Dancing Queen
My Asshole mod is an online game entitled “Dancing Queen” for use with a console style DDR™ dance pad, Eyetoy™ camera unit and microphone. Each player is dealt a hand of “cards,” but instead of regular playing cards they are short patterns of dance moves, each with its own piece of music to go along with it. Instead of the four card suits of Clubs, Spades, Diamonds and Hearts, there are four different styles of music to dance to – Rave, Disco, Hip-Hop and House. Each dance card, as it increases in value, contains a more complex pattern of moves to complete. It is not possible to see the exact pattern of moves you are going to play when you put down a card, just the difficulty rating of the dance pattern. The music and dance combinations are procedurally generated, so it is not possible to memorize or get bored of the combinations. A “Two” is the most powerful card, but also dictates the most complex and flashy dance maneuver. Playing a Two will always involve not only intricate footwork, but a pattern of hand, body, and/or head movements, plus a timed vocal outburst. Depending on the difficulty level that the game is set at, more or less of these facets may apply.
Play proceeds as in a traditional game of “Asshole.” The person with the Two of Raves will begin the round, playing whatever card out of their hand they wish. Each player has a view of the video feed of the current dancer on their screens during that person’s turn. If this dancer is unsuccessful in their attempt, they are forced to take their card back, and play moves to the next player. If they complete the move successfully, the card is placed down, and the next player has to play either a higher valued card, a card of the same number with which to skip the following player, or choose to perform a “Combo.” A Combo necessarily involves a medley of two different types of music, which are made to flow seamlessly into each other when the player chooses this option. In a Combo pattern, there is not only a combination of the two patterns that the player chose, but a finale of an entirely different type of music, which is chosen at random from the game’s library of music algorithms. If a player performs a Combo, the following players must each play Combos as well, or else forfeit their turns. If all players forfeit their turns, the last winning player starts the next round. A two can always beat a combo, or any other pattern for that matter, but you better be ready to sweat for it!
The first person to win a round is dubbed the “Dancing Queen,” or “Dancing King” if applicable. Second place is “Boogie Master/Mistress,” and third is “Jumpin’ Jane” or “Jumpin’ Joe.” Fourth place is the “Stumblefunker,” and last place is the “Fatass.” The Dancing Queen/King gets the benefit of not only stealing the highest valued card from the Fatass, but also of creating a new dance move, which is inserted into the Fatass’s hand. No matter the actual difficulty of this pattern, it will always have a play value of three. This Queen/King can select the type of music this new move is going to be set to, and the music’s length, depending on how mean they want to be to the Fatass (maximum value is fixed). The Boogie Master/Mistress will also be able to record a move, for the Stumblefunker, but this move will not be able to involve arm movements, will have a shorter maximum length, and will have a play value of four. The Boogie Master will also not have the benefit of receiving a card from the Stumblefunker.
Play ends when everybody gets tired and sits down.