RockFree Interview: Chief Creative Officer of Acclaim Said

The music genre continues to grow, and with it, so do the number of Guitar Hero clones. But when is a Guitar Hero clone not really a clone? When it tries to do something a little different. And Why spend a couple hundred dollars on plastic instruments when you can play a browser-based band rhythm game and play for free? ROCKFREE, the online-only, micro-transaction music game from Acclaim, aims to put a new spin on the way we rock. If you are a rock music fan, you owe it to yourself to give these details about the game a try. Just hit the jump to read the full interview.

BBGSite: Hi,glad to talk with you. To start,can you basically introduce yourself and your game?

Hi, I'm David Perry, RockFREE’s Executive Producer & Chief Creative Officer of Acclaim. Now, let me tell you a bit about the game. It is a Flash-based multiplayer online game that is similar to Guitar Hero, but it’s free and online! It is free to play, with item mall to customize the avatar with hair, top, bottom, shoes, and guitars. It is a browser-based game, so there is no download to install... just play it online through any web browser! We have 50 officially licensed songs from major artists – and our players are able to upload their own songs and program the notes sequences. The game is multiplayer, with up to 8 players battling in a room. You can chat live with players from around the world in the backstage of the club. Then when you are competing onstage, you see the other players avatars rocking out. You can play with your keyboard or any USB guitar. It’s a fun, casual, social game experience that will keep you rocking out!

BBGSite: Now, how many active players in RockFree? Have you tracked players' action?

As you know, every player who signs up on Acclaim.com can directly play RockFree. There are over 7 million Acclaim users, more than 500 thousand of which are just active RockFree players according to statistics.

BBGSite: Yep, That's so large! Hope RockFree will get more and more popular! What are the outstanding features of RockFree? What's your favorite aspect of the game,and why?

Some of those features include the Changing Room, My Rocker, My Songs (where all your purchased and personally uploaded songs are located), Practice, Leader Boards, Tutorial and of course a mode for multiplayer. You can jump into the Changing Room and change your outfit. What you'll see is, five different categories of items. Hair styles, shirts, pants, shoes and guitars. We have 50 officially licensed songs from major artists – and our players are able to upload their own songs and program the notes sequences. The game is multiplayer, with up to 8 players battling in a room. It's worth to mention that RockFree is keyboard based with a USB guitar option available. Since this is a Flash game, you'll be able to play using your keyboard. But if you have a USB guitar, the gameplay is going to be much closer to that of Guitar Hero. This Feature is my favorite aspect!

BBGSite: Should RockFree players be good at singing or acquire some music related knowledge?

Oh, not necessarily! It doesn't require! Multiple difficulty settings ensure that gamers of all skill levels will have a good time. You might be thinking, Flash game, how hard could it be! But I guarantee if you play it on Novice and then go play it on Rockstar, you'll be blown away. The speed and intensity in gameplay is noticeably different at each difficulty setting.