Dance Praise

Last updated

Dance Praise
Dance Praise Logo.svg
Genre(s) Dance video game
Developer(s) Digital Praise
Publisher(s) Digital Praise
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Mac OS X
iOS
First releaseDance Praise
September 29, 2005
Latest releaseDance Praise (iOS)
June 22, 2009
Spin-offs VeggieTales Dance Dance Dance
Guitar Praise

Dance Praise is a series of dance video games developed by Christian video game developer Digital Praise, with a particular emphasis on Contemporary Christian music. The series began on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X computers, and later expanded to iOS devices. The series' first title, Dance Praise, was released on September 29, 2005 and gained popularity in the Christian gaming industry.

Contents

There have been four Dance Praise games for personal computers, and one final game released for iOS devices. The second game in the series, VeggieTales Dance Dance Dance, was a spin-off created in conjunction with Big Idea Entertainment for use of the VeggieTales characters and music.

Development

Peter Fokos, CTO of Digital Praise, started the Dance Praise series after his daughter asked him to create a dance game with Christian music for her homeschool exercise program. This series was created to allow children to enjoy dance games with music "fit for young ears". [1]

Gameplay

Gameplay is virtually identical to the Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) series, with one key difference: DDR has the target arrows on the top portion of the screen, while Dance Praise places the targets on the bottom of the screen. This is essentially a forced Reverse modifier. When the arrows approach a target zone on the bottom of the screen, the player must step on the corresponding arrow on the dance pad when arrows reach the target zone. Players are judged on their accuracy and timing. The game also features multiplayer modes, such as "Shadow Dance" mode, where players "record" steps to be played by the other player. [2] The "arcade" mode adds additional hazards and multipliers to gameplay, similar to Dance Magic in Dance Dance Revolution Disney Mix and Battle in Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova . [2]

Lyrics to the songs being played are also shown on-screen, a feature also available in Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix and several Dancing Stage titles. The game also features an exercise mode, also offered in Dance Dance Revolution and Dancing Stage. [1] [2]

Games

Dance Praise

Gameplay in Dance Praise, playing Spinnin' Around by Jump5 Dance-praise-screenshot.png
Gameplay in Dance Praise, playing Spinnin' Around by Jump5

Dance Praise (marketed as Dance Praise: The Original after the release of its sequel) is a Christian dance video game released on September 29, 2005. [1] It contains 52 songs. The song list can be expanded using expansion packs, and songs from Dance Praise 2 are also backward compatible with Dance Praise.

VeggieTales Dance Dance Dance

Partnering with Big Idea Entertainment, Digital Praise announced VeggieTales Dance Dance Dance on July 13, 2006. It was released in time for the Christmas and holiday season of that year. The game is a modified version of Dance Praise featuring VeggieTales characters and music. A VeggieTales-themed dance pad was included, and a Deluxe variant of the pad was later released. [3]

Dance Praise Party

Catering to large groups at schools and youth groups, Digital Praised released Dance Praise Party on May 23, 2007. The company claims that it is "the first large-group dance arcade system that allows up to ten players to dance simultaneously." The game also included the first version of Dance Praise, the first four expansion packs compatible with both games, ten dance pads with a 1-inch foam insert in each, plus USB hubs and extension cables for the pads. The game was sold at the suggested retail price of US$2495, although Digital Praise offered different quotes for different setups such as for smaller groups. Although Party is based on the very first Dance Praise video game, it features several modifications to provide gameplay for up to ten players. For example, there are no on-screen dancers, and the album art cannot be used as the background picture while dancing. [4]

Competitors have subsequently been launched: Pump It Up Fitness , which allows up to 32 simultaneous players, [5] and Dance Dance Revolution Classroom Edition, which allows up to 48 simultaneous players. [6] These new additions use wireless pads.

Dance Praise 2: The Remix

The DanceTris mini-game is included and played using feet. DanceTris.png
The DanceTris mini-game is included and played using feet.

Dance Praise 2: The Remix is the sequel to Dance Praise. The planned release date was September 25, 2007, [7] but the company postponed it to October 31, 2007. The game includes 52 new songs from 48 different artists, a wider variety than the original game offered. New features not available in the previous game include support for three or four players, animated backgrounds, dancing characters, minigames and a new interface. Its system requirements are also much higher than its prequel. It is the only Digital Praise game to use the Torque engine.

In addition to dancing, Dance Praise 2 supports single-player minigames. The game DanceTris, based on Tetris and controlled using the dance pad, is included. Additional games sold separately include Simon Says and "Rock n' Block", which are bundled with the "Contemporary Hits" and "Top Hits" expansion packs, respectively. Similar minigames can be found in Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix . Music included with or added to the game plays in the background during minigames.

This game supports Dance Praise dance pads without any configuration required, and third-party dance pads can used with the game by installing a separate patch. Songs from expansion packs and the original Dance Praise are also compatible, but sold separately. [8] Two free songs can be added with an add-on.

Dance Praise (iOS)

Screen shot from Dance Praise for iOS Dance Praise iPhone screenshot.png
Screen shot from Dance Praise for iOS

The final game in the series is Dance Praise for iOS devices, released on June 29, 2009. Its interface looks similar to that of Dance Praise 2, but is adapted to the iPhone and iPod Touch's smaller screen. The game was developed to capitalize on the success of the Tap Tap secular game series. [9] It is designed for the HVGA resolution found in older iOS devices. It is not optimized for higher screen resolutions such as those found on the iPad or iPhone 4.

A total of 15 songs were included in this game, with no ability to add new music. Eight of the songs come from Dance Praise 2: The ReMix, four are from the Top Hits expansion pack, two can be found on the Contemporary Hits expansion pack, and one can be found in the first Dance Praise game. The game is no longer available for download.

Expansion packs

Officially, a total of seven expansion packs and one downloadable add-on have been released for the Dance Praise series: [10] [11]

Minigames can be added to Dance Praise 2 via some expansion packs. Contemporary Hits includes Simon says , while Top Hits includes Rock 'n' Block. The latter game works similarly to the Asteroids arcade title, but is controlled with the dance pad. [12]

All these expansion packs are compatible with the original Dance Praise, the Dance Praise 2 sequel, or both computer games installed on a single machine. The expansion packs were sold in retail and each included 35 new songs. A free downloadable add-on was also released; it came with two songs from Altared Life and was released on January 14, 2007. [13]

Reception

In an interview with The 700 Club , Fokos commented that the game has been popular with church groups, especially due to its exercise modes and content. [1] JustAdventure+'s Karla Munger gave the game an A, enjoying the gameplay and wide soundtrack, and recommending it for families. [2] Plain Games' Dave Herbert gave Dance Praise a 4.5/5, noting the quality of the game's dance pad peripheral, its diverse soundtrack, and unique gameplay elements even amidst a quality of presentation lower than the Dance Dance Revolution series, and other noted differences between the two games. [14]

Related Research Articles

Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), also known as Dancing Stage in earlier European games, is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution is the pioneering series of the rhythm and dance genre in video games. Players stand on a "dance platform" or stage and hit colored arrows laid out in a cross with their feet to musical and visual cues. Players are judged by how well they time their dance to the patterns presented to them and are allowed to choose more music to play to if they receive a passing score.

Bemani is Konami's music video game division. Originally named the Games & Music Division (G.M.D.), it changed its name in honor of its first and most successful game, Beatmania, and expanded into other music-based games, most notably rhythm games such as Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Freaks, and Drum Mania.

Karaoke Revolution and its many sequels are video games for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, GameCube, Wii, Xbox, and Xbox 360, developed by Harmonix and Blitz Games and published by Konami in its Bemani line of music games. The Original Concept for Karaoke Revolution was created by Scott Hawkins and Sneaky Rabbit Studios. Technology and concepts from the game were subsequently incorporated into Harmonix's game Rock Band.

<i>Popn Music</i>

Pop'n Music, commonly abbreviated as Pop'n, PM or PNM and stylized as pop'n music, is a music video game series in the Bemani series made by Konami. The games are known for their bright colors, upbeat songs, and cute cartoon character graphics. Originally released in 1998, the series has had over fifteen home releases in Japan as well as many arcade versions.

<i>In the Groove</i> (video game)

In the Groove is a rhythm game developed & published by Roxor Games, and is the first game in the In the Groove series. The game was shown in an official beta-testing preview on July 9, 2004, and was officially released in arcades around August 30, 2004. A PlayStation 2 port of In the Groove was released on June 17, 2005 by RedOctane.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution</i> (1998 video game)

Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), is a music video game, developed by Konami, released in arcades on September 26, 1998 in Japan. Dance Dance Revolution is a unique game involving dance and rhythm that defined the genre. It involves timing and balance by having players use their feet instead of their hands like typical video games. In March 1999, the game was released for North American arcades, and for European arcades under the name Dancing Stage. Players and game critics were caught off-guard by the game's addictive qualities winning the new franchise many merits to its design.

This is a comparison of dancing video game series in which players must step on panels on a dance pad in time with music. Step placement and timing is indicated by rising arrows overlapping fixed targets.

<i>Boom Boom Rocket</i>

Boom Boom Rocket (BBR) is a downloadable video game for Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade service. Boom Boom Rocket is the first rhythm game for Xbox Live Arcade and was developed by Geometry Wars creators Bizarre Creations and published by the Pogo division of Electronic Arts. The game was made backwards compatible on Xbox One on July 26, 2016.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution Extreme</i> 2002 video game

Dance Dance Revolution Extreme is a music video game by Konami and is the eighth release in the main Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) series. It was released on December 25, 2002 for Japanese arcades, on October 9, 2003 for the Japanese PlayStation 2, and on September 21, 2004 for the North American PlayStation 2. This game is the ninth release in North America, but despite having the same name as its Japanese counterpart, its gameplay and soundtrack is significantly different and won the Video Music Awards in 2005 on MTV for Best Video Game Soundtrack.

<i>Rock Revolution</i>

Rock Revolution is a music video game developed by Zoë Mode and HB Studios and published by Konami. The game was released on 15 October 2008 for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. As with similar titles, the game uses various controllers to simulate the performance of rock music, primarily using guitar and drum controllers on its Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2</i>

Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2, later released as Dance Dance Revolution Furu Furu Party in Japan, was announced by Konami on May 15, 2008 as part of the 10th anniversary of Dance Dance Revolution celebration. Hottest Party 2 features the same gameplay as the first Hottest Party and introduces new gameplay modes, gimmicks, characters and graphical enhancements. The game also features an all-new soundtrack featuring licensed music from the past four decades as well as new Konami Originals. Hottest Party 2 was released on September 16, 2008 in North America. A teaser site for the Japanese release was launched on December 9, 2008 featuring new gameplay footage from the game.

<i>Rock Band</i> Series of music video games

Rock Band is a series of rhythm games developed by Harmonix, principally for home video game consoles. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero series, the main Rock Band games has players use game controllers modeled after musical instruments and microphones to perform the lead guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, drums and vocal parts of numerous licensed songs across a wide range of genres though mostly focusing on rock music by matching scrolling musical notes patterns shown on screen. Certain games support the use of "Pro" instruments that require special controllers that more closely mimic the playing of real instruments, providing a higher challenge to players. Players are scored for successfully-hit notes, while may fail a song if they miss too many notes. The series has featured numerous game modes, and supports both local and online multiplayer modes where up to four players in most modes can perform together.

<i>Guitar Praise</i> 2008 Christian music video game

Guitar Praise is a Christian rhythm video game for PC. Published by Digital Praise, it uses contemporary Christian music with gameplay akin to that of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games, although it is only compatible with its own wired and cordless USB guitar controllers. A second guitar can be connected for two-player mode. The games can be played on a computer running Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X. While the game does not contain a mode for vocals, it does display the song's lyrics on-screen during the song. It also supports online leaderboards but the website is currently down.

<i>Tap Tap Revenge</i> 2008 video game

Tap Tap Revenge, also known as Tap Tap Revenge Classic was a music game created by Nate True, and developed and published by Tapulous for iOS in July 2008. It is the first game in Tapulous' Tap Tap series. Development for the game began prior to the release of the iPhone SDK, and was originally entitled Tap Tap Revolution. The goal of the game is to tap each of the colored balls when they reach a line at the bottom of the screen. If the ball is hit on the beat, the player gains points, but if not, it counts as a miss. There are also "shakes", which require the player to move the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad to the right, left, or middle.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution</i> (2010 video game)

Dance Dance Revolution, released in Europe as Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 4 for the Wii version and Dance Dance Revolution New Moves for other versions, is a music video game in the Dance Dance Revolution series, with this entry developed by Konami's American division. Unveiled at E3 2010, it was released for the Wii and PlayStation 3 in North America on November 16, 2010. A port of this version for the Xbox 360 was also released on April 12, 2011. It is also the only game in the series to be released for the PlayStation 3, as well as the final game in the series to be released for the Xbox 360.

<i>Just Dance</i> (video game) 2009 video game

Just Dance is a rhythm game developed by Ubisoft Milan and Ubisoft Paris and published by Ubisoft as the first main installment of the series. The game was released exclusively for Wii on 17 November 2009 in North America, 26 November 2009 in Australia, and 27 November 2009 in Europe.

Reflec Beat is a series of music video games by Konami which debuted in 2010. Reflec Beat uses a touch screen as its main method of control - the first in the Bemani series to do so - and has gameplay based on 2-player competition, which has been compared to air hockey.

<i>Dance Dance Revolution Freedom</i> Video game for iOS

Dance Dance Revolution Freedom was a rhythm game by Konami originally made available for the iOS, as part of the company's Dance Dance Revolution series of music video games. The game was made available via Apple's App Store only in North America on February 11, 2011. The game is the second one in its series to be made available for the platform. It has since been pulled from the App Store for reasons unknown, but one factor may have been the poor syncing in the song's charts and the notoriety of the song's charts being poorly made that lead to it being withdrawn a month after release. Naoki Maeda stated he was unaware of its existence until after it was released, indicating it was released without guidance from Konami Japan.

American Girl is a series of video games developed by various studios and distributed by American Girl.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 The 700 Club. "Jump Into the Latest Craze: 'Dance Praise'". The Christian Broadcasting Network. Retrieved June 25, 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Munger, Karla (January 25, 2006). "Dance Praise Review". JustAdventure.com. Archived from the original on August 15, 2009. Retrieved July 6, 2009.
  3. ↑ "VeggieTales". Digital Praise. Archived from the original on November 19, 2008. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Dance Praise Party". Digital Praise. Archived from the original on November 19, 2008. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Andamiro". Archived from the original on April 22, 2012. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Konami". Dance Dance Revolution: Classroom Edition. Konami. Retrieved May 28, 2014.[ permanent dead link ]
  7. ↑ Dance Praise 2: The ReMix - Press Release
  8. ↑ Expansion Packs - DancePraise.com [ permanent dead link ]
  9. ↑ "Dance Praise for iOS". Digital Praise. Retrieved March 21, 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  10. ↑ "Hit Parade Gets Even Longer: Introducing Digital Praise's Dance Praise Expansion Pack Volume 1: Modern Worship". S&S Public Relations. June 20, 2006. Archived from the original on January 6, 2009. Retrieved August 22, 2008.
  11. ↑ "Dance Praise (page 2)". Your Music Zone. Archived from the original on May 16, 2008. Retrieved August 25, 2008.
  12. ↑ "Top Hits Press Release". Digital Praise. Archived from the original on July 10, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2008.
  13. ↑ "Free Add-On". Digital Praise. January 14, 2007. Archived from the original on November 30, 2007. Retrieved August 25, 2008.
  14. ↑ Herbert, Dave (December 7, 2006). "Dance Praise review". Plain Games. Archived from the original on February 28, 2010. Retrieved July 6, 2009.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.