UltraStar

Last updated
UltraStar
Ultrastar 082 pre-alpha 01.jpg
Developer(s) Loud Arts
Publisher(s) Loud Arts
Designer(s) Patryk "Corvus5" Cebula
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS X (Intel-based only)
ReleaseJune 2023
Genre(s) Music game
Mode(s) Singleplayer Multiplayer
UltraStar
URL ultrastaronline.com

UltraStar is a clone of SingStar , a music video game by Polish developer Patryk "Covus5" Cebula. UltraStar lets one or several players score points by singing along to a song or music video and match the pitch of the original song. UltraStar displays lyrics as well as the correct notes similar to a piano roll. On top of the correct notes UltraStar displays the pitch recorded from the players. UltraStar allows several people to play simultaneously by connecting several microphones possibly to several sound cards. To add a song to UltraStar, a file with notes and lyrics is required, together with an audio file. Optionally a cover image, a backdrop image and a video may be added to each song. UltraStar comes preloaded with a short sample from Nine Inch Nails hit "Discipline" from The Slip album.

Contents

License

UltraStar is released under Freeware License. Very old versions were available under GNU General Public License and most game forks were initially based on the old code.[ citation needed ]

Shop

New version of the game introduces Song Shop, where users after free registration can download free songs and buy points. Free songs include:

L.p.ArtistTitleLanguageAll countriesAdd date
1 Nine Inch Nails "Discipline"EnglishYes24.02.2010
2Dead Smiling Pirates"I 18"EnglishYes24.02.2010
3Antarhes"Different Way"EnglishYes24.02.2010
4 Viola "Cute Destroyer"EnglishYes24.02.2010
5Magdalen Graal"Behind You"EnglishYes24.02.2010
6 Hungry Lucy "Just Imagine" EnglishYes11.05.2012
7 Hungry Lucy "Balloon Girl" EnglishYes11.05.2012
8 Devyn Rose, formerly known as Tanya T6"Fly Away"EnglishYes11.05.2012
9Josh Woodward"Heritage Place"EnglishYes11.05.2012
10Josh Woodward"Go"EnglishYes11.05.2012

Ports

The original UltraStar is programmed in Kylix/Delphi and made for Microsoft Windows operating-system. There are also ports available in C++ for other operating-systems such as Linux, BSD and other UNIX platforms.

UltraStar Deluxe

UltraStar Deluxe
Ultrastar deluxe version101.png
Developer(s) b1indy, b_krueger, brunzelchen, canni0, eddie-0815, hawkear, jaybinks, k-m_schindler, mogguh, mota23, s_alexander, tobigun, whiteshark0, basisbit, RattleSN4K3, rhaamo, brianch [1]
Platform(s) Windows (Stable), Linux (Stable), Mac OS X (Stable)
ReleaseOctober 2010 - October 2024
Genre(s) Music game
Mode(s) Singleplayer Multiplayer
UltraStar Deluxe
URL usdx.eu

UltraStar Deluxe was started as a modification of UltraStar. Whiteshark initially offered to collaborate with Corvus5, but this offer was declined. Instead Whiteshark started to add some features on his own with the help of Mota. The first release is known as X-Mas mod, due to a release date around Christmas time. This attracted the attention of other developers that were willing to help. The team grew and the source code departed more and more from the original. Smaller features are often implemented in both projects allowing them to benefit from one another. Though the projects' implementations of such features often differ. UltraStar Deluxe is different in three key ways from UltraStar. Significant effort has been put into improving reliability by repairing bugs. The second difference is the visual appearance. Sparkling stars and various other effects have been added in addition to skin support. Many effects are also based on SingStar on PS3, Vocaluxe and Performous. Many new features have been implemented:

UltraStar Deluxe is written in Object Pascal, and compiles with Delphi, Free Pascal and Lazarus.

As of version 1.0.1 UltraStar Deluxe runs on Linux via Wine. [2]

As of version 1.1 UltraStar Deluxe runs on Linux and Mac OS X natively.

After the v1.1 release many developers left the team to work on the new and very similar karaoke games Performous and Vocaluxe. This caused development to cease. Some (new) developers started the UltraStar Deluxe World Party mod and the Challenge & Medley mod. These projects started as forks from UltraStar Deluxe 1.1 sourcecode and eventually developed many new features and bugfixes.

As of version 1.3 UltraStar Deluxe uses SDL2, ffmpeg 2.8, compiles with freepascal 3 and runs natively on all current versions of Windows, Linux and OS X. This version merged the various forks of the game and was intended to revive free/libre open source development of the game.

The version "2017.08.0" released at 2017-08-08 adds support for ffmpeg up to 3.3. It is the first version which is marked as a stable release after the version 1.1 release from 2010 and after the revival of the project. [3]

The latest stable version is the "2020.4.0". [4]

Performous

Performous
Performous-0.7+menu.png
Developer(s) Vincent Le Ligeour, Lasse Kärkkäinen, Markus Raab, Tapio Vierros, knittl, Stefan Kristiansson and others [5]
Platform(s) Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, PS3 (Yellow Dog Linux, Gentoo Linux) [6]
ReleaseJanuary 2007 - October 2010 [7] - November 2014 [8] - January 2016 [8] - March 2022 [8]
Genre(s) Music game
Mode(s)Singing, guitar, bass, drums
Performous
URL performous.org

Performous is an open-source rhythm/performance platform that contains singing, guitar/bass playing, drumming and dancing all in one game. The project began as rewrite of the UltraStar singing game in October 2006, using C++ and targeting Linux. Adding more elements to the game was planned for several years and in 2009 first band game features were added and published on Assembly game development competition. A few months later work on the dance game feature began and even though it is not yet complete, the feature is already available on the development version of the game.

The project was originally known as UltraStar-NG, but the name was changed in version 0.3 in anticipation of adding other instruments and to avoid confusion as the game is not a fork of UltraStar. Also, since version 0.3 the graphics rendering is based on OpenGL for high performance even on slower machines, with full effects, as long as any OpenGL support is available. Various background video formats are supported using FFmpeg.

Singing game

This part of the game is essentially karaoke, but with scoring and realtime feedback. The gameplay is similar to SingStar : the game analyzes each singer's pitch and gives scores based on how precisely the song was performed. As a reference, the lyrics, the notes and the singer's pitch are displayed on screen as the song plays.

Performous does not attempt to clone SingStar but rather has unique features such as scrolling notes and precise singing pitch display as a wave drawn on screen. These allow players to sing without interruptions and to correct their singing pitch to hit the notes precisely.

Performous does pitch detection with fast Fourier transform (FFT) combined with a sophisticated post-processing algorithm. This system is able to operate well in extremely noisy environments, even when using very cheap microphones.

On Linux the game autodetects any connected SingStar microphones and uses them automatically. On other platforms and with other types of microphones (e.g. webcams or analog microphones connected to sound cards) a best-effort detection is done.

Songs need to be supplied in UltraStar or Frets on Fire format. Performous comes with a tool named 'ss_extract', for converting SingStar DVDs into UltraStar format.

Band game

The gameplay is similar to Guitar Hero or Rock Band : a guitar controller is used and the player will need to match the notes.

For guitar and bass the game tries to figure out the intention of the player rather than just comparing the nearest available chord, making it easier to play fast passages. Hammer-ons and pull-offs (HOPOs) also consider player's intention. If the player intends to pick a note in a regular fashion but happens to HOPO it by accident a moment before, the pick will undo the HOPO and no mistake happens. These little gameplay tweaks in favor of the player make the game much more enjoyable as playing correctly will no longer produce mistakes when the timing is slightly off or when the player chooses not to use the HOPO feature. Timing accuracy is still considered in the scoring so that hitting all notes does not always give the maximum score.

Performous detects any connected Guitar Hero or Rock Band controllers automatically. Additionally, a PC keyboard can be used as a guitar controller. Songs need to be in Frets on Fire format.

Dance game

The gameplay is similar to Dance Dance Revolution or StepMania : the dancer will have to match the steps displayed on screen on a dancing mat as precisely as possible. Songs need to be in StepMania format.

Assembly Summer 2009

'Performous Band', a stripped-down version of the game, containing only the band game (guitar, bass and drums) took part in the game development competition. The game was displayed with a pre-recorded presentation video, but there were significant audio-video synchronization issues with the video even though the game itself had no such issues. Due to copyright issues and the lack of freely usable songs at the time, part of the demonstration was done with the music completely muted. The game finished on the 12th place with 642 points. [9]

Releases

On 2014-11-01, Performous released its 1.0 version containing a new engine based on SDL2, the ability to create playlists, and a lot of bug fixes. [8]

On 2016-01-23, Performous released its 1.1 version containing mostly bug fixes. [8]

On 2022-03-27, Performous released its 1.2 version. [8]

On 2023-09-01, Performous released its 1.3 version. [8]

On 2023-11-24, Performous released its 1.3.1 version. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karaoke</span> Form of entertainment involving singing to recorded music

Karaoke is a type of interactive entertainment system usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to pre-recorded accompaniment using a microphone.

Karaoke Revolution and its sequels are music 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 the game 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>Frets on Fire</i> 2006 video game

Frets on Fire (FoF) is a free, open-source music video game created by Finnish independent video game developer Unreal Voodoo. Players use the keyboard to play along with markers which appear on screen, with the aim to score points, achieve a high point multiplier, and complete a song. Frets on Fire was the winner of the Assembly 2006 game development competition.

<i>Rock Band</i> (video game) 2007 music video game

Rock Band is a 2007 rhythm game developed by Harmonix, published by MTV Games, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the first installment in the Rock Band series. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions were released in North America on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was released on December 18, 2007 and the Wii version on June 22, 2008. Harmonix previously developed the first two games in the Guitar Hero series, which popularized gameplay of rock music with guitar-shaped controllers. After development of the series was shifted to Neversoft, Harmonix conceived Rock Band as a new title that would offer multi-instrument gameplay.

SingStar is a competitive music video game series for PlayStation consoles, developed by London Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Dozens of installments were released for the PlayStation 2, and several more for the PlayStation 3. It is also available on the PlayStation 4 as a free app download, with users paying for the songs as individual or bundle downloads. The games have also undergone a number of non-English releases in various European countries.

<i>Lips</i> (video game) 2008 video game

Lips is a 2008 karaoke video game for the Xbox 360. Lips was developed by iNiS and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game features the use of motion sensitive wireless microphones and supports the use of songs already owned through a Zune or iPod. Lips has spawned three sequels: Lips: Number One Hits, Lips: Party Classics, and Lips: I Love the 80's. Localized versions of the game and sequels have been released in several countries, including Lips: Canta en Español, and Deutsche Partyknaller.

<i>Guitar Hero 5</i> 2009 video game

Guitar Hero 5 is a 2009 rhythm game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the fifth main installment and the ninth overall installment in the Guitar Hero series. The game was released internationally in September 2009 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 consoles. Similar to the preceding title, Guitar Hero World Tour (2008), Guitar Hero 5 is geared towards playing in a four-person band experience, including lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals. The game is available as a standalone title, allowing players to use existing compatible instrument controllers, and as a bundle that provides these controllers. Guitar Hero 5 adds several new features, such as drop-in/drop-out play, bands composed of any combination of available instruments, a Rockfest competitive mode consisting of several various scoring mechanisms, and both song-specific and general Challenges to unlock new avatars, clothing, and other extras in the game. Many of these changes were added to make the game a more social experience, allowing players across a range of skill levels to be able to play cooperatively and competitively against each other both locally and online. The PlayStation 2 version is based on Guitar Hero World Tour, using the same gameplay UI as Guitar Hero: Metallica (2009), Guitar Hero Smash Hits (2009), and Guitar Hero: Van Halen (2009), albeit with a different Rock Meter design.

<i>SingStar Queen</i> 2009 video game

SingStar Queen is a competitive karaoke video game for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2, developed by London Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. The game features the music of rock band Queen.

<i>Guitar Hero: On Tour</i> 2008 video game series

Guitar Hero: On Tour is a series of music video games based on the Guitar Hero series for the Nintendo DS handheld game system. The series is developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Activision. Three games in the series have been released since June 2008: Guitar Hero: On Tour, Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades, and Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits.

<i>SingStar Take That</i> 2009 video game

SingStar Take That is a competitive karaoke video game for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3. It is the third band-specific SingStar game released in the UK and Australia, following up on SingStar ABBA and SingStar Queen. It was released in 2009.

<i>We Sing Encore</i> 2010 video game

We Sing Encore is the 2010 music video game sequel to the original We Sing for the Wii. Developed by French studio Le Cortex, produced by Wired Productions, and published by Nordic Games, it is the latest singing game in the series to support 4 players simultaneously each with their own microphone.

<i>Michael Jackson: The Experience</i> 2010 video game

Michael Jackson: The Experience is a music video game based on Michael Jackson's songs. It was developed and published by Ubisoft, and was released on 23 November 2010 in North America, 25 November 2010 in Australia and 26 November 2010 in Europe for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, and Wii. It was also released on 12 April 2011 in North America, 14 April 2011 in Australia and 15 April 2011 in Europe for PlayStation 3's PlayStation Move and Xbox 360's Kinect. The Japanese release on 8 December 2011 only revised the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii consoles. The game features many of Michael Jackson's hits, such as "Bad", "Thriller", "Beat It", "Billie Jean", "Smooth Criminal", "Black or White", "The Way You Make Me Feel", etc. However, some songs like "Man in the Mirror" and "P.Y.T. " are excluded. Initial launches of the game included a limited edition replica of Jackson's sequined glove. It was later released for the Nintendo 3DS on 7 November 2011 in North America and 11 November 2011 in Europe, for iPhone and iPad on 7 December 2011 in North America and for PlayStation Vita on 15 February 2012 in North America, 22 February 2012 in Europe and 23 February 2012 in Australia. It was announced that the game would be released on Mac OS X, and iPad 2. The game sold 2 million units in two months, not including Japanese sales, making it one of the best-selling Wii title games.

<i>We Sing Down Under</i> 2011 video game

We Sing Down Under is a 2011 karaoke game part of the We Sing family of games, developed by French studio Le Cortex. The game features 100% Australian artists and is set to only be released in the Australian PAL territory.

<i>We Sing Deutsche Hits</i> 2011 video game

We Sing Deutsche Hits is a 2011 karaoke game part of the We Sing family of games, developed by French studio Le Cortex. The game features 100% German artists and was only released in German-speaking territories.

<i>We Sing UK Hits</i> 2011 video game

We Sing UK Hits is a 2011 karaoke game part of the We Sing series of games, developed by French studio Le Cortex. The game features 100% United Kingdom artists.

<i>We Sing Rock!</i> 2011 video game

We Sing Rock! is a 2011 karaoke game part of the We Sing family of games, developed by French studio Le Cortex. The game features songs from the rock genre of music.

<i>We Sing Pop!</i> 2012 video game

We Sing Pop! is a 2012 karaoke game part of the We Sing family of games, developed by French studio Le Cortex. The game features songs from the pop genre of music, covering popular songs from decades of music. The game was announced along with We Sing UK Hits and We Sing Rock! at E3 2011.

Seven45 Studios is the video game publishing & development division of First Act. The company's titles fuse innovative and entertaining gameplay with the world of music. It was reported to be defunct in 2013.

<i>We Sing 80s</i> 2012 video game

We Sing 80s is a 2012 karaoke game part of the We Sing family of games, developed by French studio Le Cortex. The game features songs from the 1980s only.

<i>Clone Hero</i> 2017 video game

Clone Hero is a freeware music rhythm video game created by Ryan Foster, first released in alpha on March 1, 2017, receiving a full release on November 29, 2022. The game is a clone of the Guitar Hero franchise with nearly identical gameplay. The main draw of the game is its ability to play community-made songs, which has resulted in a large fan community around the game as well as a resurgence in popularity for the genre.

References

  1. "sourceforge.net: 11.04.2010 18:45 Memberlist" . Retrieved 11 April 2010.
  2. "usdx.eu: 23.11.2007 15:40 UltraStar Deluxe 1.0.1 Release!". Archived from the original on October 6, 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2007.
  3. "Release UltraStar Deluxe v2017.8.0-stable · UltraStar-Deluxe/USDX". GitHub. 7 August 2017.
  4. "Release UltraStar Deluxe 2020.4.0-stable · UltraStar-Deluxe/USDX". GitHub.
  5. Performous contributors on Ohloh.net Archived 2009-12-07 at the Wayback Machine cited 29 November 2009
  6. "YellowDogLinux Forum: 22.03.2008 UltraStar-NG screenshots on PS3". Archived from the original on 11 June 2008. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
  7. sf.net: Performous version control tags cited 29 November 2009
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Performous - News". performous.org.
  9. "Performous by Tronic & Yoda :: pouët.net". pouet.net.