So last week, when wading through the vast list of submission for this year’s Independent Games Festival, I took notice of an interesting little game called Symphony. I was a little apprehensive about posting about it here, as Empty Clip Studios, the development team working on it, have not yet released any sort of playable code with which to try the game out. However, I’m breaking down just to tell you all how excited I am for this game.

I adore obscure music games – generally game that take music and do something interesting with it, or games that use music as an integral part of the gameplay experience. Bear in mind, I really don’t enjoy the Guitar Hero games as they really don’t do anything outside of the norm, but I’m thinking more games such as the fantastic Audiosurf, Vib Ribbon, REZ or Gitaroo Man. Symphony is set to be one of those games that I just know I’m going to adore, as it takes your own music files from your computer (everything from MP3s to Ogg Vorbis files) and plays them in the background for a vertical shooter. The interesting thing here, however, is that the enemies you are shooting at will materialise from the music that is being played. The amount of enemies increases dependant on the tempo and amount of instruments of the song, and it looks like a large amount of fun. Also, as you destroy enemies they leave behind items that you collect to increase the size and firepower of your ship.

It’s definitely a game to keep an eye on, and you can follow the development on the Empty Clip Studios website here.