Part of what cemented Dance Central as the most authentic and engaging dance experience on Kinect was its commitment to learning, particularly through its innovative practice mode: Break It Down. This feature provided players with the tools they needed to refine their dance steps, achieve higher scores, earn those coveted five gold stars in Perform It mode, and gain a competitive edge when challenging friends.
In the original Dance Central, the development team meticulously crafted Break It Down to be an accessible and enjoyable learning tool, infused with game elements to motivate and excite players. The initial iteration of Break It Down guided dancers through each song move by move, offering verbal cues and encouragement from the beloved talking boombox, Boomy™.
Now, Dance Central 2 takes the Break It Down experience to a whole new level. This enhanced mode introduces customizable practice routines, integrates voice commands for seamless session control, and even offers video recording capabilities for in-depth self-assessment. To delve deeper into these exciting changes, we spoke with Jim Toepel, Designer of Dance Central 2, about the evolution of Break It Down for the game’s highly anticipated October launch.
“Our primary goal was to optimize player practice time, ensuring they could quickly target the moves they needed to improve, maximizing the value and efficiency of their practice sessions,” Toepel explains.
Fine-Tuning Your Dance Repertoire
Toepel: Feedback from players of the original Break It Down revealed a common sentiment: some felt rushed. Players expressed the desire for more control, wanting to revisit and perfect specific moves. Acting on this valuable player feedback and extensive playtesting, our first key improvement was implementing comprehensive navigation tools within Break It Down, empowering players to dictate the pace of their practice.
The intuitive Nav Menu allows you to effortlessly skip ahead to moves you’re confident with. Conversely, if Boomy™ moved on too quickly from a move you found challenging, you can easily navigate back to concentrate on the finer details. We’ve even incorporated intelligent logic that activates when you revisit a previous move: the selected move will loop continuously until you feel you’ve truly mastered it. Once you’re satisfied, simply skip forward to seamlessly rejoin the regular Break It Down song progression.
Crafting Personalized Practice Sessions
Toepel: Our commitment to customization didn’t stop at navigation. We recognized that dedicated players often strive for absolute perfection, wanting to meticulously refine specific moves. For those tricky moves that seem insurmountable, practicing them within the context of an entire song can become repetitive and time-consuming. Take the Kick Drop and Clap for example (and yes, you will want to practice this one!). To streamline targeted practice, we designed a secondary Break It Down style: “Focus on Select Moves.” This powerful feature allows you to hand-pick the exact moves, recaps, or song segments you wish to practice. Say goodbye to practicing moves you’ve already conquered.
Once you select “Ready?”, you’ll practice your chosen moves in their original song order. This direct approach lets you jump straight to that challenging section of a routine and repeat it until you’re completely comfortable and confident in your execution.
Managing these expanded options solely with gestures proved cumbersome during Dance Central 2 playtesting. Players appreciated the features but found interrupting their flow to activate hand gestures disruptive. This challenge paved the way for our exploration of Kinect’s Voice Control capabilities. Voice commands offer a level of control in this mode that gestures simply can’t match. Voice commands provide unparalleled ease of use: simply say “Xbox, Previous” or “Xbox, Skip,” and you’re instantly navigated. (Stay tuned to DanceCentral.com for more details on Voice Commands in Dance Central 2 soon!)
Sharpening Skills for Perform It Mode
Toepel: While Break It Down is invaluable for learning, Perform It mode remains the core Dance Central 2 experience, featuring dynamic party play and competitive leaderboards. We considered how Break It Down could more effectively support your Perform It sessions. Now, when you engage with a song in Perform It, the game intelligently tracks the moves you struggle with. After your performance, opting for Break It Down will present you with a curated list of highlighted moves pinpointing areas for improvement. This smart integration helps you quickly identify and practice the specific moves that will propel you up the leaderboards.
The Endearing Charm of Boomy Continues
Toepel: The talking boombox, Boomy, resonated deeply with players. In the original Dance Central, our choreography team incorporated helpful hints from Boomy that activated when players encountered difficulty. Building upon this successful feature, we recorded even more helpful navigation tips for Boomy in Dance Central 2.
Imagine you’re facing a particularly challenging move. After a few consecutive attempts, Boomy will offer gentle guidance, reminding you how to skip ahead, slow down the tempo, or utilize video recording. The primary design hurdle with voice commands was ensuring players were always aware of the available voice commands at any moment. Boomy’s vocal cues effectively address this, making him an indispensable guide within the Break It Down experience.
Keep your browser locked on DanceCentral.com for upcoming interviews with the development team, uncovering more exciting new features in Dance Central 2! Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter (@Dance_Central) and become a fan on Facebook (facebook.com/dancecentral) for all the latest Dance Central 2 news!
