.-
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A remake of “Chiwawa” was made the following year after its launch, and a character “Barbie” similar to Barbie was designed as a coach
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Behind the scenes of “Chiwawa”
Ubisoft composed the song “Dance All Nite” MV (unofficial channel)
“This kind of self-created songs provides us with an unrestricted opportunity to complete the A to Z playlist. It is also another way to deal with “Just Dance” songs.” Matthew also further revealed the song creation process, “First of all, we We need to confirm the type, tone, rhythm, and the message we want to convey behind the song we create, as well as related concepts and character background. Then we work with our own artists and musicians to give life to these ideas. Seeing players discover and We are very happy to enjoy these tracks!”
After analyzing one of the souls of the game, the “song”, the next report will introduce players to more of the essence of the “Just Dance” series, including choreography, background effects, dancer coaching, etc., and creativity The director will have ideas for future development. The next chapter of the “Just Dance” series of 11 years of growth and innovation is scheduled to be published on Sunday.
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