Hey all!

Now, sorry in advance for the long post. I've only recently become more active in these forums, and I was blown away by how kind-hearted and generous everyone is. I posted a thread where I was looking for humble indie bundle 1 games, and while I was willing to pay, in less than a day I got those games for free. I figured I should give back something, but I didn't want to just do some ninja giveaway (benefiting only those with quick fingers or internet) or a boring random draw. The idea I finally came up with is a little self-serving, but I hope you'll enjoy the challenge anyway, and this doesn't blow up spectacularly in my face.

The main prize is a $9.99 game of your choice off GOG, but I also have some extra bundle stuff for possible runners up: 2 desura keys from the HIB2, steam keys for Shadowgrounds and Shadowgrounds Survivor and Cortex Command. If you want to opt out of any of the prizes (e.g. if you don't have a desura or steam account), please say so. I'll keep this competition going for 2 weeks, but I have no problem extending (or retracting) the deadline, based on interest.

Okay, so how would you win any of these prizes, you ask?
Well, you know steampunk, right? It's a sort of sci-fi style involving technologically advanced stuff like robots and planes and stuff, but built out of brass and copper and using steam as a power source, set in a vaguely 19th century time period.
Well, I'm making a game set in a STRINGpunk universe (totally made the word up, yes :P). My game will feature an eastern medieval setting (point & click adventure game, set in a medieval Persiany/Turkic kingdom) where technology and devices are powered by music/sound, as defined by strings, drumbeats, wind stuff, and using materials like stone, wood, some metals and alloys, etc.

My challenge to you is to come up with devices or technology ideas that utilise stringpunk. For example, one idea is a lockbox or safe or door that has a harp "keyboard" attached, that will only open when the correct sequence of strings are struck, creating a specific resonating frequency that opens the lock. Another idea is a "program disk" or data storage device in the form of a music box that can be inserted into robots or something, and wound up to make them follow the program. Thermoacoustic refrigeration, subway trains powered by the force of drumbeats, and so on...think of the usual "technology" things: transport, security, military stuff, communication, etc., but done in stringpunk technology. I hope you get the idea!

So tell me your ideas here or in PM. You don't have to go down to the deepest level of explanations, but there should be some sense in how it works, and it should be believable as something that could possibly exist (so simply saying something like "a guitar gun" wouldn't work). Drawings or diagrams aren't necessary, but if you think they'll help in conveying your idea, go ahead. The ideas I find the coolest and most interesting will get the prizes I mentioned, and any ideas I end up using in my game will be credited to you.

A small note:
I have no intention of selling my game (and at this point not even sure if it will ever be completed), but who knows what could happen in the future- I might get into financial problems later, or want to make a deluxe version, or kickstart a sequel or whatever. If any such situation arises, it is unlikely I'd be able to pay you for your ideas (beyond these prizes and credit given and maybe a free copy of the game). If that bothers you, maybe you don't want to enter.

tldr:
Give me an idea of stringpunk technology or devices
You might win a $9.99 GOG game (or other prizes)
You have until the 14th of December 2013

Ah, sound, ie: vibrations/motion. Does "badly played music" still generate energy for these devices? LOL

Anything that can ultilze an energy source (be it heat,electricity,motion,etc.) could be used as a device.
There are thousands of devices you could use: From vehicles to everyday neccesity devices like cooking/heating/etc.

Now if you are looking for devices that are not all ready invented or thought of before, you probably won't get many of those as replys.
Invention is out of neccesity.


Here goes some of my ideas for your "game":
1. A game within a game: a "simon" where it only uses sounds to play.
2. A mechanical horse, build of material of your game's time frame, that only works off of whistling. (even random passer bys can start the horse for funny/scripted events)
3. Clothes that can become dry by rhythmic tones.
4. A coil that expands/contracts based on high/low pitch. (can be used mechanically for something)
4b. or uncoils/recoils based on high/low pitch (like turning a coil into a spear/staff for a consealed weapon).
5. sounds that affect plants... not really a device, but it could be used as a spell of sorts.. or?
6. devices that heat up or cool down based on tempo? faster = hotter, slower = colder
7. sounds that affect health, balance, vision, etc.. maybe even cause death!


now for some anti-sound stuff.
1. Noise-cancelling (either by material, or an OPPOSITE sound to cancel a specific one out, like a mage duel)
2. Noise-amplification (to explode a specific device .. if that device isn't build to withstand it... or to drown out other noises, negating some devices effects)
3. Noise-redirection (you get the idea, you can specify a location/target... or deflect some sound, etc.)

So the devices can run/change based on these:
Pitch
Tone
Rhythm
Tempo
Amplitude
etc.
^that is good starting point.. and I think I covered most musical notations there, not sure.

A few more ideas:
certain material/objects break to certain sounds/music.
Sounds/music can generate waves of water ;D yay for ship battles!
Druming can wind up stored energy, or keep a machine doing same action over and over.

Not to mention all the girls you can pick up cause your in a "band"! a la witcher :D :D

And another deadly music: ages someone, so evil!
Also use music to sway peoples emotions, can be used in many scripted scenes.

How about special headphones that only alow non-music sound to reach the wearer's ears. (to prevent ill effects/spells/etc.)
Device that stores music/sounds, that can be released with press of button, incase someone isn't good at making the requried sound/music/fx.

In this world, there will be deaf people, that can only learn through "feeling" the vibrations of sounds..
you can use a gameplay mechanic here, maybe they are immune to all 'mental' effects cause by music/sounds.. or if you want spells, it prevents curses/hexes/etc.

I still like the idea that anyone can use a device if they know the proper music/sound, however, some devices will be programable like you stated about your lock idea.
Probably with that is, if someone over hears you playing your music, they can replicate it...
so my previous idea for a device that stores sounds/music, you can make MUSIC/sound keys... that fit into said devices... that need to be charged up (better to charge them when noone is listening).

Special clubs/guilds/clans that have their own special music... like the dark brotherhood guild from the elder scrolls games :D

Crystals that glow from vibratoins,... you can strike them on something, like a tuning fork.. can be used for exploration/puzzles
and those crystals can also be activated by music too, which glow different color based on the genre!
Heavymetal is blackish red! ROCK ON.

edit: as opposite of deaf people, their can be genious/sevants that can memorize any music they hear once.
They could use this natural ability to gain power/influence, and could be antagonists/enemy/problem.
As they say, a one-eyed man is kind in land of the blind.

Not in mate, and a nice idea for a GA, but I fear the broad idea of "stringpunk" has already been covered in much of "steampunk" which (in turn) was already done to death by cyberpunk over the years. SO... that should at least provide you with a process of elimination for originality! :)


Edit: and I sound like a twat rereading that. Ah well, hopefully the point i intended may come across, and not the one i now percieve!

Ok, try a wooden shield with a drum design, the surface being the batter head, the back being the resonant head, etc... so when someone strikes the shield the sound produced could be used to produce various effects like knockback, spell interruption, or other applicable effects. Druield of Silence! (wouldn't that be weird!?)

How about a wooden staff with fluting holes and based on where you place your hands, a different note or tune could be played while fighting/swinging the staff, generating different effects. Stafflute +3 of Vampirism!

Bracers made from ceramics, shells or animal scales that give off notes when struck, such as when actively defending youself in unarmed combat. If you get a specific set of notes you get defensive bonuses or possible healing or bonus to your saves. Brashells of Blessing!

Hope you like some of my ideas. +1 for your unique GA and I'm in for any but the Desura stuff!

You casually dismiss "guitar gun" but sonic weaponry should be a big part of stringpunk, just as much as steampunk games have their tesla muskets and all that.

Not in, but thanks.

This may sound grim, but really all I could think of was a sort of an torture device:
A person is tied up, sort of like Jesus on the cross, and these strings are tied to the person, extending their tendons by a multiple. The strings also act as piano wires, which in turn are connected to a keyboard. Now, if the torturer were in the mood to play, say, a dramatic symphony, the victim would "dance" to the sounds of the piano, adding a pretty dark visual effect to go with the music.

edit: oh, and I'm in for the 9.99 GOG only please.

Some very interesting ideas so far! I had underestimated the creative output of this sort of activity.
Also, to clarify, (although nobody's gotten out of the bounds of the limits I set so far, but I just wanted to ward off any potential mix-up) I'm specifically looking for technologies and devices to fill out the world and make it interesting (and for the main character to interact with), not story-points.

I suppose I should have included the setting and such in the original post as well (maybe I'll edit it in), but it is a point & click adventure game, set in medieval Persiany/Turkic kingdom.

And nothing wrong with suggesting a guitar gun as an idea, what I meant was that simply saying "guitar gun" without any basic explanation or mind for the setting wouldn't work.

PS: No worries, Sachys, no twatty intent perceived, but I'd have thought that cyberpunk (bleak dystopian future, individual rebellion, etc.) and steampunk (hopeful "nostalgia" re-imagining) would be quite different in attitude..to be fair, though, I used the term "stringpunk" mostly in terms of just aesthetic and setting.

A resonant canon: sound at a constant frequency is directed through a horn into a precisely constructed resonant cavity until it builds up to the critical threshold, at which point a shutter opens to release the devastating amplified wave through an output horn to slam into the target.

:-D

hmmmm this is interesting. weapons seem to be taken care of by the majority of post above so ill try going with something different.

Idea 1 a chamber that resonates with a frequency that encourages cell growth and duplication. possibly used as a healing chamber.

idea 2 A sound amplifier and director that uses the sound from strings to create a directed wave that pushes things back. (this may even be used as some kind of defensive shield or nonlethal weapon) The waves would most likely naturally weaken the farther from the source you got so this may even work as an armor that can redirect bullets or other sound waves.

idea 3 a darker possibility is using a certain sound wave to possibly control other people by interfering with the electrical activity in there brain.

idea 4 A sonar device that changes what it can detect by the strings that are played.

idea 5 instead of a computer keyboard such things are controlled through a string instrument. Maybe even make instrument computers that can be carried around and used.

idea 6 This is going a little farther out there but using a frequency generator that can push back light waves darkening an area. this may even be made into a suit that redirects light rays to create invisibility.

Im all out of ideas for now but if I think of any then ill post them here.

Hope the game making goes well

Im in for the giveaway as well

soooooo the setting is basically Ar Tonelico

(except AT's kinda post apocalyptic fantasy instead of middle eastern)

>_>

edit: and I don't mean that to be critical, i just don't have time to comment right now.

Two ideas that might be interesting.

Drum Towers for communication, the drum beats spell out message that are heard at the next drum tower that repeats it to the next and so on. Over hear the messages could tell the player something if they have found a decoding sheet. This would be similar to a puzzle in Gabriel Knight 1, or you could have the player interrupt the drums to prevent an alarm reaching a location that might allow the play accesses. Finding the right tower to wreck might be the key to that puzzle. Drum towers I think have been used in real life as a communication system, also drum towers are in the Pern series of fantasy books.

Can on a String to a whole new level, I'm thinking that an entire cities phone system be nothing more than thousands of tin cans attached by strings. You would have switch boards with operators that would be attaching the strings together to put calls through, I see the system looking like old time phones with bell shaped ear and mouth pieces, and the strings for the system being bundle together like sets of string on a guitar with bridges holding the strings apart. I very complex looking system, but maybe done with the craftmenship of an instrument . The Player could make a small string and cup system for listening on calls, and tie string to cause calls to get crossed, maybe have people say things to one person when they think they are talking to another, causing an event that unlocks more of the game to the player.

No worries, I don't mind critique. I haven't been into JRPGs since the SNES era, but reading up on the description, it seems Ar Tonelico doesn't really make much use of music and sound beyond battles. My game will have it lot more involved.
A comparison (that made me very happy :D) that someone made for my game was "Loom crossed with Prince of Persia".

Keep the ideas coming, everyone!

I propose a sound based cell.

No bars to saw through, no key hole to use a bar of soap to make a key from, just some sort of material on the ground to show where the cell boundaries are. Using the same principles of singing at a certain note to make glass vibrate, there can be a specific "key" instrument that is linked to the cell that you have to play to turn the cell on or off. When you play the instrument, possibly a specific note, it causes the material on the ground to start vibrating causing a "sound barrier" that can act as either a wall and be physically impassible, or an electric fence, which will cause pain when you touch it.