For many years I've been a part of a community of video game players of a specific genre entitled "exergaming". This genre of game is breakthrough in that it does not only fulfill the usual video game enjoyment; it also qualifies as a form of exercise for the whole body. There have been many different forms of exergaming. The most common form is that of a dance simulator that uses a stage with arrows on the floor and a screen to project a pattern for the player to move in. Similar to the game Simon, the object is to match the pattern on the game screen by stepping on the corresponding arrows displayed on the stage. Arrows will generally travel from the bottom of the screen to the top in some specific order to the beat of the music. At the top of that screen are a static set of identical arrows. When the arrow traveling from the bottom of the screen reaches the static arrow at the top, the player must step on the arrow displayed on the stage.
The arrows are created to compliment the music and hopefully to compliment the way the player will move to them. Making these types of patterns was first accessible to home versions of the game, where you could edit existing patterns to create your own. Later on, simulators of these games were made for the computer, and coding the patterns was extremely time consuming because it must be done in a text editor. The positive side of it was that it was used to create patterns to music of the coder's choice, instead of the strict bindings of the home version game. Though at this point in time, the best work was available. The fact that not everyone was able to create a simulator file made the quality of whatever files available fairly high for the most part. As time went on, people created editor programs to visually aid the creation process, similar to the edit mode in the home version of the game. This made coding readily accessible to more people, which in turn created a mass quantity of simulator files. The sheer amount of files available today makes it extremely difficult to find quality.
One of the biggest problems in the creation process is the availability of the low quality work. With the amount of this work available, more people will create work in a similar fashion with no regard to how the work has been created in the past. It is my responsibility in this dissertation to make the reader aware of the days of the beginning, where the work created was of great quality and how this type of work is created and what is to be considered in that process.
This dissertation was created for the purpose of reference for other enthusiasts for the subject matter. Rendering arrows to music has never been analyzed in the way that this article has provided and it can be noted the simple game concept will suddenly turn in-depth. Many elements were impossible to define without creating new terms to encompass them. This dissertation is forever changing to enhance the amount of study found within it and, I would truly hope that serious gameplay artists interested in such a dynamic look into their work are not hesitant to challenge the ideas found here.