Bandom

Jonah Young

CMI 3370

Schwizer

Artist Statement

The story that I came up with actually involves multiple characters with their own story lines. Depending on which character you choose to be will take you down a different story path. Every character however is faced with a series of life altering decisions that will later have an affect on them down the road. Each character is a part of a band, and depending on whichever instrument you elect to play in the band, is the different character persona that you will inherit throughout the story. The way I came up with each character is actually pretty simple, most rock bands have at least four components to them, they have a guitar player, a bass player, a lead singer and a drummer, and in most cases, every member is different in their own unique way. Throughout history of some of the most successful rock bands, certain members of the band have had some form of drug or alcohol related conflicts, which is actually how I was able to come up the characters wants and needs.

The characters want to go out partying, having fun and in some cases, partaking in drug use, but they know that they need to focus on writing music so they can reach the level of fame and accomplishment that they have always desired. However, temptation always lingers throughout the story. The characters also come face to face with the adversity of not succeeding and keep producing what fans would call “bad music”which ends up leading to a decision point where they could either stop making music all together or, forget what the naysayers are talking about and continue to make, what in their minds is quality music for themselves and the fans who have been following them from the start.

There are several branching parts in this story. The user is given the option to select which instrument he or she would like to play in the band. From there depending on the instrument they have selected, the user take on a different persona. The story then branches off when the user comes face to face with the option to either go out and party with other member of different bands or to hop back on the tour bus, hang out and work on writing for future songs. However, once one chooses to party instead of write it can be a slippery slope downhill. So far downhill that one comes face to face with the option to go to rehab and get themselves cleaned up and sober or, to not go to rehab and try to solve their addiction problems by themselves, which in turn leads to one overdosing. But, if the user chooses to hop back on the tour bus and continue to focus on writing for future songs, the user ends up being able to focus on music and release a second album. The story then branches off again once the second album is released and doesn’t do so well, the user is then faced with the option to either quit making music or write another album. If the user selects to make another album, which does better than the second one but not enough to sway the audience back, the user is faced again with the same option to either quit or make another album.

Depending on which route the user took the choices that are made have immediate impacts the further into the story that you go. For instance at one point in the story the user is faced with a decision to either go out and party with other musicians or go back on the tour bus and continue writing. If the user chooses to go out and party, one of the immediate impacts that you are confronted with is the chance that more often than not, there will be highly addictive drugs at the party and when one is put in this type of situation, more often than not, that person would feel peer pressured into partaking in drug use at this particular party. But, as we all know once a person tries a highly addictive drug such as heroine, for example, there immediate reaction afterwards is to try to get their hand on some more of it. So it only makes sense that this would lead to more partying, with more drug use, which then leads to this person missing concerts and the whole band having to cancel show because of it which then leads the character to then getting kicked out of the band. The way I drew up inspiration for this story beat, was by simply going off other big time bands who had members that became addicts and later died because of it and used those stories as guidelines for my story.

The part that I had the most difficult time with really wasn’t coming up with the story line itself , but instead it was having to do so in such a short time span. I guarantee that had there been more time allotted to create this story, that the characters could have been even more distinct, there could have been even more routes to take and choices that you make early on have even bigger ramifications the deeper into the story that you go.

The way that I chose to align the readers interest with the characters motivations is by appealing to the readers more natural side by putting them in a scenario, and having them ask themselves that “if I was in this situation, what would I most likely do”? I would say that it also appeals to the users fantasy side, because everyone has dreams or has at least had dreams to become rich and successful, whether that be in their own respective field of study, or be a celebrity or, in this case being a rock star. As the user continues to play, they gradually watch this character turn from having a bland and mundane life to having them releasing multiple albums and preforming in front of thousands of people. Or, if they chose to party instead of focusing on music, the user gets to watch them fall into addiction and need to get help, which is something I believe users can really sympathize with.