

JamLegend Takes On Guitar Hero On The Web (1,000 Invites) - ryanwaggoner
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/28/jamlegend-takes-on-guitar-hero-on-the-web-1000-invites/

======
ALee
Hey, guys, Andrew Lee from JamLegend. Feel free to tell us what you think.

We've been hanging out on News.YC for about a year now and know some of the YC
companies personally, so please give us as much feedback as possible.

REQUEST FOR HELP: if anyone has experience with Glassfish (with Java, not
Ruby), please email me at Andrew@jamlegend.com, we're experiencing some tricky
load issues and are imploring for help.

~~~
smakz
Let me guess - garbage collection? ;)

~~~
arjunlall
Sadly not, we looked into GC stuff but it doesn't seem to be the culprit

------
briancooley
Interesting.

There's a game called riffmaster that I discovered via addictinggames.com
(<http://www.addictinggames.com/riff.html>) that was pretty fun to play. It
has similar keyboard options. There is also a sequel
(<http://www.addictinggames.com/riffmasterii.html>), but I haven't played it.

When I first saw it, I thought it would be boring, but there are some elements
that make it pretty fun.

------
babul
This definitely has viral potential. Very cool and well implemented so far.

Lots of monetisation strategies (buy songs you like jamming to via the site or
affiliate, advertising, selling gig/concert tickets and merchandise for
featured bands, premium subscriptions, etc.) and growth strategies
(unsigned/new bands put tracks people can jam to and discover, myspace-style
user profiles, youtube-style self jamming videos/webcams, facebook-style
friend-sets and widget sharing, xbox-style achievement goals, etc.) too.

Good luck!

------
omouse
Only problem for me is the return key. It isn't quick enough to register it
sometimes, I tried playing a song on medium and I do suck, but I did notice it
not registering the key :S

 _edit: Also, more indie bands. Try and get Vampire Weekend or someone else to
toss their songs on the site. Man, that would rock_

~~~
ALee
Great feedback. We have a couple bands in the pipe, but we're gonna be opening
up the platform so it'll be very easy for any indie band to put their stuff
up.

------
maxklein
When I was in china, such games were very popular in all the net bars. The had
some type of internet cafe system in use by most internet cafes, and this jam
legend style music-making as well as some dancing girls thingy - based on the
same concept - was quite popular. So it's certainly a good market to be in.

In china, they have these scratch cards that you can buy at 7/11s and other
convenience stores. You then use the credit on the scratch cards to buy
dresses and so on for your figure. Several of the girls I knew were obsessed
with making sure that their avatar not only looked good, but that she always
had new clothes. So games in that style, though free initially, still make
loads of money just selling add-ons and things to individualise yourself.

------
wastedbrains
Congrats to Andrew and the JamLegend crew. We met them awhile ago and have
been following their progress ever since. Amazing progress in a short
timeframe.

I guess soon I will have to give the official report on how well this works
hooking up a Wii guitar to my mactop and playing Jam Legend.

------
malte
Is it me or are some songs very difficult in easy mode? ;) I also think that
there are some bugs in the key response. Or: I just suck at playing it.
However, great idea and good luck!

------
pxlpshr
job well done and nice execution!!! key press timing seems a little buggy but
suppose that's to be expected given it's a beta.

~~~
jmatt
I agree very well done. A lot of fun, right from the get go.

 _key press timing seems a little buggy but suppose that's to be expected
given it's a beta._

I had this same problem. I can actually anticipate the slowdown and the
inevitable note miss that is coming.

I think it is just a matter of dealing with latency a little bit better when
things go awry.

Or maybe it's a problem of resources since I have 20 apps open on my computer.
Either way it's minor compared to the fun from playing.

------
Wesmax27
I love the game and love the idea. The only issue I have had thus far is
pulling off combos. Not sure if I am just too slow or if something about the
keyboard is prohibiting me from moving from note to note fast enough. Has
anyone else had this problem?

What would be really interesting is if you could build this into a facebook
app.

