A game that deceives at first glance. This is the initial impression you will have when playing the new game from the Amazonian studio Black River, "Rock & Rails."

Black River is the only Samsung game studio outside of South Korea, located at SIDIA (Samsung Institute of Development and Informatics of the Amazon). That's where we were invited to explore the game.

To welcome our team were SIDIA's advisor, Monick Maciel, and from Black River, Senior Game Designer Ronaldo Coimbra and the Rock & Rails development lead, Ariel Madril; both have been with the studio since 2014. Also present was André Araújo, the Games Studio Coordinator, who has been with the studio since its inception in 2013.

**The Dynamics**

The game "Rock & Rails" has a simple story: the Beasts of Silence have silenced the world of Rock & Roll, and now it is up to three heroes to eliminate them with loud music while riding on rails. The game dynamics are also straightforward.

"The game is linear and features nine levels, with a boss fight after every three levels. Each level is unique and increasingly difficult: new enemies appear, turns become sharper, and speed increases; however, this progression is quite smooth, starting easy and ending at a medium level by the end of the nine stages," explained Ronaldo Coimbra. "If players want even more difficult levels, the game unlocks the 'Heavy Metal' mode after completing the main game, with the nine stages set to 'very hard'," he added.

**"Seems too simple..."**

It is precisely in this false appearance of "just a simple game" that hides an incredibly addictive and well-made game, capable of keeping players engaged for hours. This was evident this month when Black River Studios participated in PAX East 2017 in Boston, generating quite a buzz.

"People looked at the game running on the TV and thought it was just another third-person camera game, but once they put on the Gear VR, they were astonished and their jaws dropped. After playing, they said the game was much better than they had expected," said Ariel Madril. "There was so much word-of-mouth advertising that on the last day, we had to draw a line, while on the first day there was no line," he added.

Ariel mentioned that one player spent nearly 1 hour and 20 minutes trying out the game. "The demo had three levels available, and he did EVERYTHING possible within those challenges."

**A Lot of Music**

And since it's a crucial factor, it’s only natural to have plenty of rock & roll music, all of which was recorded by the award-winning game composer and sound designer, Antonio Teoli, at SIDIA itself.

“We knew the game would follow a rock & roll theme, so we started working on the language that would be used in each world: which style within rock & roll each world would have. Once we had all that information, I could start composing the first notes,” Teoli commented.

Antonio Teoli has an interesting approach to composing: he avoids music with a similar style. “We end up absorbing a lot and creating fragments of what’s frequent in our memory. So, when I was working on 'Rock & Rails,' I spent three months without listening to rock & roll because I didn’t want to be influenced by my memory, only by my personal experience,” he explained. “During these times, I always ask people not to give me references but to explain what they want to convey.”

Gradually, the first songs emerged, one by one. The first one composed was “Rock, the City.” “It’s very hard rock, very direct, very simple, but it has a powerful message behind it, which is all about the spirit of rock & roll,” he said.

The composer explained that the key aspect of the songs is the lyrics, as they convey the messages that each world aims to deliver. “‘Rock, the City’ is named as such because it’s the first world the player encounters and it’s all framed with cities and buildings. The first phrase that came to my mind was ‘Welcome to my city.’ I want the player to start the game with a warm reception from the music, feeling that all the lyrics were composed based on what the game has to offer.”

**The game also featured vocals by Júlio Federici from the São Paulo metal band "King of Bones," an old acquaintance of Antonio.** 

"I have been working with Júlio Federici for a long time. He is a very good singer, professional, quick to record, and most importantly, has good English pronunciation, as we needed to avoid strong accents. We hired him for this job, where I wrote the lyrics, composed the vocal melodies, and sent them to him to check if they suited his vocal range while singing," Teoli explained.

**A Touch of the Amazon**

The influence of the Amazon Rainforest is present in some Black River Studios games, either on a small or large scale. “We try not to use references just for the sake of it, but based on the theme: in 'Finding Monsters Adventure,' there was a larger space due to the forest setting. In 'Rock & Rails,' we focused on the enemies. Each game is a different case,” he shared. “Additionally, we don’t limit ourselves to just the Amazon; we can draw references from other places as well. It all depends on how it fits with the style and the audience,” he said.

The audience is a crucial factor in determining the amount of regionalism in games. “There are regions of the world where VR is stronger, and that’s where our potential audience is. However, in Brazil, VR isn’t strong enough yet for us to justify including many Brazilian elements,” Ronaldo explained.

**Test Time or "A Personal Story"**

Well, I come from an era when Virtual Reality (VR) wasn’t popular (especially in Brazil), due to either exorbitant costs or the clunky devices it involved. In the gaming world, the closest I came and had the displeasure of combining the two was with the Virtual Boy. May that thing burn in the fires of oblivion.

Several technological decades later, Ronaldo from Black River Studios handed me a Gear VR to test "Rock & Rails," giving me a chance to return to the VR world after all these years of abstinence. (Damn Virtual Boy) and... WOW!

As soon as I put on the Gear VR, I found myself literally in another colorful world, with lots of rock music playing, and being watched by two characters your mother wouldn’t approve of as friends.

I selected the guitar chick and began my journey against the silence, or almost... the levels were so beautiful, detailed, and colorful that I looked at everything except the enemies. Result: game over in the first world. Better luck next time!

The game is incredibly fun, making you want to play more and more, and I almost had a problem with that: my photography consultant, Marcelo Azevedo, who accompanied me on the visit, also played and almost couldn’t put the game down.

According to him, the game is excellent and goes beyond the basic standards we see in musical games. “It avoids the typical 'rock and guitar music game' pattern and has its own musical style. Moreover, the gameplay response is sensational, and I didn’t expect it. I had played Batman in VR for consoles, which had quick response times, but I really didn’t expect it from a mobile game. Not to mention the incredible sense of depth felt, whether looking up from below or the opposite. Everything was amazing... SIDIA, GIVE ME A VR,” Marcelo joked (I think).