The Front Office - A Kudos: Rock Legend dynasty

[Peregrine]

This is going to be a dynasty of the game Kudos: Rock Legend, a sim game where you form a rock band and try to lead them to stardom. Normally you get five years to rise to the top, but I've altered the game to give me six years instead.

I'll be starting a band called The Front Office, and my lead singer is Jake. We start out with nothing but 35 bucks and a dream.




The first thing I'll need to do is audition some band members. We have to get a guitarist, a drummer, and a bass player, but we have the option of adding a keyboard player or saxophonist if we want.

I go after guitarists first, and I have three choices, Joe Sheehan is pretty good with the guitar, and knows the wah guitar style (each band member brings a style to the table that lets you use that style in writing songs,) he's ambitious and pessimistic. Ambitious lets him improve his musical ability faster, and pessimistic means he's quicker to turn sour on the band if things go wrong.

Caspian Roth is the best guitarist of the three in terms of ability, and is used to the Harmony Guitars style. He's ambitious, energetic, and disruptive, so he'll work hard and won't get stressed out as much, but may cause problems in terms of personality conflicts.

The third option is Simon Roth, the worst guitarist of the bunch, but he is charismatic, articulate, and energetic. He likes the Guitar Solo side. Simon has a good package of abilities, as his charisma will be more effective in getting the word out about our band, and being articulate will help when we're doing interviews with the media.

I'll go with Simon. Time for a bass player.

I choose Marcus Stardust (nice name) for my bassist, he's pretty good, knows the fantasy style, and is optimistic and photogenic, so he looks good on TV. Simon Roth says he likes Marcus as well. The other two choices are both either disruptive or destructive, and I usually avoid those.

For my drummer, both my other bandmates like Guy Barret, a charismatic drummer who knows the Tempo Change style. In this case I'm going to go with band chemistry and pick upbeat, positive musicians, even if they aren't the best, talent wise. I've noticed that high talent is often accompanied by high ego or disruptive behavior, just like in real bands.

Here's what our choices were for drummers:



Now our band is formed and we're ready to go! Of course I have to write some songs before we can do any concerts.

[Peregrine]

I start off with a small arsenal of song parts to use, based on the skills the band members have and others. The key for songwriting is to be inspired, so you want to get your inspiration as high as possible, you can do this by going to other bands concerts or by listening to albums, each will give you a good bit of inspiration and let you learn a new song part. In this case I listened to a heavy metal album over a few turns and it gave me guitar solo, which I already had, but this is a better one, with more notes. More notes = better song.

I start out with a couple of songs, “Skydog” and “JeeberD”, but they're not that great. Each song is graded on a percentage, and these are 45-49%, not great. An 80% or higher is a classic. I need more inspiration, so I grab a blues album to listen to. I also take the band to a show by the Mohican Maniacs, it's expensive, but I'm very inspired afterwards and I learn about punk music.

I sit down and pen a pretty decent song, “Parody Thread” which is rated at 59%. A few more songs follow at around the same level, “Eaglesfan's Dream,” “Pancakes and Ksyrup,” and “Post Count.” Now I have enough songs to start doing gigs, but first I need to practice and rehearse.


Songwriting:








I get the band practicing a little to improve their musical skills. Honestly, this is my least favorite part of the game, as it is a memory thing where you have to repeat notes that are played, and your musical ability increases very slowly. Yes, it's a cheat, but I've modded the game to make it so my musical ability goes up a lot more each time I practice. It just removes an annoyance from an otherwise fun game.

I do several rehearsals at the worst spots to get us somewhat ready for our first gig, a show at Joe's Pub, a dark and dingy spot with only twenty seats. We're not very prepared, and only twelve people show up, but still we give them a hell of a show and even make a little money, $20. We'll need to buy some t-shirts as soon as we can afford them as they really boost the profits you make at these shows.


Our first show:

[Peregrine]

We're obviously getting nailed on not putting on any kind of show, so I spend a lot of our money on a cheap pair of spotlights, which will help us for now. Our next show is at the Blue Note Bar, the next step up from Joe's, but we don't draw many people and essentially break even on the gig.

We set up another gig at Joe's pub, but this time a few people have heard of us, and we spend a lot of time handing out leaflets at a club and putting posters up. This time we sell the place out, all 20 people, and make $47 bucks after expenses. I use the cash to buy 20 t-shirts, which will help us pad the bottom line for now.

It's March 2008 now, and here's our current status after a few shows. As you can see, all the items you buy are shown on the main screen, so you can sell them back if you need to, and there's also photos of our band members, which you can click on to get details about how they're doing.










We hit the Blue Note bar again after the usual poster and leaflet work. This time word has spread a little and we sell the place out, with 35 fans we sell some shirts and leave with $163 profit, quite a nice sum. Our fame is building up a little and now we're going to start making some more money. Of course there are plenty of ways to spend it, new lighting and effects gear, new instruments, roadies, and so forth.


Our next gig is at the Rock Zone, a local club that's a nice step up from the Blue Note. Going in, I'm not sure if we're famous enough to sell it out, and I'm right, but we get 50 people, our biggest crowd yet, and we walk away with $202 profit.

I book us back into the Blue Note next week, and spend some of our profits on a new bass for Marcus Stardust. He's really psyched about it, even though it's a pretty low level instrument compared to the thousand dollar ones out there. I'll give the other guys new instruments as fast as I can afford them, as they're really griping about that.

We get some big news, our first chance to get interviewed on local radio. This will really help to get the word out, especially since I have some very charismatic guys in the band. We also get a web interview, so it's good to see that people are hearing about us.

Our gig at the Blue Note marks our first year together as a band, we've done a few gigs and are just starting to leave our mark at the local level.We sell it out and take home $163 in profit. We're sold out of our first twenty shirts now, so I'll have to buy some more.


We stock up on t-shirts and do some more publicity work before hitting the Rock Zone again. This time we sell the place out, sell a bunch of shirts and bring home $448 profit. The crowd was joking about our lame stage show, our two spots aren't cutting it anymore, I'll have to fix that. I add a smoke machine, to give our band that magical aura, and we'll see how that works. I also decide to get ambitious and set our next gig up at Music Heaven, it's a big jump up from the Rock Zone and the people there expect good entertainment, so we do the best we can to publicize the show.

Well, our publicity worked, as we attracted 132 people, nearly a sellout. We didn't put on the best of shows, maybe our guys are getting overwhelmed by all the stuff that goes along with the bigger audiences, but we certainly cashed in for $614 in profits, a lot of it from t-shirts and poster sales.

I give the guys a couple days off after this gig as they're really stressed out, then I set up a gig at the Rat Club, a hot nightclub even bigger than Music Heaven. I also spring for a new guitar for Simon, and he's really happy. We get an interview in the local paper, which helps us out with our articulate and photogenic band members. We sell the place out, 165 people, and make a good bit of cash, but there are some boos mixed in as again our performance was not that fantastic, plus our stage show is definitely not good enough for this level.

A worrying trend – when the needles start going left, there's a problem

[Radii]

How do you mod it so practice helps you more? That was the most annoying part about the first game I played through, no matter what I did i could never get any of my bandmates above 60% and I never got myself above 38% or so, it seemed like you needed to spend at least half your days practicing to get any good.

[Peregrine]

Check the config file in the data subdirectory, every modifier is very clearly labelled, so you can change any feature in the game easily. Search for "practice" in it and you'll get to the right mod, you can adjust it as much as you like. Note that guys who are ambitious are affected by the item below the practice one, so they get more benefit from it.

[Crim]

Just bought the full version, Peregrine. Damn you.

[Crim]

Played way too long last night. So far, fun and challenging. I'm undecided on replayability, though. I tend to think that there will be rapidly diminishing returns as one plays through more careers. We shall see.

[Peregrine]

Well, I have a feeling it's the kind of game that will be fun for a few weeks, then you'll be finished with it, but I'm okay with that. I'd like to see a version that make signing a record deal more important and added a tour element, but I don't think that's going to happen right now at least.

[Peregrine]

I go ahead and purchase a new four spotlight set, a pyro, and a wireless mic setup for the band, that should help their show a little bit. I also finally buy us a bus, so we'll be able to travel to more distant clubs. Also, we've set up a gig at the Cat Club, it's going to be the biggest place we've played so far and we'll need to get the publicity machine going. Luckily we get a local radio and a web interview, so we're set for now.

We hit the Cat Club and sell it out, 220 screaming fans. They load up on our merchandise and we score big with a profit of over $1200. I think we're going to need to look into making an album soon, but we'll need more songs and I'm not that motivated right now. I buy some albums and we head out to see the Blues Gang to give me the inspiration I need. It's songwriting time.

My first song, “Werewolf Mania,” is 70%, the best I've ever written. I do another one, “Face the Board,” and it's even better at 74%. Now we're getting somewhere. I book us into the Cat Club again and about the same time, we get some good news. A bigtime rock singer has mentioned us in an interview, this will mean a big spike in our fame! Back to back good news then as an appreciative fan hooks Marcus up with a new bass, a really nice one too. We hit the Cat Club again and even though we're slacking on the rehearsals a bit, we do fine, and score about $1100 bucks.

[Peregrine]

We're really starting to see the big time now, and the band members are coming in with all kinds of demands, instrument cases, food riders for the gigs, and so forth. I also break out a great new song, “Dynasty Reports,” which I'm told is going to be a classic! Soon after that we get a national magazine review. We're really going places now!

I book us into Rock Paradise, an out of town venue that holds 330 people, and we sell it out, raking in almost $1700! It's definitely time to record a CD. We hit the studios and our first record, Immune, is out and ready to go.




Let's hope this one scores big, we spent a lot of money on it, using the good studio:









We hit the Cat Club again with our remaining cash, as a lot of it is sunk into the album. We're getting famous now and it's hard to avoid getting mobbed when we enter or leave the clubs. I may have to look into gettings some more staff to support the band.

I hire us a manager and a publicist, they're pricy, as they get paid every day whether we have a gig or not, but they should help get us into some better venues. For now I book us back into Rock Paradise, and we hit another national radio interview. These things are starting to seem routine. We even get an endorsement offer, which would have provided us some cash, but I turn them down. Shilling jeans is something for later in our careers when we're jaded and burned out.

[Peregrine]

We hit Rock Paradise again and we're ready this time, with an upgraded laser light show, and a stack of our new CD. We make a profit of over two grand on this one gig. It's time to hit the big time, and our manager hooks us into the Space Dome, a huge venue that holds 750 people. We're going to have to pull out all the stops on this one.

I get some practice time in with the band, rehearse as much as we can, and stock up on merchandise.
We roll up to the Space Dome and see a mob of fans outside, waiting to get in, and we know it's going to be a show to remember.


We blow the hell out of the Space Dome:







I take the loot from the monster show and buy Simon and Guy a new guitar and drumset, they're psyched! We book the Fox Arena, another out of town venue but smaller than the Space Dome. We've been practicing a new song, “Stuck in Quiksand,” and it feels like it's going to be another classic.

We give it a try at the Fox Arena and the crowd eats it up. It's getting crazy, we're getting mobbed on the street, have to stay in our new limo as much as we can. This is fame like we never imagined would happen. And it's going to get better, because our manager booked us into the MegaDome, one of the biggest venues in the country. It costs $7,700 just to book it, and it's going to be huge!

We realize now that it's been three years since we formed the band. What a long way we've come...
We blast out the MegaDome, with 1,000 rocking fans in front of us, and take home a bunch of loot. We have to cool out at a fancy spa just to relax, those gigs are stressful! I use the time to put together some new songs.

We book the West Beach Arena next, one of the biggest venues in the land, making the MegaDome look small. I have to admit, we don't sell it out, but we have 1200 people rocking to our sound, and that's good enough. We make some cash but more importantly, we've been exposed to a bigger audience.

We head home and our manager books us at the MegaDome in a week. I've been trying out some new songs, and two of them look to be classics, “Cold as Sterlingice,” and “5000 Homers.” Soon I'll have to consider another album, our last one is still doing well though, we've sold over 500 copies. We do our usual landoffice business at the MegaDome show, then take a couple of days off. It's getting harder and harder just to rehearse and write songs, with the media and fans everywhere.

[Peregrine]

We decide we want to hit West Beach again, and this time it's just about standing room only. We make a lot of bucks, we've had to hire a full time guy to handle all the merchandise. In fact, we're getting ourselves quite the entourage, publicist, manager, security guards, even a masseuse because the band was complaining. I guess this is what it's like to hit the big time. After this show I get the guys top of the line instruments, hey we can afford it now!

We blow the top off the Megadome at our next show, and now we're running into a new problem, some of our songs are getting stale, the fans are bored with them. I end up retiring a lot of our old songs, and need some new ones. I pen down “Skydog's Revenge” just before our next gig at the West Beach, we blow the fans away with our new stuff.

Our manager gives us a call – we're going to the Enormo-Dome! It's the biggest venue in the country and we're so psyched. We hit the place, it isn't sold out, but it's most of the way there, with 2100 fans screaming for more! We're on top now, we're one of the top acts in the country at this point.

We fill up the West Beach Arena next week, scoring over $6k in profit. Honestly, we're rolling in cash now, it's hard to even keep track of what's left to buy. It's also four years since we put the band together, and look where we've come!

We head to the Enormo Dome again after we take a little break, like a mini-vacation. We can afford it. We put on a great show!

I put together the songs I've written lately and we record our second album, Perils of the Ocean. The critics say it's just as good as our previous effort. The band members are in a slump, and I'm trying to get them motivated. We have another show coming up at West Beach, and we need to be in top form.

The boys get it together for the latest gig and we do fine. Our manager gives us a call and tells us he's gotten us a gig at Blue Rocks, it's this primo spot in the mountains, really tough to get into, and expensive. We do it anyway, and write a huge check for the booking fees.

Well, all I can say is this, the fans that go out there get a great show, but there aren't enough of them, we only fill a bit over half the place and we end up taking a bath on the show. Well, we'll try again soon.

To take our minds off it, we make a music video to promote the latest CD. It was already selling well, but you can't have too much of a good thing, right? The thing starts flying off the shelves after that, it's already outsold our first album after only 7 weeks!

We're full fledged megastars now, and it's taking some work to keep the guys focused on doing music and not all of the erm...distractions. We're selling out the biggest venues in the country, and we have money to burn. It's time to end this dynasty, even though we haven't hit the six years I've set up. Essentially once you reach this point there's nothing to do other than do the same gigs over and over again, and we're famous enough.

Ladies and Gentlemen....I give you....THE FRONT OFFICE!

[Crim]

Nice write-up. Yeah, I've noticed the lack of end-game activities too. According to the website forums, the dev (Cliffski) is steady working on content though.

[Crim]

Just finished a 5-year career with a six memeber mega band. Three CDs, all possible purchases made, ended w/ soemthing over 155,000, and on the final wrap up screen, the bars for my, umm, what is it, fame and money earned? were maxed out to the red. Thing is, I don't feel like I played as well as I could have. I really bothced the practicing part of the game a few times (toward the end, I tried writing the sequence down and then playing it back, much less frustrating), and I had a difficult time keeping the motivation of my guitar player up, and finally ended up firing him shortly before my last gig at the Enormo-Dome and hiring a replacement. You'd think the audience would be pissed, but I got maxed out marks for everything except Musicianship, Rehearsal, and Performance. Still sold out, and made, like $12000 in profit. early game is pretty well balanced between growth and struggle, but once you get to the big venues and some cash in the bank, it's a click fest with not enough challenge.

Still fun though, so far, been through four careers, that's the first one that I've been so successful with. I will probably play another career in a couple days, depending on my work schedule.

[Peregrine]

Well I know Cliffski said in the forums for the game that the practicing element was meant to be somewhat optional, in other words if you had a good enough stage show and other elements you'd be able to overcome it.