Amidst the Canvas notifications and chiming school bells, students will always try to find a way to reconnect with their interests and what brings us comfort. You could be walking to class with music blasting in your ears or playing a game on your phone as you wait for a lecture to begin, either way, the little things help us take our minds off worries and stresses, especially in the realm of entertainment.
At Cal Poly, we have the opportunity to explore, create and combine our interests to a completely new form of innovation and design. Lucas Li, a recent graduate of Cal Poly’s MS program in Computer Science, utilized his skills in the department and his interest in music to create a mobile game as a platform for independent artists to share their music.
Started as a senior project two years ago, Ongawa is a traditional rhythm game with role-playing elements meant to immerse players in the story-telling aspects of the music embedded in the levels.
Li, the leading developer of Ongawa, has a goal to support independent musicians by showcasing and monetizing their work.
As a musician himself, Li knows the struggles of trying to get recognition without being signed to a record label and the difficulties that artists face when trying to promote and monetize their music to an audience.
From Li’s experience on top of the stories he has heard from colleagues, he gathered that maintaining a platform — such as Spotify and Apple Music — can be difficult for independent artists who receive little help with revenue.
Within Ongawa, a new form of recognition is implemented with more connection to an artist’s audience as well as easier access to the revenue they’ve earned.
One of the unique features of Ongawa is a component that allows musicians to create their own levels and convey a storyline that follows the song itself.
This feature makes it possible for players to easily understand the music they are listening to and gives the artists the creative liberty to communicate their ideas beyond the music.
As the Ongawa team at Cal Poly develops each level, they are also using AI tools for musicians to easily create images and general atmosphere.
Ongawa is a love letter to artists who haven’t had a chance to share their stories or connect with an audience yet. If you are a musician who wants to collaborate or a rhythm game lover, you can follow the development on their website and join the team on their Discord server.
