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The Game Pillars
Once upon a time, a Musical Battle-RPG
Herd is first and foremost a mobile game—but, more importantly, it’s a Musical Battle RPG.
From day one our goal has been to deliver a truly unique experience where the player interacts with the music itself, not just by following the beat (as in a rhythm game) but by actively manipulating it.
That ambition sounded simple on paper; in practice it proved a real design puzzle. We broke more than a few prototypes before finding a system that was fun, stable, and familiar enough that players wouldn’t feel lost.
The five design pillars
- Short matches — battles last 2–5 minutes.
- Always dynamic — even in this turn-based game, the player stays engaged throughout the turn.
- The joy of playing with samples — “DJing” is the heart of the experience.
- Skill decides the winner — or lack of it, in my case.
- Easy to learn, hard to master — low entry bar, high skill ceiling.
Recap
• Short battles (2–5 min)
• Dynamic turn-based gameplay
• Fun comes from manipulating musical samples
• Player skill = key victory factor
• Simple to learn, deep to master
The Battle-RPG Side
In Herd you control characters. Each one has a name, an XP level, a stat sheet, and up to three fully customisable decks of skills.
Stat type
Basic (4) Hype · Flow · Damage · Armour
Advanced (6)Resistance · Flow Regen · Hype Regen · Flow Drain · Hype Drain · Penetration
Dynamic (2)Crit Chance · Crit Damage
Each skill defines what you can do on your turn—much like cards in a deck-builder—but every skill also triggers a musical sample.
Henri Clerc (our sound designer) built a system that guarantees every sample harmonises with every other. Stacking them in real time means you’re composing a unique track while executing your strategy. Fighting = composing.
Combat system summary
• Classic RPG backbone adapted for scalability
• Deep prep (builds) + real-time adaptation (react to shields, drains, cleans…)
• Base stats, advanced stats, dynamic stats for flexibility and balance
The Musical-Game Side
Time as an aesthetic timer
After the brief intro (played by the arena’s theme), a Herd round lasts 24 bars at a fixed 100 BPM.
- Every bar is an action window.
- Every 4 bars (one block) a fill marks the musical beat and strategic reset.
Glossary
Beat = 1–2–3–4
Bar = 4 beats
Block = 4 bars
Round = 24 bars (6 blocks)
Fail to act in a bar and your card slips to the next, breaking potential combos.
Tempo cheat-sheet
• Fixed 100 BPM
• 4 beats = 1 bar
• 4 bars = 1 block
• 6 blocks = 1 round (24 bars)
• Effects apply each bar; combos are built across blocks
Match Structure
A match alternates rounds and breaks:
Intro ──► (arena theme)
Round 1 ──► played by Player 1 (24 bars)
Break ──► 1 block (4 bars, no actions)
Round 2 ──► played by Player 2
Break …
└─► When a player hits 0 Hype → Outro (arena ending theme)
- Round: 24 bars (6 blocks)
- Break: 4 bars (1 block) to prepare the next turn
And that’s the high-level anatomy of Herd’s Musical Battle-RPG.
