Though the Guitar Hero franchise turned out to be a surprise hit and major cultural success, many developers at Harmonix were skeptical that the guitar controller would be well-received by the public.
The idea of Guitar Hero came from the minds at RedOctane, the original publisher, and Harmonix, a rhythm gaming development studio, after Japanese rhythm games proved to be a huge success in the east and wanted to bring the same style of gaming into western markets. After the first Guitar Hero game became a surprisingly big hit in America, the two teams would go on to create a sequel before the franchise boomed into the cultural phenomenon it is today. But prior to its impactful debut of a guitar controller in the west, developers at Harmonix didn’t think it would work out so well.
In a story from Vice News, Harmonix developers detail the inception of the Guitar Hero idea, saying that it branched off from the company’s history with a line of successful karaoke games. But rather than singing, the game would be done with a guitar peripheral, one pitch said. But some weren’t receptive to the idea, such as Sound Designer Izzy Maxwell, who said, “That sounds really dumb.”
Jason Kendall, an artist and animator for Harmonix, also thought the idea of Guitar Hero was silly: “My initial thoughts around the controller were that it was goofy and it wouldn’t work.” But Kendall was also super excited to work on a rock-and-roll video game. Harmonix brought up the business concerns to RedOctane, that the game might not sell well, but development continued. And once the team got a guitar controller in their hands, Kendall says, “everything changed.”
Later on, the developers would dive deep into the concept of the guitar controller and the importance of making it feel like a “real” guitar to enhance gameplay. For starters, adding the fifth button was part of the skill progression in Guitar Hero. Later came the whammy bar, which RedOctane was concerned was too expensive and unnecessary, but after going into a “rigorous prototyping phase,” the whammy bar ended up adding charm to gameplay.
After the original Guitar Hero‘s release, the game accrued $45 million in 2 months. And not only would Guitar Hero have a major impact on the video game industry, but the rhythm game is also considered a boon to the music industry and physical therapy as well.
Source: Vice News
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