This update includes the following changes:
Numpad input support
FM sound improvements
Channel mute feature (Music Room)
Added "Stage 1 Boss ~ Tsunayoshi's Theme" (Music Room)
In arcade-style hanafuda games, mahjong control panels are commonly used.
To make Battle Hanafuda feel more "arcade-like", I have added support for numpad input, which closely resembles that setup.
When selecting a card to discard, you can press keys 1–8 on your keyboard to move the cursor directly to the corresponding position.
In the previous update, I implemented a DC cut.
This time, I made further improvements to bring the sound closer to real hardware.
FM synthesis in emulation tends to produce waveforms that are "too clean", which can feel unnatural compared to actual FM sound chips.
To address this, I applied the following processing steps:
1-pole HPF
Slight asymmetric curve
1-pole LPF
Optional soft saturation
These are applied in sequence to emulate the analog characteristics of real hardware.
This feature is implemented as a standard function of the game engine used in Battle Hanafuda (VGS-X):
https://github.com/suzukiplan/vgsx/
In the Music Room, you can click FM1–FM6 or press number keys 1–6 to toggle mute for individual channels.
For example:
Mute the main melody for a karaoke-like experience
Isolate and listen carefully to bass ghost notes
This feature is quite niche, but I decided to leave it in as a kind of hidden feature.
Originally, it was implemented for debugging purposes (such as checking for wrong notes).
This track has been added to the Music Room.
(Tsunayoshi's Image Board)
Since I am the type of developer who creates games in order to create music, I would like to briefly focus on the musical aspect here.
Please note that I am not an expert in music theory, so please read this with that in mind.
The genre of this track can be described as "Oriental Techno Pops".
It is probably influenced by YMO.
However, I cannot point to any specific track as a reference.
The core motif of this song is something I originally created when I was around middle school age.
Like a kid doodling on the back of flyers, I used to compose a large number of tracks using a PC-98 and YM2203-based music tool.
The original data is gone, but some melodies remain in my memory.
If a motif is still retrievable from memory after all this time, I assume it must be a good one.
The main scale (tonality) of this piece is C major.
C major is often associated with a "textbook-like" or innocent sound, commonly used in children's songs.
However, by making the tonality ambiguous, it can also create a kind of "crazy" or unsettling feeling.
(Just my personal impression.)
The chord progression can be summarized as follows:
Bar 1, 5, 9...
Bar 2, 6, 10...
Bar 3, 7, 11...
Bar 4, 8, 12...
(Intro-1) in C
C/A | G
C/A
F | G
C | G
(Intro-2) <Loop Pos>
C
Am
F
G
(Part-A)
Dm
Am
F
G
Dm
Am
F | G
C/E
(Part-B) to E (+4)
E
F#
to F# (+2)
C#
F#
to C# (+7)
B
B | F#
to F# (+5)
G#m
F#
(Outro-1) to B (+5)
B
G#m
C#m
F#
(Outro-2) to C (+1)
C
Am
F
G
(Jump to Intro-2)
Note: The (+value) indicates the modulation interval in semitones relative to the previous key.
I am still not very familiar with chord theory, so the table above was generated by analyzing the finished track using AI.
It may not be completely accurate.
For example, in an earlier analysis, the AI misread a Dm chord as C in bar 8.
It seems that current AI is not very good at reading musical scores yet.
(There may still be some mistakes.)
You might wonder if it is possible to compose music without knowing chord progressions.
I do know the basics:
Tonic
Subdominant
Dominant
(Though I am not very confident even about that.)
My composition method may not be very typical.
In fact, I have never seen how other people compose music, so I do not know what is "normal".
My process is roughly:
Write a melody
Add a bass line that feels right
Add sub-melodies while loosely following counterpoint rules
Add drums and finalize
It is a very abstract approach.
Sometimes I can finish a track in a few days, and sometimes it takes months.
I have tried many times to study music theory in order to systematize my composition process, but I have rarely achieved the results I was aiming for.
In fact, learning theory in a superficial way sometimes made it harder for me to compose.
Among all the methods I have tried, the most effective one was simply playing through all pieces of The Well-Tempered Clavier.
This work by J.S. Bach covers all 12 keys (from C to B), including both major and minor, and consists of preludes (free-form) and fugues (strict counterpoint).
In other words, it provides high-quality examples across all tonalities.
As a reference for composing in equal temperament, I believe there is nothing more systematic than this.
However, even mastering such techniques does not help with generating motifs.
That comes from a different dimension entirely.
That is why the motifs I created freely as a child are still valuable assets.
Unfortunately, all my floppy disks have been lost, so the original data no longer exists.