Thumper

Thumper is a rhythm violence game that combines classic rhythm action with speed and physicality. As a “space beetle”, players careen down a twisting highway accompanied by thunderous drums and dark synthesizer blasts. With simple controls, the beetle avoids obstacles and overcomes deranged psychedelic beasts. Although beat-matching is a familiar mechanism, the tight integration of gameplay, visuals, and audio creates a new sensation of “rhythm violence” where every interaction conveys breakneck speed and brutal physicality.
Thumper subverts the traditional relationship between diegetic and nondiegetic game audio and, inspired by generative, algorithmic composition techniques, creates a soundtrack that can be described as “the musique concréte of an alien world”.

In Thumper, we are steel beetles speeding down a twisting highway. A man wakes up to learn that he has been transformed into an insect. The game’s speed forces us to leave behind the introspective angst we hold against the unjust society, as described by Franz KAFKA and HINO Hideshi. The sensation of plunging into infinite psychedelia links to the animation film Heavy Metal (1981), its steel-clad spirit for freedom embodied within the insect’s burnished texture. As a “rhythm violence game”, Thumper coerces us to synchronize with the beat-maker’s groove, evoking a realistic feel different from other standard music games where the player is asked to hit a given target. In this world, synchronization is a rite of passage where the player is rewarded with extravagant effects. When perception is repeatedly distorted, we arrive at a floating head: The incarnation of the angst we had left far behind. (IIDA Kazutoshi)