You might recall a few months ago I published an FAQ on Project Heartbeat responding some commonly asked questions about the game and it's future, I'd like to revisit this and make a new one with how much the game has changed.
Why don't you support MP4 video?
The reason why we don't support MP4 videos is because in order to support it I would have to pay a licensing fee to the MPEG-LA, MPEG-LA is the company that licenses H264 and H265 which are the video codecs used in MP4. Even if I implemented my own decoder this would still not be legal to do without paying them.
PPD is also technically not allowed to do this either, but they do anyways, neither PPD nor PH are high profile enough to be likely to attract the wrath of the MPEG-LA but I'd like to err on the side of caution.
I am against software patents on principle, so even if I could afford the licensing fees I wouldn't do it.
Keep in mind Project Heartbeat is not PPD, and PPD support is only provided as a courtesy for transitioning players, it is not the intended way to play the game.
This is the same case as with MP3.
What engine does Project Heartbeat run on?
Project Heartbeat runs on a custom build of Godot Engine 3.2
What programming languages is Project Heartbeat written in?
Project Heartbeat is written mainly in GDScript and C++ (used for the video decoder and Steamworks modules), for 0.5.0 we are shipping our first module written in Rust, used for the Discord Rich Presence.
I would like to study writing my own video decoding module in the future, the current one is fine but it would be nice to have our own made in Rust.
Who makes Project Heartbeat?
Project Heartbeat is a solo project, I Alex (or EIREXE) a 20 year old guy from Spain am the sole developer of the game, even if the EIRTeam publisher name would suggest there's a team.
There is however a charting group which makes the official charts (and provide input on some mechanics sometimes) and I regularly seek artists to make our background artworks, but when it comes to the game itself without counting content it was built by a single person.
What's the development history of it?
Project Heartbeat was started on September 21, 2019, which makes almost a year old as of this article. Development initially was slow but it has ramped up massively in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
I used to have a job at a French manufacturer making high-level racing simulators, but we got sacked because of the pandemic.
I really love doing this, so I hope I can continue working on PH for a while, I'd love to eventually start working on a new game, but PH takes priority.
Can we use macros?
Macros are already a part of the game, you can assign more than one action to the same button.
Any plans to make a console version?
I have access to a Development Kit for a modern desktop console that I can't disclose at this time, and I have made a homebrew port for the Nintendo Switch.
The Nintendo Switch port, if it's ever released won't be supported, but it will be interesting to see at least. This port would somehow be delivered to PH players through Steam, you would then need to copy it to your Switch.
The only reason why I am studying a console port is because the console I am targeting supports User Generated Content which to me is a core aspect of the game.
How many songs are currently planned?
Back when we launched the game we announced 5 songs, however this has changed.
We will have:
- 10 songs in total from SuganoMusic
- 1 song from PKAkatora (connected)
- An unannounced number of songs from Impedance Eurobeat
I am against microtransactions, so if DLC happens it will only be in the form of song packs with a bunch of songs, I think that's a much better solution that charging per-song (it would also help reduce fragmentation too.
What about 3D PVs? (background 3D animations)
I briefly studied this, however the price would be too great for me to afford currently (PH is my only source of income) but it is something I want to do if the game grows, specially if we do end up having a console release, since the console we are targeting supports hardware raytracing it would be interesting to see.
When we switch to Godot 4.0 (and thus to Vulkan) I will be revisiting this idea.
What are the future plans? Are DLC planned?
The future of Project Heartbeat mostly involves polish, the core gameplay I'd say is in a pretty good spot right now. I might study a revamp of the in-game UI in the future too. I will do whatever the community wants me to do as long as I can afford to do it and sales continue to be fine.
There is one big thing I want to do, which would be rolling out our own leaderboard system, this would allow workshop songs to have their own leaderboards which I think would be amazing.
One other big change will be the move to Godot 4.0 when it becomes available, the new engine will allow the game to run on Vulkan.
Regarding DLCs: they are not planned right now, but if the game continues to grow they will happen eventually (the DIVA song count is 36 songs, so I am aiming for at least 20 or so before including DLC, as Heartbeat is a much smaller operation).
DLC would also allow me to attract new record labels, as I feel like with DLC I can provide them a better deal they might be more interested in.
What's the status of Guitar mode?
I shelved guitar mode, this is due to a number of reasons including my declining (but now improving) mental health not allowing me to work on the game as much as I want.
When are you adding catboys?
no