Aspiring bassist Diane Eason had difficulty making friends and fitting in at high school. That is, until she discovered the power of rock and a joined a ragtag band of metalheads. Can Diane and her new band land a big record deal or will the stress of living the rock and roll lifestyle tear them apart?
Tactichord is a homage to the 16 and 32-bit story-driven games of the 1990s, recreating the challenges and victories of the last days of analog life before the birth of the internet. The suburban Washington D.C. area is reflected in diner parking lots, shopping malls, and grimy dive bars. Reminiscent of media such as The Commitments, Airheads, Heathers, and My So-Called Life.
A colorful cast of supporting characters, both friends and foes join Diane as she struggles with bullying, imperfection, and obsession.
Join Diane as she grows on a musical journey rooted in glam and heavy metal. Wicked solos and hot licks are composed by Chris Laney, guitarist of Pretty Maids, Ronnie Atkins Band, and At The Movies! More than twelve headbanging tracks are recorded by a live group of guitarists and singers for the dynamic music in the game. Unique songs are generated depending on what riff pattern you choose at each sub-level, and lyrical lines at each player turn. Customize your performance with instruments swaps, real time audio effect pedals, and increasingly wild costumes.
Use melee performances to convert non-believers into heavy metal fans
Build up your resources to unleash each character's epic power move
Create a glam music video of your gameplay, choosing the song’s lyrics
Experience a character-driven story set in 1990s America with a band you can name
Support or antagonize bandmates with dialog choices
Customize musical playback with vanity audio effects, instruments, and costumes
Each character in your band has a limited amount of action points to use each turn. Using melee performances for music haters builds up your heat resource, which when done artfully leads to a massive amount of points and the coveted S+ rank. Convert haters, reach the goal, collect objectives, and survive through increasingly wild encounters.
Each character has his own resource-limited power move to turn your critics into superfans en masse. Camp out and launch a sonic onslaught with your bassist, slide by guards with your guitarist, rock gym bros across the map with your drummer's hurl, or repel and attract miserly old ladies with your vocalist's wail and charm. Strategic use of your super moves increase the number of collateral conversions and are the key in gaining a maximum score.
Playing through each encounter in a level queues up a number of lyrics and musical style choices. After clearing all encounters in a level, enjoy a music video highlight reel of your exploits set to the words and riffs you chose.
At key points in the story make decisions on how to deal with your angst, supporting or dumping on your bandmates. Over time, your choices could deepen rare friendships, or drive them apart.
