Cybersonica 2006

Interactive Music for the Masses

Josh Randall - Harmonix Music Systems

Interactive music creation is a real driver for him. People are great at using the PS/2 controller - what if this could be used to encourage them to make music. Early versions used a video game format to generate music. Too wierd for Microsoft - but Sony bought it in 15 minutes! It was called 'Frequency' released in 2001.

People who played it really liked it but it had lacklustre sales. Got a BAFTA. Too difficult to get people interested.

Sony still liked it and they did 'Amplitude' in 2003. Made it more MTV-friendly. Sony said it needed 3D characters. Still too much abstraction. Development team of 20 over 15 months. Puts the user in creative control. Can be networked as a game or online collaboration. It was great but did not sell - too abstract. Likes the look - but it does n't really say "Music" to most people. Where do we go from here?

Making musical experience accessible to everyone - use Singing

Use Karaoke. Karaoke Revolution (Karaoke Stage in UK). Team size of 44 over 9 month developments. Lots of women on the team in different roles ("In addition to nerdy geeks like me").

Depends on robust feedback system to be a game.

Guitar Hero is what they really made happen

Team peaked at 49 took 9 months to develop. It worked because they got fantastic awesome rock tracks. Rhythm action game play and guitar-like peripheral. Guitar makes it easy. It has a movement sensor built-in which makes you act out your 'rock behaviours'. Whammy bar added - for fun.

Team structure and management key to getting these projects right. Audio engineers become the equivalent of level designers in games.

Tight budgets and short timelines. Very focused prototyping. No time to mess about. Decisions need to be made rapidly. Core features need to be 'nailed' rapidly.

Production tips

Hook users quickly
Needs multiple levels of feedback
Make the player feel great about themselves - superstar stuff

Focus test early and often - repeat this. More important than 'normal' games as part of the process. Is the UI really intuitive? Can you offer a valid experience to users at all levels. Tutorials are important.

His family have never wanted to play his games. His Dad was totally hooked on guitar hero!

Injecting creativity into the games is important - and encouraging users to move on to 'real' instruments is a good idea. Especially when there is little musical education in schools.

Guitar hero was breakthrough for participative musical games. The performance aspect is important and focuses attention on the player rather than the game.

Social impact of musical games. Sometimes they are embarrassment simulators.

What's next?

New interfaces are on the way. More room to experiment. People may get tired of the big cinematic games (he hopes!). Web connection will enable new ideas and downloads. Innovation will happen from this. New hardware may enable DSPs to tweak/augment sounds. Musical collaboration may happen (they are very interested in it).

Guitar hero II will enable collaborative play.

Q - age group? Our games are appealing to parents and then kids down to 8 do Karaoke. 10 - 13 is core group. Pre-teen to mid 20s.

Do people take games out of their home - 'Guitar Hero Night' - it's happening in the US. 'Battle of the Bands' - using guitar hero. People like videoing themselves doing guitar hero. People do moves.