Harmonium Has The Potential To Be Netflix Games’ Killer App
Hands-on: A musical adventure with a deaf girl at its center could be the hit Netflix has been looking for
A common refrain when someone mentions Netflix Games is, unfortunately, “Netflix has games?” Even you reading these words might not know that if you have a Netflix account and a mobile device, you have access to hundreds of free games simply by opening the Netflix app.
Some of them are based on Netflix properties, others are mobile ports of hit games like The Case Of The Golden Idol and Kentucky Route Zero. The original content, however, is where Netflix is hoping to make the biggest splash, and after spending some time with one of its upcoming projects, Harmonium, that splash may be coming courtesy of The Odd Gentlemen.
Harmonium follows the story of Melody, a girl who grows up in a musical family but becomes deaf at a young age. She is trying to create a new type of music, one that “can be felt, seen, and is accessible to her friends”, according to the official press material. The game shifts between the real world and a fantastical world filled with music, from piano keys on the ground to a helpful fairy sprite creature made entirely of musical instruments.
Our demo begins with Melody speaking to one of her friends entirely in ASL, or American Sign Language. There are subtitles for those who don’t know ASL to follow along – just like with any other language – but the attention to detail in every hand movement of the sign language from both characters is fascinating to watch in real-time.
This attention to detail comes from husband and wife duo Matt and Kay Daigle, creators of That Deaf Guy – a comic strip taking a humorous look at the life of a deaf person – who were brought on for the game. Matt Korba, creative director on Harmonium at The Odd Gentlemen, knew that in order to create the authenticity the team wanted, they would have to reach out to the deaf community, and they’d have to do it early on.
“We observed that in other projects like this, when the game is done or when the script is done in Hollywood, they bring in a consultant who gives a stamp of approval and that’s it,” Korba said. “For us, it was more important that we had multiple people and those different perspectives from the very beginning, so the first step was hiring the Daigles.”
Later in the demo, ASL again takes center stage as Melody must communicate with the fair sprite in order to solve a puzzle and escape from a room. In front of Melody is a giant column separated into three sections; one depicting heads, one depicting bodies, and one depicting legs. The fairy, meanwhile, is in a room with a statue, which Melody must match in order to escape.
Melody – and by proxy, us playing the game – must ask the fairy what each section of the statue looks like, and the fairy will respond by describing the shape and the musical instruments represented by that part of the statue’s body. The head, for example, might have two big horns decorated with what looks like piano keys, so the fairy signs in kind.
“Later in the demo, ASL again takes center stage as Melody must communicate with the fair sprite in order to solve a puzzle and escape from a room”
Then, once that puzzle is solved, the scene shifts to a similar scenario, only this time Melody is the one describing the statue, while the fairy has to match the column accordingly. The tables have turned, and we, the players, have now been on both sides of an ASL conversation naturally through Harmonium’s gameplay; it’s wonderful in action, and it made for one of the most unique experiences on the Summer Game Fest campus.
The Daigles found this as a unique opportunity to tell the story of a deaf person in a new way – not only for other deaf people, but for those who don’t have a full understanding of the deaf experience.
“We want to tell good stories while they learn something new,” Matt Daigle told us through an ASL translator. “We tried to pepper the game with concepts that would open people’s minds to communicating with deaf people.”
Korba seconds this, and he hopes that this experience may inspire someone to learn more about ASL in general. “While this is an entertainment project and not purely educational,” he explains, “I guarantee you that after playing a 20-minute demo, you’re going to come away with an understanding of certain things.”
Few games exist that are trying to do what Harmonium hopes to do, and after playing that 20-minute demo, we are certainly impressed. The signs are all in place; Netflix may just have its first original hit.
Harmonium is scheduled to launch in 2025 for mobile devices via the Netflix app.
