Guitar Hero : What Didnt Work

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Guitar Hero What Didnt Work

• Daniel Sussman Eric Brosius
• Harmonix Music Systems

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Guitar Hero

• Shipped November 05
• Rhythm action game with peripheral
• Rock simulator

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Rock Guitar Simulator

• Melodies Beat-match single notes
• Chords Two buttons at the same time
• Sustain
• Vibrato (Whammy bar)

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You are the Rock Star

• Allows player to reproduce ideal performance
• Un-mutes real recording

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Demo
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Guitar Hero in a Nutshell

• Upside always sounds great at any difficulty
  level
• Supports wide range of user abilities
• Downside very little space for player
  self-expression

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Freestyle Mode

• Engage during solo sections
• Uses bank of guitar samples
• Pre-authored guitar licks
• Game system keeps track of key
• Spits out guitar licks when you fret and strum

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Freestyle Mode

• Higher buttons trigger higher notes/licks
• Hold a button for sustain
• Sustain tilt feedback
• Whammy bar pitch-shifts
• Strum tilt mayhem

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Why did we cut it?

• Couldnt get it to sound good
• Couldnt fit it into game design
• Hard to teach usage to players

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Why didnt it sound good?

• Riff mechanic too twitchy, needs lots of tuning
• Not enough sample memory
• PS2 doesnt have enough DSP power

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Why didnt it fit?

• How is it scored?
• Can it be scored?
• If not scored, how to motivate player?

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Complex control scheme

• Lots of non-obvious controls
• Experienced players can get results
• NooBs just thrash

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Freestyle demo
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All these problems were solvable

• No more dev time
• Needed to keep product focused

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• Daniel Sussman
• daniel_at_harmonixmusic.com
• Eric Brosius
• eric_at_harmonixmusic.com