Greg LoPiccolo: We defined some ambitious goals early on. We knew that we wanted it to be as close to real rock drumming as possible, which meant that we needed a kick pedal, which meant that we needed to build a whole kit. We prototyped a bunch of different configurations and pad sizes, and finally arrived at the controller that we shipped. It was a huge challenge to develop a controller that was big and sturdy enough to get the job done, but that could be manufactured at a price point that would allow us to sell it at a reasonable price. We think it came out great, and we are really proud of it.
Rock Band just might give you a head start at being a real drummer.
GameSpy: Anecdotally, have you found that the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games are encouraging people to take up real instruments?
Greg LoPiccolo: We have heard anecdotally that guitar teachers have gotten tons of new students over the last year or so, and we expect the same thing to be true of drums over the next few years. For us, that is about the best outcome that we can imagine; to have players inspired by the game to explore the real instruments.GameSpy: Along those lines, playing drums on expert mode seems awfully close to really playing drums. Do you think an incredible Rock Band player will be able to quickly move to real drums?
Greg LoPiccolo: There's more to drumming that beating Rock Band drums on expert, as any serious drummer will tell you. That said, the most difficult aspect of learning drums is independent limb coordination, and Rock Band drums will give you a huge head start in this area. The skills you learn in Rock Band apply directly to real drums, much more so than the guitar controller relates to real guitar. That is pretty exciting to us; we can't wait to see how it develops.GameSpy: Let's talk about the scoring system in the game, particularly when it comes to scoring a whole band. What inspired you to enable the bass player to ramp up to a x6 multiplayer (the others top out at x4)? And what was your goal with overdrive scoring for the whole band? Does it encourage the kind of gameplay you were looking for?
Greg LoPiccolo: We really wanted each band member to be able to contribute something unique and special to the performance, and bass was frankly a challenge, since in many rock songs (not all!), the bass parts are simpler and easier than the guitar parts. So we developed the bass role as the band member who can contribute huge scores simply by being reliable and error-free. If you are playing bass in Rock Band and you can keep your streak going, you can contribute more to your band's score than any other member, which means that the bass role is way more than just a low-rent version of the guitar role. Bands who are playing for score need to take the bass role seriously, or they won't be competitive.
We also made a number of design calls to pull the band together emotionally. Stacking the overdrive scoring was one such call, and the fail/save system was another. It was really important to us that everyone playing felt connected as a band, and that players would come to realize that they had to depend on each other to succeed as a unit. Once those features worked right in development, Rock Band became the game that we wanted it to be.
