Dance Praise

Dance Praise
Genres	Dance video game
Developers	Digital Praise
Publishers	Digital Praise
Platforms	Microsoft Windows Mac OS X iOS
First release	Dance Praise September 29, 2005
Latest release	Dance Praise (iOS) June 22, 2009
Spin-offs	VeggieTales Dance Dance Dance Guitar Praise
Official website	www.dancepraise.com at the Wayback Machine (archived July 8, 2011)

Dance Praise is a series of dance video games developed by Christian video game developer Digital Praise, with a particular emphasis on Contemporary Christian music. The series began on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X computers, and later expanded to iOS devices. The series' first title, Dance Praise, was released on September 29, 2005 and gained popularity in the Christian gaming industry.

Peter Fokos, CTO of Digital Praise, started the Dance Praise series after his daughter asked him to create a dance game with Christian music for her homeschool exercise program. This series was created to allow children to enjoy dance games with music "fit for young [Christian] ears".^[1]

To date, there haven been four Dance Praise games for personal computers, and one final game released for iOS devices. The second game in the series, VeggieTales Dance Dance Dance, was a spin-off created in conjunction with Big Idea Entertainment for use of the VeggieTales characters and music.

Gameplay

As with other dance games such as the Dance Dance Revolution series, arrows approach a target zone on the bottom of the screen, and the player must step on the corresponding arrow on the dance pad when arrows reach the target zone. Players are judged on their accuracy and timing.

Games

Dance Praise for iOS, the latest game in the Dance Praise series.

Dance Praise

Dance Praise (rebranded as Original Dance Praise when the second version was released) was the first game in the series, released on September 29, 2005.^[1]

VeggieTales Dance Dance Dance

Partnering with Big Idea Entertainment, Digital Praise announced VeggieTales Dance Dance Dance on July 13, 2006. It was released in time for the Christmas and holiday season of that year. The game is a modified version of Dance Praise featuring VeggieTales characters and music. A VeggieTales-themed dance pad was included, and a Deluxe variant of the pad was later released.^[2]

Dance Praise Party

Catering to large groups at schools and youth groups, Digital Praised released Dance Praise Party on May 23, 2007. The company claims that it is "the first large-group dance arcade system that allows up to ten players to dance simultaneously." The game also included the first version of Dance Praise, the first four expansion packs compatible with both games, ten dance pads with a 1-inch foam insert in each, plus USB hubs and extension cables for the pads. The game was sold at the suggested retail price of US $2495, although Digital Praise offered different quotes for different setups such as for smaller groups. Although Party is based on the very first Dance Praise video game, it features several modifications to provide gameplay for up to ten players. For example, there are no on-screen dancers, and the album art cannot be used as the background picture while dancing.^[3]

Competitors have subsequently been launched: Pump It Up Fitness, which allows up to 32 simultaneous players, and Dance Dance Revolution Classroom Edition, which allows up to 48 simultaneous players. These new additions use wireless pads.

Dance Praise 2: The ReMix

Dance Praise 2: The ReMix includes 52 new songs from 48 different artists, providing a wider variety than the set included in the first Dance Praise game. It includes new features not available in the previous game, such as four player support, animated backgrounds, dancing characters, support for minigames and a new interface. Its system requirements are also much higher than its prequel.

Dance Praise for iOS

The final game in the series is Dance Praise for iOS devices, released on June 29, 2009. Its interface looks similar to that of Dance Praise 2, but is adapted to the iPhone and iPod Touch's smaller screen. The game was developed to capitalize on the success of the Tap Tap secular game series.^[4] It is designed for the HVGA resolution found in older iOS devices. It is not optimized for higher screen resolutions such as those found on the iPad or iPhone 4.

A total of 15 songs were included in this game, with no ability to add new music. Eight of the songs come from Dance Praise 2: The ReMix, four are from the Top Hits expansion pack, two can be found on the Contemporary Hits expansion pack, and one can be found in the first Dance Praise game.

Expansion packs

Officially, a total of seven expansion packs and one downloadable add-on have been released for the Dance Praise series:^[5][6]

• Modern Worship (June 20, 2006)
• Hip-Hop & Rap (August 1, 2006)
• Pop & Rock Hits (October 17, 2006)
• God Rocks! BibleToons (February 20, 2007)
• Praise & Worship (July 17, 2007)
• Contemporary Hits (November 20, 2007)
• Top Hits (April 4, 2008)

Minigames can be added to Dance Praise 2 via some expansion packs. Contemporary Hits includes Simon says, while Top Hits includes Rock 'n' Block. The latter game works similarly to the Asteroids arcade title, but is controlled with the dance pad.^[7]

All these expansion packs are compatible with the original Dance Praise, the Dance Praise 2 sequel, or both computer games installed on a single machine. The expansion packs were sold in retail and each included 35 new songs. A free downloadable add-on was also released; it came with two songs from Altared Life and was released on January 14, 2007.^[8]

See also

• Christian video games

References