BAND MATES’ design is guided by three core ideas or design pillars: Accessible, Expressive, and Social.
Every design decision in the game is made to reinforce these three pillars.
I see Accessibility and Expressiveness as a balancing act, when it comes to designing the music creation systems. If you make the systems too accessible, you risk it feeling not that creatively engaging (since it can feel like the game is creating the music for you). If you make it too expressive, you risk making the systems too complex and the learning curve too steep for players (the violin is one of the most expressive instruments in the world, it is also one of the hardest to learn and play). So this tension between Accessibility and Expressiveness is always present as we iterate on the game’s systems.
The third design pillar, Social, comes from my own experience in my creative endeavors. Without anyone to share what I created with, what motivation did I really have to create it in the first place? When I was in it was always motivating to see what my friends were creating. It was also motivating to show them something I was really proud of, and see their reactions. When I played in a band, it was awesome to feel how a song idea I had would evolve as each band member made it their own. It was very rewarding. It’s also super natural in a band environment, the collaboration part. This all falls under the social pillar. In short, BAND MATES encourages you, through its game systems, to share and collaborate with other players. And we think a huge source of enjoyment will come from these features.
When I was in music, being part of the scene felt important
Accessible – music, by default is not an accessible endeavor. It takes years of lessons, expensive instruments and equipment, hours of dedication and practice, commitment, etc. If I had to pick THE main objective of the game is to take all these away. To make the player feel like they don;t need all these in order to feel empowered to play and create music.
Whether you’re an expert musician, or a complete novice, you should be able to take a controller and play with any person of any expertise level. This game is meant for people of all backgrounds to experience the joy of making music together, the instruments themselves being both accessible and intuitive. It’s about having fun and not having to overthink or feel like you need to “work” in order to “get to the fun”. Part of making the game accessible is the interface, a simple game controller, applicable in almost all platforms, no extra hardware to buy or learn.
- Anyone can play music with anyone else, no matter the level of musical knowledge.
- Smooth learning curve and intuitive controls.
- An “all play, no work” way of making music.
- Game controller as interface, no extra hardware to buy or learn.
Expressive – This game is all about giving you the tools to create music in a super fun and deeply expressive way. It is also about expressing your personality through your characters, jam space, and music instruments. You can collect props for you Jam Space (make it as cool looking as you can and invite your friends over for a jam!), collect and learn new instruments/music gear (from varied music genres), and collect cool new clothes/props for your character (looking cool is half the job of a musician!).
Expressiveness also comes out in the customization systems. Expressing yourself not only through your music, but through your band as a whole.
- Music making features are deeply expressive, even while remaining accessible and easy to use.
- Express a band’s personality through vast amounts of customization options: character, instrument, jamspace, sounds and effects, VFX, etc.
- Collect band fashion, instruments, room props, and VFX.
- Use your collected props to personalize your band’s style, sound, Jamspace, and overall presentation.
Social – This game is about giving the player the experience of what it’s like to be in a band, and that means collaborating, interacting, creating, and having fun with other people. Getting motivated by other players, show off your creations to other players, etc. Whether it’s local or online multiplayer.
- Share your music ideas with your friends and see how they remix and take them in new directions.
- Share your finished songs and music videos with the world.
- Experience what it’s like to be in a band with your friends.
- Experience what it’s like to be part of a whole music scene.
- Collaborate, interact, create, and have fun with other people, locally or online.
- Show off your music creations to your friends, be inspired by them.
- Share music parts with friends so they can riff/build upon them (Tik Tok Duets style)
- Share your finished songs and music videos in game and on social media
- Belong to a music scene and explore what others are creating in game through in game sharing systems.
- Once you have a song you love, create a music video for it and share with the world.