http://www.nesforums.com/showthread.php?t=2900
first off, while I had this idea for a while, the creator of that thread seems to be very interested in getting this made. As you can read in the thread, my idea involves synching the on screen notes with an audio cassette via the "turn the page" sound audio books use and then proceeding normally. Graphics could be very simple with just basic notes scrolling downward or even scaling towards you (though that would be more difficult, 3D world runner esque) with perhaps mario & friends "playing" the music in the background (unless it does have enough interest to produce, in which case uncopyrighted characters would need to be used). While I have plenty of ideas that should be feasible, I don't have any NES programming experience. So, if any programmers want an 8-bit guitar hero as bad as I do, please consider getting on board this project.
edit: so I've done some more thinking on this and while I don't know NES code, if NES code works anything like any other programming language I've ever used, you should be able to take excerpts of code from other games and it work, right?
So here's one idea: Excitebike
take the basic 4 lane excite bike and always have it scroll at "A" button speed and instead of obstacles it will be notes in 1 or more lanes. Also, instead of scrolling between lanes by pushing up and down, it would be automatic by pushing the corresponding A, B, Select, or Start. Since excitebike only uses about 1/2 of the screen for actual gameplay, some "rock n roll" graphics could be implemented on the top half of the screen, or even some simple black background with stars or something since space themes are always fitting in an NES game.
Another idea: 3D world runner
in this scenario, the vertical "columns" would be the notes and by pushing the corresponding key you would select/hit the column, except without the backwards bump in the real game. This one I think would be more difficult and require more changes than excite bike, but would offer a more authentic port and also might mean the 3D blue and red feature could be preserved (which would make it better than the real guitar hero in my book).
Both ideas would work similar to the PS2 guitar hero with A,B,Select,Start being the 4 frets and strumming would be accomplished by pushing up or down on the d-pad. You could simply hold the regular NES controller backwards and it would do a decent job of acting as a guitar, albeit a small one.
As for the music synchronization, I think the best method would for a musician, or better yet a music teacher, map out the songs in terms of note groupings (I guess that would be the best way) and in terms of time so that it could simply be translated into on screen notes and timing.
I really see this being a fairly simple program and the hardest part would likely be just mapping out the songs properly and getting the graphics all worked out (especially with the 3D world runner model).
first off, while I had this idea for a while, the creator of that thread seems to be very interested in getting this made. As you can read in the thread, my idea involves synching the on screen notes with an audio cassette via the "turn the page" sound audio books use and then proceeding normally. Graphics could be very simple with just basic notes scrolling downward or even scaling towards you (though that would be more difficult, 3D world runner esque) with perhaps mario & friends "playing" the music in the background (unless it does have enough interest to produce, in which case uncopyrighted characters would need to be used). While I have plenty of ideas that should be feasible, I don't have any NES programming experience. So, if any programmers want an 8-bit guitar hero as bad as I do, please consider getting on board this project.
edit: so I've done some more thinking on this and while I don't know NES code, if NES code works anything like any other programming language I've ever used, you should be able to take excerpts of code from other games and it work, right?
So here's one idea: Excitebike
take the basic 4 lane excite bike and always have it scroll at "A" button speed and instead of obstacles it will be notes in 1 or more lanes. Also, instead of scrolling between lanes by pushing up and down, it would be automatic by pushing the corresponding A, B, Select, or Start. Since excitebike only uses about 1/2 of the screen for actual gameplay, some "rock n roll" graphics could be implemented on the top half of the screen, or even some simple black background with stars or something since space themes are always fitting in an NES game.
Another idea: 3D world runner
in this scenario, the vertical "columns" would be the notes and by pushing the corresponding key you would select/hit the column, except without the backwards bump in the real game. This one I think would be more difficult and require more changes than excite bike, but would offer a more authentic port and also might mean the 3D blue and red feature could be preserved (which would make it better than the real guitar hero in my book).
Both ideas would work similar to the PS2 guitar hero with A,B,Select,Start being the 4 frets and strumming would be accomplished by pushing up or down on the d-pad. You could simply hold the regular NES controller backwards and it would do a decent job of acting as a guitar, albeit a small one.
As for the music synchronization, I think the best method would for a musician, or better yet a music teacher, map out the songs in terms of note groupings (I guess that would be the best way) and in terms of time so that it could simply be translated into on screen notes and timing.
I really see this being a fairly simple program and the hardest part would likely be just mapping out the songs properly and getting the graphics all worked out (especially with the 3D world runner model).