We made a video game (instead of a music video) to go with the composition we commissioned from Matthew Joseph Payne.

PLAY the game in your computer's web browser now. (This is an HTML5 program that works pretty well in most web browsers. You need a keyboard to play. It was not designed for handheld tablets or smartphones. It seems to be a bit buggy on Linux but it's still playable. Please download the Windows version below for the best experience!)

DOWNLOAD the Microsoft Windows version. (This is a Windows executable. You need a keyboard to play. Those downloading via Chrome may experience problems because it thinks that this program is a virus or something.)

Game tips:

use ARROW keys to move Matt around the game.
SPACE BAR for actions like picking up things. Sometimes just bumping into things will trigger actions or pick up objects.
SHIFT key for jump
open blocked doorways by activating columns with pull rings or by picking up certain objects.
C key to fire white balls (boss battle level)
X key to fire yellow balls (boss battle level)
Z key to fire red balls (boss battle level)
First level (castle) - pick up balls and extra lives. pick up the blue orb, then jump into the orange swirl before time runs out!
"Pac-Matt" level - pick up balls and extra lives. If a ghost touches you, you die. Temporarily stun ghosts by picking up blue balls. Puffy bricks turn into ghosts if you touch them. Get on the spaceship during the last 10 seconds of the level.
Spaceship levels - shoot bad guys and bricks with space bar.
Boss battle - Use C, X, and Z keys to shoot balls. When shot with red ball, the boss or ghost will be temporarily be stunned. Shoot boss with 100 white balls to kill him. Yellow balls are worth 5 white balls. Watch out for the floating ghost of the boss after you kill him. Pick up the two white orbs after the boss dies.
Back in the castle - put the white orbs into the nest. pick up all the fruit in the castle and feed them to Fluffy the chicken. If Smoothy the dog touches you, he will steal the last piece of fruit you picked up.

Need more tips? Did you find a bug? If so, please email Meerenai at meerenai@abduo.net

WHY did we make a game? Matthew Joseph Payne's program notes for his piece explains it all:

"Echoloquacious is a strong departure from my normal style. I rarely if ever draw upon the video game roots of the Game Boy platform with which I create the synthesized parts for my compositions, but with this piece I intentionally aimed to create a suite of “mini-movements” and short songs that would emulate the soundtracks of the games I grew up playing. As I developed the piece, I intentionally kept this plan a secret from Meerenai and Chris, but I knew I had succeeded when I overheard them referring to unnamed sections of the piece as “the boss battle” and “the credits” at the recording session.

My previous piece for Meerenai, “Flight of the Bleeper Bird” explored the idea of the flute as an additional voice acting in conjunction with the Game Boy rather than a solo instrument playing over an electronic background, and I’ve continued that idea here - vibraphone and square wave run arpeggios in harmony while the noise channel fills in the missing hand on the drumset. The flute is equally likely to be trading melodic or counter-melodic fragments with the gameboy as it is to be simply providing the third note in a triad.
I was especially excited when I finally heard Ivan Trevino’s piece “Things We Dream About”, destined to be paired with Echoloquacious on A/B Duo’s first EP. With no prior discussion, we had created pieces that I feel pair together perfectly; his, a multi-setting exploration of sleeping dream imagery and mine, a multi-setting exploration of video game imagery, which is after all just a digital daydream."