Music Game · 2020
Fuser
A festival-themed DJ game where players mix licensed song stems live on large virtual stages.
Fuser let players mix licensed music stems in real time on stages inspired by EDM festivals. It grew out of ideas first tested in DropMix and took players from basic mixing tools to full DJ sets. It earned two PlayStation Game of the Year nominations, for Soundtrack and Sound Design, and a PC Gamer Game of the Year nomination.
Festival Vision
I pitched the festival concept early in development, drawing on large EDM events like Tomorrowland. Lookbooks, style guides and theme decks got it approved. The festival frame set the scale of the stages, the DJ characters and venues, the tone of progression and the language of the UI.
Built to Scale
Stages, lighting, visuals and music tools were modular, so they grew with player skill and stayed consistent across every combination a player could make.
What I Learned
Most players skipped character setup. Next time, I'd get players to the music first.
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