Synthesia, Piano for Everyone
Recent Development Activity

Here is a list of what's been going on with Synthesia's development recently. If you'd like to stay up to date, subscribe to the RSS Synthesia Development RSS feed. Many of these entries refer to tasks on the feature voting page.

09/20/2009 - New task: Improved Sheet Display: Inter-measure Ties
I've added a new task to the feature list: Improved Sheet Display: Inter-measure Ties. It has no dependencies so you can vote for it immediately. Here is the task description:

Currently, notes that extend past the end of a measure are simply cut off in the sheet music display. They should continue on as additional notes in adjacent measures, displayed with a tie between measures.
09/20/2009 - Accepted for next release: Improved Sheet Display: Staff Detection
I've accepted the following feature to be included in the next release: Improved Sheet Display: Staff Detection. That means 63 stars have been refunded. If you used stars on this feature, you can now re-use them on something else.
09/20/2009 - Accepted for next release: Improved Progress Bar
I've accepted the following feature to be included in the next release: Improved Progress Bar. That means 7 stars have been refunded. If you used stars on this feature, you can now re-use them on something else.
09/20/2009 - Accepted for next release: Song Bookmarks
I've accepted the following feature to be included in the next release: Song Bookmarks. That means 142 stars have been refunded. If you used stars on this feature, you can now re-use them on something else.
09/14/2009 - Completed: Improved Sheet Display: Rests
I've finished the following: Improved Sheet Display: Rests. Feel free to try it out by downloading the latest development version (r680) from the feature voting page.
09/14/2009 - Completed: Improved Sheet Display: Uniform Measure Width Option
I've finished the following: Improved Sheet Display: Uniform Measure Width Option. Feel free to try it out by downloading the latest development version (r680) from the feature voting page.
09/07/2009 - Accepted for next release: Improved Sheet Display: Rests
I've accepted the following feature to be included in the next release: Improved Sheet Display: Rests. That means 41 stars have been refunded. If you used stars on this feature, you can now re-use them on something else.
09/07/2009 - Accepted for next release: Improved Sheet Display: Uniform Measure Width Option
I've accepted the following feature to be included in the next release: Improved Sheet Display: Uniform Measure Width Option. That means 43 stars have been refunded. If you used stars on this feature, you can now re-use them on something else.
09/07/2009 - Completed: Song Metadata
I've finished the following: Song Metadata. Feel free to try it out by downloading the latest development version (r665) from the feature voting page. This also means the following dependent task(s) can now be voted on: Manual Track Split, User Submitted Songs, MP3 Background Track, Sheet Music Image Import, MusicXML Support, Manual Note Fingerings, Pop-up Reminder Notes.
07/24/2009 - Completed: Device Input/Output Visual Feedback
I've finished the following: Device Input/Output Visual Feedback. Feel free to try it out by downloading the latest development version (r639) from the feature voting page.
07/24/2009 - Accepted for next release: Device Input/Output Visual Feedback
I've accepted the following feature to be included in the next release: Device Input/Output Visual Feedback. That means 3 stars have been refunded. If you used stars on this feature, you can now re-use them on something else.
07/17/2009 - Completed: Command-line Options
I've finished the following: Command-line Options. Feel free to try it out by downloading the latest development version (r639) from the feature voting page.
07/08/2009 - New task: Pop-up Reminder Notes
I've added a new task to the feature list: Pop-up Reminder Notes. It depends on the "Song Metadata" task, so you won't be able to vote on this one directly yet. Here is the task description:

It is sometimes useful to leave yourself reminders about a particularly difficult passage, song dynamics, a tricky set of fingerings, or some other note.

An editor should be available to add YouTube-like pop-up messages that would appear at specific times during a song and stay visible for a user-specified length of time.
07/08/2009 - Completed: In-Game File Chooser
I've finished the following: In-Game File Chooser. Feel free to try it out by downloading the latest development version (r627) from the feature voting page.
03/02/2009 - New task: Improved Sheet Display: Uniform Measure Width Option
I've added a new task to the feature list: Improved Sheet Display: Uniform Measure Width Option. It has no dependencies so you can vote for it immediately. Here is the task description:

There should be an option to force all measures in a song to be the same width. This will cause the red line scanning speed to be constant.
12/11/2008 - Completed: Practice Mode Scoring
I've finished the following: Practice Mode Scoring. Feel free to try it out by downloading the latest development version (r517) from the feature voting page.
12/03/2008 - New task: Song Library Feeds
I've added a new task to the feature list: Song Library Feeds. It has no dependencies so you can vote for it immediately. Here is the task description:

The song library uses the idea of "watched directories" to keep your song collection up-to-date and present in the in-game song chooser. Another type of "watch" should be possible where you can enter a URL to a song feed (think podcast) instead of a directory. New song entries would then be added to the library automatically whenever the feed was updated. The songs would download on-demand after being selected.
12/01/2008 - Completed: Concurrent Chord Notes in Practice Mode
I've finished the following: Concurrent Chord Notes in Practice Mode. Feel free to try it out by downloading the latest development version (r497) from the feature voting page.
11/16/2008 - New task: Online Scoreboard
I've added a new task to the feature list: Online Scoreboard. It depends on the "User Profiles and Names on the Scoreboard" task, so you won't be able to vote on this one directly yet. Here is the task description:

You should be able to opt-in to submitting song scores to the SynthesiaGame.com website so the list of high scores in the game will show how you are doing compared to other players.

There should be filters available to show or hide online scores so you can just your own local scores.
10/27/2008 - New task: Input/Output Device Calibration
I've added a new task to the feature list: Input/Output Device Calibration. It has no dependencies so you can vote for it immediately. Here is the task description:

There should be a way to correct input and output device lag as best as possible. (Unfortunately, the full round-trip where a user hits a note and it is played will always take the full "input lag" + "output lag" amount of time. But, automatically played notes and silent input should still be improved.)
10/13/2008 - New task: Quiz Mode
I've added a new task to the feature list: Quiz Mode. It depends on the "Chord Library" task, so you won't be able to vote on this one directly yet. Here is the task description:

The game should be able to quiz players on a variety of topics: chords, scales, intervals, tempos, and beat patterns (for starters). A new mode should be introduced where you can test yourself in whichever area you like. Statistics should be presented after each test and saved for comparison with future results.
10/13/2008 - New task: Manual Note Fingerings
I've added a new task to the feature list: Manual Note Fingerings. It depends on the "Song Metadata" task, so you won't be able to vote on this one directly yet. Here is the task description:

There should be a way to enter fingering information that will be stored in a song's metadata (so it can be shared). Displaying the fingerings will become an option on the "Note Labels" screen.
10/01/2008 - New task: Changing Settings during Practice
I've added a new task to the feature list: Changing Settings during Practice. It has no dependencies so you can vote for it immediately. Here is the task description:

Most play and track settings should be adjustable during practice without quitting and having to restart a run. Instead, settings should also be editable while the song is paused (and when "User-assignable Input" is complete, these should become generic "game functions").

This includes adding/removing "You Play" tracks, changing display options including sheet music and falling note color, "wait for correct note"/"rhythm practice", and note labeling.
10/01/2008 - Accepted for next release: Command-line Options
I've accepted the following feature to be included in the next release: Command-line Options. That means 6 stars have been refunded. If you used stars on this feature, you can now re-use them on something else.
09/19/2008 - New task: Playlists
I've added a new task to the feature list: Playlists. It has no dependencies so you can vote for it immediately. Here is the task description:

There should be a way to cue up multiple songs and play them all one after the other stopping only to see the intermediate scores. Afterward, a composite score should be given for your overall performance.
09/19/2008 - Accepted for next release: Concurrent Chord Notes in Practice Mode
I've accepted the following feature to be included in the next release: Concurrent Chord Notes in Practice Mode. That means 19 stars have been refunded. If you used stars on this feature, you can now re-use them on something else.
09/19/2008 - Accepted for next release: Practice Mode Scoring
I've accepted the following feature to be included in the next release: Practice Mode Scoring. That means 21 stars have been refunded. If you used stars on this feature, you can now re-use them on something else.
09/19/2008 - Accepted for next release: Song Metadata
I've accepted the following feature to be included in the next release: Song Metadata. That means 29 stars have been refunded. If you used stars on this feature, you can now re-use them on something else.
09/19/2008 - Accepted for next release: In-Game File Chooser
I've accepted the following feature to be included in the next release: In-Game File Chooser. That means 30 stars have been refunded. If you used stars on this feature, you can now re-use them on something else.
09/16/2008 - New task: Display Style Editor
I've added a new task to the feature list: Display Style Editor. It has no dependencies so you can vote for it immediately. Here is the task description:

There should be a way to customize many details of the falling note display, save those settings as presets, and share them with others.

These details include which notes should get vertical guidelines, how the lines should appear (i.e. color, thickness), the background color of the vertical strip for each note, whether a particular note's color should be overridden, how measure and beat lines appear, and more.