The backstory: Gamasutra, renowned game development blog, ran a contest to describe a game popular in 2020. We were to focus on such a game's primary design concepts, the innovation it would bring to the table, and how it would be controlled, as well as give some info on its minute-to-minute gameplay. The loot: 20 $1600-value all-access passes to GDC. I was already signed up for GDC, but with a crappy Expo Pass, the kind that doesn't let you attend any of the lectures. I'd never written a game design document before, but I had some good ideas about the future content distribution and design theory. I figured it couldn't hurt to enter, so I gave it a shot, and spent my Wednesday putting a concept together.

I won!

beat was my name for the music game of 2020. It focuses on modularity in design and content delivery, leading to easy implementation of user-created content (among other things). The concept was for an entirely new vector of music delivery and enjoyment - the spiritual successor to Rock Band, but more flexible and pervasive. Apparently the guys at Gamasutra liked it, and now I'm going to the full week of GDC!

The full design document I submitted is below. (Be warned, it's 9 and a half pages!)

 beat: music is everywhere (.pdf, 204kb)

While a certain British band steals the title, Gamasutra's recent article documents much more interesting comments made by EA's COO John Pleasants. The most notable? "There are lots of other things you can do with music, and we're working on interesting things." This kind of news is a five-course meal to music/rhythm gamers like myself who are starved of innovation. (Departures like Patapon are barely a snack.)

It's really exciting to hear that an industry giant like EA is looking at actual innovation, especially when Activision's doing the opposite with GH: Metallica and GH: Greatest Hits. But will "interesting things" include new modes of input, gameplay other than hitting gems at the right time (i.e. hybrids with other genres), and, well, genuine innovation? Or will it just be new peripherals for Rock Band? As much as I love Harmonix, Rock Band was more of a logical extension of their previous products (GH2 and Karaoke Revolution) than anything actually new. With Rock Band Unplugged set for a 2009 release, we're exposing a new generation to Frequency-style gameplay. Maybe this will be the key to getting consumer approval for music games without plastic guitars.