"Your Music is the Game: Designing PHASE, the Other Project at Harmonix"

Chris Foster, Harmonix Music Systems

While the majority of Harmonix built the juggernaut that is "ROCK BAND," a second, smaller team set to work on a game that turns a player's own music collection into an infinite variety of gameplay "levels." This talk outlines the challenges of adapting proven gameplay to a unique platform. When "your music is the game," how do you make that game fun for every conceivable song... even if you aren't strutting around with a plastic guitar?