LOUD On Planet X has all of the indie cred. The arcade-style video game, which has tapped the talents of Tegan and Sara, Metric, Fucked Up, Metz, Cadence Weapon, Lights and more, is due to arrive on various platforms this Australian spring.
As Rolling Stone reports, the Canadian musos will provide both music and avatars for the new game, which also features original scores from Fucked Up’s Mike Haliechuk and Jonah Falco, and Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning and Justin Peroff.
Players will get to choose to compete as one of 12 musical acts to conquer a hometown gig and complete Level 1. Sounds pretty standard, right? Well, upon passing Level 1, they’ll then get beamed through a portal to an alien planet, where they’ll be forced to defend a stage against marauding hordes of little green men. How? By tapping to the music and using an assortment of weapons (which are concert-appropriate items like strobe lights, fog machines and bouncers).
In an interview with Polygon, who have describe the game a mash-up between Guitar Hero and Plants Vs Zombies, creative producer Alex Janson explains, “We’re trying to do a lot of stuff to capture the individual personality of the bands, too. It’s very different than just licensing the music and walking away. We’re really looking at much higher integration, and with the bands directly.”
As well as some of Canada’s finest, Janson is also working with some lesser-known Toronto acts for LOUD On Planet X, such as July Talk and Austra, saying he hopes the game can “help break some of those guys” on a bigger stage.
Janson’s studio, Pop Sandbox Productions, have also launched a Kickstarter campaign to help them reach their $50,000 goal. The more money raised, the more acts will be added to the game.
