DJ: Decks & FX
DJ: Decks & FX was Relentless Software's first wholly-developed title. The idea was to take two record decks, a mixer, an effects unit and a sampler and then add a whole crate of records and cram them into a PlayStation2 game. The player could enjoy the creativity of DJing without having to learn beat-matching and without having to spend a fortune on audio equipment.
It was a classic case of designing it first and then worrying about how to do it later. The idea sounded great, but when Andy started thinking about how to play two tracks from a single disc and keep them in time, it was clear that it wasn't a simple problem. Thankfully, a eureka moment happened half way through production the game and from then on it was plain sailing. We'll keep that eureka idea secret in case we need to pull it out of the bag on another occasion.
The game turned out better than we could have hoped. The ability to layer tracks on top of each other, tweak effects, loop-back samples and intercut accapellas afforded some incredible results.
Our goal was to include some records on the disc and then let the player download more to their PlayStation2 just like iTunes. Sadly, most people's PlayStation2s were never connected to the Internet which meant you were limited to the music on the disc, but it was a great game with a great record box that we're very proud of. We had great fun trying it out on the crowds in Ibiza and we're told Timo Maas entertained 3,000 people with it in Germany.
DJ: Decks & FX received a BAFTA nomination for Audio in 2003.
