The Game

Squeeze into that spandex, flip up your collar, and get ready to bust a groove 80's style! As a hip 80's DJ, you're out to take control of clubs in cities like New York and London. But to do that, you must keep your dance floors packed, your dancers happy, and your groovebar full by matching beats with some of your favorite 80's hits.

The Design

The idea behind Downbeat is simple: create a downloadable rhythm-action game. In execution, however, the game was incredibly challenging (in a fun way) to execute. We went through at least a dozen completely different layouts for the main game interface before settling on the final version. As with any rhythm-action game, balancing difficulty was also quite tricky: the line between absurdly easy and absurdly hard was often very thin. Extra kudos to Michael Sweet at AudioBrain for somehow making the MIDI-style versions of 80s hits rock the house.

• 32 retro-licious levels
• Three totally rad modes of play
• Killer 80's hits

System Requirements

Windows® 98/2000/XP/Vista (Downbeat does not officially support Windows NT, or Windows 95)
Pentium® 4 processor, 1.2 GHz
256 MB RAM(512 Recommended)
27 MB hard drive space
Direct3D enabled Graphics Card
Sound Card recommended
DirectX version 7.0 or later

Nick Fortugno - game design
Alona Umansky - level design
Peter Nicolai - programmer
Catherine Herdlick - producer
Dex Smither - producer
Seok Min Oh - information architecture
Scott Price - quality assurance
Heath Goldman - quality assurance
Jacqueline Yue - art direction
Shim Beom Sik - visual design
Khoeun Tep - visual design
Phil Weber - visual design
Michael Sweet - audio

"If you're the rhythmical type and your appetite for 80's music is as rapacious as The Fridge's appetite for fast food, you'll find that Downbeat is the ideal game for you, one that melds instant accessibility with a genuine challenge." - Gamezebo

"If you have a good sense of rhythm and danced in the 80’s or just enjoy retro music, this game is for you." - Minute Gamer