I talked to Chris Foster, lead designer of The Beatles: Rock Band, for my story today about Wednesday's release of the video game. In talking with him about the making of the game, we discussed piano-based songs being problematic for Rock Band. So I asked him if Harmonix has considered adding a piano-like controller to the game.

"That question has come up many times," he said. "It's definitely one of those -- if you're working in this arena [rock music] and you've got these instruments [guitars, drums, vocals], it's the instrument that isn't there." Then he added, coyly, "I would say it's come up as a thought before."

So, not a definite answer, but if Harmonix is thinking about pianos in Rock Band, it's probably not far from reality. Maybe the folks at Harmonix could even come up with Orchestra Rock, I suggested jokingly. "Yeah, Clarinet Hero!" he said with a laugh.

Here are other comments by Foster from my interview with him. (Oh, and click on the video to see the incredible montage that opens The Beatles: Rock Band, as praised in my review of the game.) 

On creating an experience, not just a game:
"The atmosphere was really important to us. Honestly, it kind of snuck up on us. It wasn't consciously 'Let's do this thing that's different.' It was just making a lot of decisions based on what was true to the Beatles' lives and aesthetic. And when we started playing the game, it feels -- for lack of a better word -- mature. Not in a Grand Theft Auto M-rated way and not in a stodgy grownup way, it just feels like this richer, more emotional experience than your average music game."

On some of the game play being easy:
"The reality is that the Beatles didn't shred, and Harmonix doesn't add notes to create false complexity in games. At certain points, the music itself charts its own difficulty."

On who the target audience is for the game:
"That question comes up a lot. What we learned on Rock Band is that Rock Band appeals to a broader demographic than we ever expected. It's a great game for families. In terms of the game itself, we didn't want to make it easier to play at an expert level or reduce the level of mastery that you could express in the game. And in the case of vocal harmony, I think we added something new that's really challenging. The practice mode [for that] is pretty awesome because you can turn on inidividual harmony parts to hear a guide pitch, so you can hear what they are. Honestly, it's just neat to actually hear, like, what the middle harmony in 'Yellow Submarine' is, which is completely indecipherable but perfect for the song. That song in particular, they're not your textbook harmonies but what three people thought were right for that song."

On whether it's ironic that Harmonix's main rival is Guitar Hero, which it originally developed:
"I don't know if 'irony' is the word. I guess maybe 'wistful'? It's definitely our baby that we made, that we took the first steps with. And now someone else is working with it. But I think what became awesome is that when we moved on from Guitar Hero to Rock Band, we really had the opportunity to make the game that we wanted and to stretch into areas like drums and vocals, which we were never able to do before. And now with the Beatles game, it feels like a really true expression of what's important to Harmonix and what we think is important to a music game through the filter of how to tell a single band's story. It's a really true statement of our goal in gaming."

On other Beatles songs and albums being released as downloadable content (DLC) for the game:
"Playing more Beatles songs is probably the most important part. With Rock Band, we chose the Beatles songs that probably make the most sense as guitar/bass/drums/vocals game songs. We chose songs that generally match better to that game play. So you won't see a lot of songs like 'Hey, Jude,' 'Let It Be' -- songs that are very piano-centric. With the DLC, we're finishing albums. We are covering the entire spectrum of Beatles music, which feels like the right call for DLC and lets us go into those more interesting and obscure corners. The most important thing for the songs on the disc is that every single one of them has four parts, so you don't have 'Eleanor Rigby' or 'Yesterday.' But we're hoping to be able to release more beyond the first three albums [now planned for DLC]."

On how long it took to create the game:
"The game's development took a year/ year and half's worth of time. Harmonix is a lean, mean, music-making machine. The dreamscapes [visuals as the songs play] were significant challenges. The story mode was just a matter of finding the right idea. But the dreamscapes and the vocal harmonies were fairly significant. On each of those, we worked for months. And on vocal harmonies, we reviewed them daily just continuing to get them right."

On songs from the Beatles game not being able to add to other Rock Band games:
"At the moment, it's definitely a walled garden. I guess there are a few reasons for that [licensing, game design]. But it's hard for me honestly to picture playing this game without those visuals. I can sympathize with the desire, but I feel that this is definitely the best way to showcase this music."

Finally, I want to give huge props to the guys from Rubber Soul, the Twin Cities-based Beatles tribute band that helped review the game. These guys -- Brian McGuire, Mike McDonough and Roger Jaworski -- drove all the way out to my house, got dressed and made up in full costume, and then patiently learned how to play the game just so they could offer their thoughts. Check out their website for upcoming shows.