« Supporting Anna's Walk To Fight Breast Cancer | Main | La naissance de << Boogie >> »

The Birth of 'Boogie'

By Pierre Boudreau

Despite the sultry appeal of the sweet summer heat, there was a respectable turnout at the SAT for the final meeting of the Montreal Chapter’s ’06-’07 season. As usual, our own J. Della Rocca got the ball rolling with some chapter business before handing it off to the evening’s presenters, Alfredo Chaves (Producer) and Vander Caballero (Design Director) from Electronic Arts.

Caballero and Chaves have been shaking things up at EA Montreal. Literally. The co-creators of Boogie, the upcoming musical themed Wii title, are definitely moving to the beat of a different drum. The pair walked us through their creative process, from baby steps to all-out dance moves.

Before delving into the technical challenges posed by their project, the dance-loving duo treated us to a short, Sesame Street inspired, animated prologue. Boogie began, so it went, as a quest for the perfect, puppet-driven gameplay experience. From the land of the muppets, their artistic journey took them to a place where fairy tales and shadow puppets meet; however, it soon became clear to Vander and Alfredo that the world wasn’t ready for Wii Theatre.

But Chaves and Caballero refused to let go of the strings and went back to the drawing board. Again, they were faced with the question: how do you endow puppeteering with pop-culture appeal in this Electronic Age? The answer was Boogie.

Taking a page from the books of DDR and Karaoke Revolution, Boogie reaches out to the home exhibitionist. With strong emphasis on choreography and karaoke, the user can vicariously live out their American Idol dream through an animated character of their choice.

Once the concept was locked in, Alfredo and Vander received no end of positive feedback but were now faced with the daunting task of coming up with a workable prototype. Luckily, the team from SSX Blur was just then wrapping up their latest snowboarding title and came over to lend a hand. In the ensuing months, the mechanics began to take shape.

The dance party aspect of the presentation really got going once Vander broke out the remotes and took a more hands-on role. The crowd was quite vocal in its appreciation as Cabellero animated a prototype character to some real-time rhythms. Later, Alfredo lent his vocal talents to demonstrate the game’s karaoke features. Chaves then gave us a brief tutorial on music video production with the in-game editing suite. Players can record and edit their characters’ performance using different camera angles, modes and a number of fun visual features such as the 3D effect.

The audience was pleasantly surprised by this unexpected offering from EA. Judging from their response, Boogie is entertaining for both participant and spectator alike which bodes well its marketing potential. If this title earns the numbers to spawn B2: Boogie’s Revenge, gamers will likely demand a little more such as the ability to download or upload content, which is currently lacking, and a more immersive gameplay environment. But if Caballero and Chaves are looking to break new ground, this is a two-step in the right direction.

Photos...
Vander shows off an early prototype.