PLEASE - Better Single Player Options

[Akzidenz]

I'm loving the hell out of Rock Band. The song selection, the character creation, the DLC, it's all top-notch. Band World Tour is spectacular. That said, I can't get together with my friends every day to play, so a lot of the time I'm left to play on my own.

Why, Harmonix, would you leave SO MANY options out of Single Player? Band World Tour has dozens and dozens of arenas, mystery setlists, make-your-own setlists, endless setlist.. there's no reason why the Single Player mode couldn't be that rich.

Please, patch the game so that the Single Player mode includes:

The ability to make a Custom Setlist
The ability to choose your venue
A real Mystery Setlist (the random option in Quickplay doesn't count)
Endless Setlist
Some choice over band members' appearance


I love this game, I realize it's called Rock Band, but I hate losing some of my favorite things about it when I can't get people together to play. There's no reason not to add these features, they're not game-breaking, and I can't imagine they'd be difficult to include in a patch.

Anyone else out there agree?

[dodgyknees]

This has been covered on endless other threads. It's unlikely to happen. I think this is more likely to come with RB2. I'd love to be wrong though.

[Darkfalz]

Why should it be unlikely? How hard is it to just remove the 2 player minimum from BWT?!
:mad:

Adding the options above to Solo, or removing the 2 player minimum SHOULD be done.

[HeXcoda]

HMX has gone on record as saying they will never make the current BWT mode solo-capable, because it "unbalances gameplay". So, we're going to have to wait until RB2 for them to cover the gaping holes in their armor of metal. All of the points you cite are distinct shortcomings in the game, and hopefully, HMX cares enough about solo players to address this in the future.

One promising thing is they've hinted that they want online BWT to be kind of like an MMORPG... that would cover single players well. Still, I'd want some depth and substance to the offline solo play, as well.

[sushimooshi]

wat i would do(and planing to do once i get the game) is to sing and play another instrument at the same time therefore u get the features of BWT while soloing. If your not cordinated enough just set ur instrument or vocals to a lower level. Its all i can think of but anyways i have 3 friends itching to play so i wont have any problems :P lol

[Darkfalz]

Well that extremely close minded.

I love it when game companies feel compelled to dictate the only way you can play "their" game.

If these options at a minimum aren't present in solo for RB2, I won't be purchasing it.

[Ultrace]

I love it when game companies feel compelled to dictate the only way you can play "their" game.

No offense, but it is "their" game. They made it, they balanced the play, they decide how you proceed. This is really no different than the makers of an FPS deciding you can't have co-op play in campaign, or an RPG deciding that you can't swap characters mid-battle.

Would I like solo BWT? Sure, more options are always great. But you need to come down off the high horse and acknowledge that the game developers have the right to dictate how you play the game and advance. That's their job. :)

[macafied]

Wonder if anyone has tried pointing the microphone at the speaker so that it picks up the vocal track? If that works and the game recognizes the vocal from the original track you may be able to do solo BWT on drums, guitar and bass.

[Darkfalz]

No offense, but it is "their" game. They made it, they balanced the play, they decide how you proceed. This is really no different than the makers of an FPS deciding you can't have co-op play in campaign, or an RPG deciding that you can't swap characters mid-battle.

Would I like solo BWT? Sure, more options are always great. But you need to come down off the high horse and acknowledge that the game developers have the right to dictate how you play the game and advance. That's their job. :)


I'm a developer for a MMORPG, and yes, we have to control many aspects of the game experience to ensure that the game is equally enjoyable for everyone, its a shared playground.

When we develop, we believe that it's our customer's game, and we try and deliver what they want, but it's tricky because we have to make sure the experience remains enjoyable for everyone.

But we're talking about the solo experience here, why limit it? Why the concern for "game balance"? Your example of a FPS is especially flawed because just about every FPS has a "god" code and other exploits that are only usable in single player campaign.


I've seen many decisions like the one here for RB, I can close my eyes and almost hear the Producer dictating what the experience will be, without any consideration of how it could be.... it HAS to fit THEIR vision. I've been in that same meeting many times, and I've NEVER seen it turn out to be the correct decision in the end.

[Maggot_Brain]

I've seen many decisions like the one here for RB, I can close my eyes and almost hear the Producer dictating what the experience will be, without any consideration of how it could be.... it HAS to fit THEIR vision. I've been in that same meeting many times, and I've NEVER seen it turn out to be the correct decision in the end.

QFT. The pointy haired boss needs to keep out of this.

[sporkBrigade]

I'm a developer for a MMORPG, and yes, we have to control many aspects of the game experience to ensure that the game is equally enjoyable for everyone, its a shared playground.

When we develop, we believe that it's our customer's game, and we try and deliver what they want, but it's tricky because we have to make sure the experience remains enjoyable for everyone.

But we're talking about the solo experience here, why limit it? Why the concern for "game balance"? Your example of a FPS is especially flawed because just about every FPS has a "god" code and other exploits that are only usable in single player campaign.


I've seen many decisions like the one here for RB, I can close my eyes and almost hear the Producer dictating what the experience will be, without any consideration of how it could be.... it HAS to fit THEIR vision. I've been in that same meeting many times, and I've NEVER seen it turn out to be the correct decision in the end.

I'm not sure the balance thing has as much to do with a "Vision" as much as it has to do with how they perceive World Tour as a Solo experience. The fact is, BWT was never supposed to be a straight forward "Campaign". It's a sandbox, and one that isn't actually as friendly to solo play to the average person. You have to replay a lot of songs to advance through BWT. A lot of the setlists and objectives are convoluted and repetative. As a multiplayer experience, it works. As a single player experience, I personally think it's not very good. And I think that's the key to what Harmonix is talking about.

BWT has been built up into something it's not, which is unfortunate. The Solo Tours get the job done for a single player experience. I personally am enjoying them very much. And the BWT mode gets the job done when I have my specific "Band" over. But as soon as someone from my "Band" is missing, and we just want to play, we go straight to quickplay. BWT awesome for a group wanting to conquer random goals and challenges, but as a straightfoward platform for playing the game, it's wacky and inconvenient. For a solo player, this would be even worse.

BWT is a poor solo experience for the average Joe. For you nerds, and by the way I'm one of you, you'd still prefer it over nothing. But that doesn't mean HMX has some duty to please you. The vast majority of people playing the game will play it exactly as designed. BWT for a multiplayer band for an odd but satisfying multiplayer Sandbox experience. Solo Tours for Solo play, a much more streamlined experience that's proven to work. Enabling Solo BWT opens a can of worms you're not factoring in. It's a poor solo game, and it will turn people off to the game. If it's rebalanced in the future, it could be a way better solo experience, but that takes time. When it happens, I'm sure HMX will do a super job.

[Feigned]

One promising thing is they've hinted that they want online BWT to be kind of like an MMORPG... that would cover single players well. Still, I'd want some depth and substance to the offline solo play, as well.

I think you may have misread a quote on this. They likened the enormity of programming online BWT to that of programming an MMO. They aren't actually trying to make BWT into an MMO.

That would be pretty funny though. "My new epic axe gives me +15 to rocking!" :p

[seafisch]

Solo Tours for Solo play, a much more streamlined experience that's proven to work.

If by "proven to work" you mean "it's what we're used to from GH" then I agree with you. But just because something works doesn't mean it can't be improved upon.

At the very least, let us name our band, create a logo, and create our band members in Solo Tour, so that I don't get the neanderthal with the spikey costume as my singer and the fugly amazon with the trihawk as my guitar player.

[Hanover]

I keep saying that I can't wait for them to patch in the Online BWT mode...but has it been actually confirmed that this will happen?

The only thing that gets complicated with online is keeping track of which of your band mates is online...that would require a special screen...

It would also require the band leader to be online before the rest of the band could play...so I'd imagine that they'd have to limit everyone to being in just one band. Otherwise everyone would make a band with themselves as the band leader and that could make for millions of bands.

(drink when you read the word band)

But think about it...online battle of the bands. THAT would be awesome! People could get online and schedule practices, etc. You could even practice with your local friends when you couldn't get together in person. Lots of possibilities.

:)

[seafisch]

I keep saying that I can't wait for them to patch in the Online BWT mode...but has it been actually confirmed that this will happen?

There are conflicting quotes on this. It may be a patch, it may be a feature in RB2.

[surferbill]

the reason they feel it would be unbalanced is in regards to the leaderboards....but i think if they were willing to release solo BWT without it being counted in the leaderboards, people would have no problem with it...i know i wouldnt.

But there are way too many things in this game that you NEED phyiscal people to access. I mean the majority of the achievements are only unlockable in BWT mode. I love this game, and I'm not all that concerned with my achievement points, but not being able to access these things sucks pretty badly.

At this point it seems like we're just beating a dead horse unfortunately. Hopefully the good guys and gals at HMX will take it into consideration after reading all of these threads.

[AdamBomb629]

Wonder if anyone has tried pointing the microphone at the speaker so that it picks up the vocal track? If that works and the game recognizes the vocal from the original track you may be able to do solo BWT on drums, guitar and bass.

That was tried quite a bit during testing. Doesn't work, I guess.

[Loozinit]

just get yourself a trusty $20 or less micstand and sing/drums and/or play guitar one man band.
but the online option would def be epic in terms of an almost halo-like community

[BubbaC]

Please, patch the game so that the Single Player mode includes:


Some choice over band members' appearance


i want this and only this. my guy always looks out of place in solo.. it's lame. i play with friends alot and we look pretty bad ass.. but when i come home i have to play solo, and it looks dumb. especially having some black metal guy playing with hippies.. uggggg.

also the ability to create a band logo for solo would be great. all the other stuff in BWT can stay there. i just want that crap.

[Akzidenz]

Whoa, my thread is still alive?

Hit this thread up instead, guys, it's way bigger:

http://community.rockband.com/vbforum/showthread.php?t=8525