Red Octane’s John Tam cranks out the jams (Ok, they are answers) on Guitar Hero
By Michael Lafferty

“Everything in the game is built to support the illusion of you playing a real guitar and the player is totally rocking out.”

The lights come up, the instrument’s neck is cool to the touch, as if understanding that what is about to happen will be anything but cool – it will hot, fast and furious. It will ring out across the arena (or bar), and mesmerize, pulverize and tantalize.

The amp is cranked, it’s time to ROCK!

Guitar Hero is the PlayStation 2 title that tries to emulate the feeling of being a powerhouse rocker, six-string hung around the neck and fingers dancing on the fretboard.

Nigel Tufnel (the musician): The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and....
Marty DiBergi (the documentary interviewer): Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
Nigel: Exactly.
Marty: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?
Nigel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
Marty: I don't know.
Nigel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Marty: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
Marty: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
Nigel: [Pauses.] These go to eleven.

Forget 10, forget 11, just crank the tunes and pursue the dream. (But anytime a game leads one to quote from the classic film This is Spinal Tap has got to be a great moment.) With a soundtrack that ranges from Ziggy Stardust and Smoke on the Water to Symphony of Destruction, Guitar Hero packs a lot of punch. No, not punch, electric blazin’ power!

RedOctane, and Harmonix Music, is behind the title and the game’s producer, John Tam, took time to chat with GameZone about this title.

Question: What was the inspiration behind Guitar Hero (and please don't say it was a Foreigner song – which will likely be quoted in another venue)? 

John: “Yes and no actually. What inspired Guitar Hero is just rock music in general. This is why many different types of rock music are represented in Guitar Hero.”

Q: How does this title differ from other titles that play off the idea of players becoming part of the scene, either as - in the case of Guitar Hero - a musician, or as a singer/rapper? 

John: “The spirit of rock music is clearly the electric guitar. When you play the game you really become engrossed in the music and learn to understand the rhythm of the guitar sections of the song. This is key to what makes Guitar Hero so great. Our belief is that people may be intimidated to sing or rap but everyone can feel a little sexy playing the guitar in Guitar Hero.”

Q: You have integrated a guitar into the control aspects of the game. How comfortable will using this be to someone who plays guitar, and how did you find that balance between catering to someone who plays an instrument and someone who is just looking for a fun musically based game? 

John: “We've simplified the creation of notes/chords to five "fret buttons" and the strumming on the six strings to one strum bar that goes up and down. Musicians that have played for years remark at how the illusion is complete. You really do feel like you are playing guitar for these songs. If you make mistakes, it sounds like mistakes. If you don't do anything, the guitar sections do not play and the crowds begin to turn against you. Everything in the game is built to support the illusion of you playing real guitar and the player is totally rocking out.” 

Q: How did you go about selecting the songs that you've included here for players to choose from? 

John: “The list got shortened down from 900 tracks because of various reasons. Some obvious bands didn't get back to us or we couldn't work out the details. We specifically centered around tracks that play well from the guitarist point of view and would play well in a guitar-based game. It's very hard work and a real learning experience for all of us. It's also one of the most important things. We all believe that music makes the music game. Guitar Hero's soundtrack totally rocks! RedOctane and Harmonix both really partnered to make the best song track list that we could for this title.” 

Q: Obviously the soundtrack is ultra-important in a title like this, but what steps did you take to insure that the graphics would be equally compelling? 

John: “The graphics are equally compelling to make the player feel like they are in the motif of rock (or RAWK.) Everything was based on the rock experience. The menus use rock concert posters, the song select screen is right out of high school, and even the disk looks like vinyl.

“For the player, the interface also looks like a neck of the guitar with strings. The note markers or gems scroll down between strings to get to the timing bar.

“Spectators also have tons to look at. When there's a long pause I often look at my adoring crowds (if I'm playing well) to see if I'm playing well. I'm ashamed when I don't capture them. This is how the graphics also support what we tried to create in the game. Harmonix really pushed the PS2 far to make this game look great on the system.”

Q: What aspects do you think will give players the biggest thrills and biggest sense of accomplishment? 

John: “Getting better at the game is a tremendous thrill. Just pushing yourself to wthe next new song or clearing a harder difficulty is a huge accomplishment and makes people feel great. Many developers on the project are real musicians and/or have toured in bands. They've taken their experience of being in front of a crowd performing and put it right into the game. You really get to be that rock star right in your living room. When the lead artist has 4 Gibson Flying V guitars, it's telling you something. 14 of the unlock songs also came from Harmonix house bands and/or friends.”

Q: What elements of the game give you the biggest enjoyment? What aspects of this title provided the most challenges in the development phase? 

John: “Personally I believe that it's between what's captured in the software and the guitar controller. I've covered lots about the game but the controller is equally important to the experience. As a user, you get to strap this thing to your body and it really feels like you are getting into the experience. 

“As someone that worked on the publishing side of Guitar Hero, the enjoyment is in the creation side as well as bringing this experience to market. We enjoy the accomplishment of believing in something enough to make it happen. The feedback has been tremendous and ‘ya can't help but feel like your vision of the product is validated.’ It's an important feeling on a title like this.

“The biggest challenges of our development phase was actually the controller. The guitar controller was a huge undertaking for us because of the short and intense production schedule. Big decisions about the controller and game had to be made when things were only still on paper and could not exactly be tested. We had to go with what we believed in from experience and just the vision of the product. The whammy bar on the guitar controller was particularly risky but it showed up in great form.”

Q: If you could be the lead guitarist of any band, which would it be? 

John: “That's a tuff one. I guess maybe the best choice to be an indie startup band. I think at that level you still are totally all about the music. Then again who wouldn't want to just BE in a big rock band. I'd say that it would be between Drist as an indie rock band and Van Halen as a big band. (but only from the late 80's).”

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