Where to get it

Steam

2008 · Dylan Fitterer · Indie · Puzzle

Audiosurf

Audiosurf is a puzzle/rhythm hybrid game created by Invisible Handlebar, a personal company created by Dylan Fitterer. It's track-like stages visually mimic the music the player chooses, while the player races across several lanes collecting colored blocks that appear in sync with the music. The music used in the game is chosen from the user's own library, from almost any DRM-free format, as well as standard redbook CDs; in addition, Audiosurf includes the entire soundtrack to The Orange Box as part of the download.

Released: 15 February 2008
Platforms: Windows
Genres: Indie Puzzle Racing Rhythm
Developers: Dylan Fitterer
Publishers: Valve Corporation
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Third person
Themes: Action Party
Engine: Quest3D
Country: United States
Age ratings: PEGI 3
Languages: English
Time to beat: 9hmain story18hwith extras32hcompletionist
Composers: Pedro Macedo Camacho

About

Audiosurf is a 2008 music-based puzzle video game created by Invisible Handlebar, a company founded by Dylan Fitterer. Its track-style stages visually mimic the music the player chooses, while the player races across several lanes collecting colored blocks that appear in sync with the music. The game was released on February 15, 2008, over Steam, a few days after winning the Independent Games Festival 2008 Excellence in Audio Award, heavily influenced by the soundtrack composed by Pedro Macedo Camacho. The full version was for a long time only available for purchase through Steam, but was later released as a retail product in Europe, by Ascaron.

Audiosurf was the first third-party game to use Valve's Steamworks technology. The Zune HD version was also released as Audiosurf: Tilt. A sequel, Audiosurf 2, was released in May 2015.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

In Audiosurf, the player controls a levitating vehicle and maneuvers it through a multi-lane highway, collecting blocks.

Such vehicles include: Mono, Double Vision, Eraser, Pointman, Pusher, and Vegas. Variants for some vehicles include: Ninja, Pro and Elite.

Development

The game was the brainchild of Dylan Fitterer who worked for a majority of the project alone, only bringing in outside help near the end. Fitterer wanted to create a game that would fuse gameplay with a music visualizer. Fitterer has cited the game Rez as his biggest influence. Fitterer also cited a music visualizer from WildTangent, which got him thinking about music in a 3D space.

Pedro Camacho created the soundtrack and was the sound effects supervisor on Audiosurf. "Audiosurf Overture" was a track previously done by Camacho as the main demo track for a virtual synthesizer called Predator from Rob Papen. The IGF awarded composer stated on his website that "this award would have never been possible to achieve if not coupled with such an amazing game by Dylan Fitterer".

Reception

Audiosurf was positively received with the broad majority of critics. On Metacritic, the title holds an average of 85 out of 100, suggesting favorable reviews. 1Up.com awarded Audiosurf an "A" rating citing the massive replay value. IGN gave the title an 8.6 out of 10, and stated that "[Audiosurf is] one of those games that offers something for everyone". Eurogamer were slightly less impressed, giving the game a 7 out of 10, criticizing its rough edges, yet remained convinced that the title had enough potential to become "a bite-sized obsession".