Prototype Update#4

We finally started to work on the core game loop for the prototype with a big question - how do the label manager work with a singer/band/DJ on their next album? 

Before we start working on that question, we wanted to make sure some that the design goals are established. We usually define game goals as the key emotional beats that the players can empathise through out the game.  Here are the guiding goals that we established (we shall iterate on it if and only if necessary as the project progresses) :

1. Alive - Your talents are living beings (they have a life of their own and can make their own decisions)
2. Manage - You should manage them as a part of your business (not micro manage them and not manage their private life!)
3. Prestige - You should always look out for the big impacts to the company

We decided to keep the above as the filter to everything that’s added to the prototype to ensure that we are trying to achieve the design goals of this project.

For the album creation process, here are the steps we believe that label manager gets involved with his/her talent :

1. Pitch - the artist does an initial research on the theme in their genre that they would like to work on
2. Concept - writing lyrics, composing and jamming 
3. Music Production - Recording the song
4. Video Production - Shooting the song
5. Marketing Production - Shooting and making media kits
6. Release

We are starting with the pitch stage and here’s how you would request your talent to work on a pitch. Now what type of a project is your choice as a record label owner. The genre and theme are the choices that the singer makes. For the sake of this prototype, let’s consider that the artist only picks the genre in which they have experience in. 

The artist comes back with a proposal, which is tied to the current trends, its production timeline and what business the song could do when it's released. I believe that this information will become the vital information for the label manager to approve over different phases of the project. 

Like the game design goals state, the above mechanic ensures that we respect that the singers are living beings with their own choices, the label manager gets to make choices as a managing the singer AND how that impacts the company's album successes.