Schafer: Industry wanted 'hip-hop' Brutal Legend
But Guitar Hero changed everything
Speaking to Eurogamer.net this week as his new rock 'n' roll action-adventure game Brutal Legend steps into the limelight, Double Fine game designer Tim Schafer has revealed that when he was pitching the game concept, industry executives asked whether the musical theme could be changed to 'hip-hop', or even 'country'.
"When we were first pitching Brutal Legend, it was before the first Guitar Hero game was announced and we were like, 'There's this game in a heavy metal world', [and they said], 'We like the game, but could we change it to be a hip-hop game, or maybe country music?'," the veteran gaming man reveals.
"There's nothing against that music, but it doesn't have a lore of heavy metal, in terms of a certain kind of mythology that leads to epic, medieval battles. After Guitar Hero came out and [Black Sabbath's] Iron Man was one of the first songs on it, it seemed to expose a whole new generation to that kind of music.
"So by the time we were pitching the game for a second time there was a lot more interest in it being exactly what it is, which is a brutal heavy metal action-adventure."
The game now stars Jack Black, and will be released by EA this Rocktober. Geddit?
