Adding a New Instrument

Lead Technical Designer

Ubisoft, Rocksmith+ (2020-2023), Snowdrop Engine

The Rocksmith franchise has been going strong since 2011. There has always been a vision of adding Piano to the instrument library, but it’s never come to fruition until this year.

I was brought onto the team in 2020 expressly to spearhead the gameplay prototype efforts. Over the last three years, it has been a great pleasure to define core mechanics, provide support through all phases of development, and finally see the overwhelming outpouring of joy which it brought to the Rocksmith community!

Competitive Analysis

The first thing I did after joining the team was conduct extensive competitive analysis, looking at all Apps that promote a ‘game-ified’ piano learning experience.

Examining the techniques/design choices utilized by competitors gave us a strong foundation to build from.

It was clear that our unique 3D noteway would strongly set us apart from other apps.

Keyboards come in many sizes…

no visual variation to orient players…

way more notes at any given time…

Information overload

In addition to helping players orient themselves, there was an overwhelming amount of information that needed to be clearly communicated:

• Which hand/finger to use for each note

• Musical techniques: tremolo, accent, glissando etc

• Player’s current performance/streaks

• Notes outside players current keyboard range

• Pedal presses

• VFX to create a ‘premium feel’

Visual Evolution of the Noteway

Using the prototypes I developed, we were able to hone in on the lane visuals that best support player orientation between their real world instrument and our 3D Noteway.

Here you can see the assets evolved overtime, starting with the lanes recycled from the Guitar and slowly building in the keyboard pattern.