The Pitch
We’re Getting the Band Together is a 2D top-down JRPG visual novel centered around the protagonist’s last chance at musical glory. Our protagonist is a college senior with desk drawers full of unfinished song demos and missed chances. With graduation just weeks away, they hear of an exclusive audition for the school’s top two bands. Perhaps this is their final chance to join a band and have their music see the light of day.
At band tryouts, the two rival bands fight over the protagonist. Torn between the two bands, the protagonist start snooping and lies start unraveling. While snooping around rehearsal rooms, recording studios, and forgotten storage spaces, they find glimpses of the past in old song sheets, audio recordings, and ticket stubs. Each discovery leads the protagonist to speak with classmates, fans, and past band members – piecing together the true origins of this rivalry.
Time is running out and by the time of the competition, the protagonist must choose which band to join and which secrets to reveal!
Setting: Levels and Chapters
The game progresses through the exploration of characters and their relationships to each other as physically represented in the spaces you unlock and explore.
As you head to rehearsal at the music room, you will complete espionage missions at the behest of the band on their rival. As you gain trust of the band members one by one, you unlock new spaces to explore, such as their rooms. As you gain clues and items throughout these spaces, you might discover why these bands have so much contempt for each other in the first place.
Gameplay
Our early ideation for the gameplay loop involves collectible inventory items, different narrative dialogue choices (linear narrative is a baseline, branching narrative is a stretch goal), fetch quests, environmental exploration, and mini-puzzles that serve as the primary form of progression through the game. To help keep track of different narrative choices and quests, we may implement a journal or other form of record-keeping.
Unlike traditional JRPGs, we do not plan on incorporating a combat system and all its associated mechanics—player health, multiple characters in a party, experience or leveling, buffs & debuffs, etc. Our game will play more like a top-down visual novel, with the possibility of incorporating smaller gameplay loops (collectibles, farming items, taking care of a plant/pet) between the main narrative if we have the bandwidth and/or greater relationship mechanics with the characters.
Tone
This game is light-hearted mixed with excitement and urgency – a tone similar to the last days of summer when you have the sudden confidence and urge to do anything and everything.
Coming of Age – The player walks through the familiar school hallways and classrooms where they follow a coming of age story immersed with a humor, awkward encounters, and the weight of last chances.
Bonded through Tension – The player interacts with other characters in the narrative as they all navigate the drama and social dynamics of a college environment. Through these experiences, they find meaning to friendship and self-discovery.
Spring Brightness, Summer Warmth – We want the game to remind players of freshly peeled tangerines and a comforter that came straight out of the dryer. This game introduces new experiences and self-discovery in a charming and familiar lens.
Tone References
Movies, Shows, Films:
- Despicable Me
- High School Musical – tryouts, performance
- Wicked
- My Little Pony
Games:
- Stardew Valley
- A Space for the Unbound
Literature:
- Romeo and Juliet
Songs:
- Love Story (Taylor Swift)
- White Ferrari (Frank Ocean)
- Let’s Have a Battle (Of the Bands) (My Little Pony)
Key Challenges for Design
Spatial design is critically important for both the theme of this assignment and the premise of the game. Some key challenges for level and spatial design include creating “anchor” spaces that players can return to throughout the game, such as the music practice room that’s repurposed as a tryout location and band home base. These assets would be designed to be easily recolored to suit different purposes throughout the game.
Additionally, we anticipate creating locations that the player can explore to drive the plot, such as shared recording studios and student residences, but are designed to be split down the middle to signify which band the space belongs to.
Key Challenges for Tech
We haven’t had the chance to do a deep dive in all the features that RPG Maker provides, but from a preliminary look, it seems to be extremely well-suited for the top-down 2D pixel JRPG genre—tile-based movement, prebuilt (and importable custom) environmental and character assets, level building, interactable objects & inventory mechanics, and community sourced plug-ins for extended functionality all come built-in. The learning curve seems manageable for the non-technical (and technical…) members of our team as well.
One of our key tech challenges is the fact that there are no built-in collaboration tools where we can work in real time, meaning that individual team members will have to work separately on their own parts and push files to Git. We have to make sure we limit overlapping work and merge conflicts. Another thing we need to investigate is how scripting different game sequences using JS works in this engine.
Key Challenges for Art
Since we chose RPG Maker as our game, all of our assets will have to abide by their formats. Thankfully, there are numerous assets provided by RPG Maker itself. However, since many of them are meant for fantasy rather than a modern college setting, it is likely that we will make environment assets ourselves. Additionally, we want to customize the environment and item assets heavily since they are a core component of the spatial exploration and gameplay. These will also be done in pixel art, which we may utilize programs like Aesprite to create.
Because this game focuses on bands, we are also aware that music and sound choice have higher expectations. However, as everyone on the team has little to no experience composing music or sound for games, it is highly improbable that original compositions will be used. We will be using the most suitable royalty free assets we can find with great detail and attention to how we use sound assets.
Who is this for?
This game is for nosey people.
Just kidding. But really, our game is for people looking for a cozy coming-of-age experience to escape to on a cool summer night. From the wholesome experience of getting the band back together to indulging yourself in snooping around in other people’s drama, this game creates an opportunity for people to explore the world of two college bands, investigate inner/interband conflicts, and learn the importance of friendship along the way.
Pretty cheesy, but comforting.
Appendix:
Individual Concept Doc – The Mechanics of Magic
