Path of the Omegathon - Round Four
Posted by DoverAh, the infamous music round. About a week or so before the event, all the Omeganauts got an email from Travis, the man who runs the Omegathon, to inform us that the fourth round game was still up in the air. It seemed as though Gabe and Tycho couldn’t decide between Karaoke Revolution and Guitar Hero. The official list said Karaoke Revolution and that is exactly what I practiced. As PAX began, it became quite clear that they were pulling the triple double cross and we were going to be playing Rock Band. Going into the fourth round we all knew that Rock Band was going to be the game.
The "elite eight" Omeganauts made our way to the auditorium and sat down. After a few minutes, Gabe and Tycho came over and started choosing guys to represent them in the round. After Gabe’s second pick, I made the comment that I felt like the fat kid on the playground who knew he was going to be picked last. That got a few chuckles from everyone, but I got a lot more laughs after actually being picked last. "Oh man, I am the fat kid!"
Gabe took us of to the side and explained we were going to be playing Rock Band and that we needed to decide who was going to be playing which instruments and our band name. We threw out a few silly names before Brian suggested the name Photoshop Heroes. That brought a smile to Gabe’s face and a chuckle from Tycho. Gabe explained to us that they had us training in Guitar Hero and Karaoke Revolution to prepare for this event. The only thing that no one could prepare for was the drums, so in the interest of fairness, the drummer would be playing on easy mode.
Ryan and Tony both had a lot of experience in Guitar Hero and seemed to be the natural fit for the guitar parts. Brian actually plays drums in a band and I played nothing but Karaoke ahead of time, so it seemed that the team was set. The problem was that I didn’t know the lyrics to the song that well, and with the drums being set on easy mode, we changed our places up in the band.
We got on stage and were allowed a practice round before the masses filed into the auditorium. Being the drummer, I had Robert Khoo walking me through the in’s and out’s of the drums. The far left drum (red) and the two middle drums (yellow and blue) represent the floor tom, snare, and tom-tom drums. The far right drum (green) is reserved for the Cymbal. Finally, there is a kick pedal (orange) for the bass drum.
The drums play just like the guitars with the beats coming down to the marker. No need to hold a button and strum though, just hit the drum in beat and you will do just fine. There is an orange bar that will come down with the regular colored markers, this bar represents a bass pedal push. You may also be required to hit a regular drum and the bass at the same time through out songs. Tycho told me ahead of time that it would be easier on your foot to hold the pedal down and only tap it when needed. I agree with him completely, although I don’t know how well that would work on a more difficult song.
During our practice run, I missed a few beats and lost my combo multiplier. There was also a freestyle section where the player could hit whatever drums we wanted for bonus points. For the points to count, you had to hit the green cymbal at the end. I had no idea what that section was for on our practice round, but after watching Davertron’s practice I picked up on it. The Dangling Participles outscored us in the practice round by a total of $320k to $300 or so. This did little to increase our spirits to say the least.
During their practice round, we started brainstorming amongst ourselves what we learned from our practice round. Tony and Ryan both thought they missed activating their star power and I mentioned I didn’t notice any star power on the drums. Khoo then informed me about the freestyle mode and I saw Davertron performing it. At this point there was nothing left to do but wait.
After what seemed like a lifetime, the crowd started to file into the auditorium. Everyone was on edge and pacing in the back. Four people would be eliminated and my only thoughts were on not letting my teammates down. I knew that Tony and Ryan were Guitar Hero veterans and Brian did well on the practice round. I was confident that they would carry their own weight. I really felt that these guys would carry me through this round and I did not want to let them down. Looking back at our performance, I had this angry expression on my face the whole time. I must was really concentrating hard, I couldn’t face the thought of being the reason three other guys got eliminated.
The song came and went in a flash. I messed up near the end missing like ten or so notes in a row before getting back on beat. I did manage to hit all my freestyle parts for extra points though. I wasn’t able to see how well the others did, but I heard that Ryan and Tony got a perfect or close to perfect score. Brian seemed muffled at first, but got it all straightened up quickly. He also did some uber dance move near the end to get the crowd into it.
Backstage we were all pacing and cursing them with all the psychic powers we could muster. There song seemed to last forever and I was watching their score climb higher and higher. Ryan was standing next to me pointing at the multipliers and would pump his fist every time they would lose it. I kept asking when the song was ending and Brian came over and said that the song was almost over and they had to score another 200k. The music faded and we knew we had one. Hugs, high fives, and screaming followed.
In the end, we ended up beating the other team with a score of 511,000 points. I take my hat off to the Dangling Participles, they were worthy opponents. The last round of the day came to a close and I was overjoyed, although I would end up getting almost no sleep that night. I could only think about Puzzle Quest and the possibility of getting into the finals for the mystery game.
-Dover
