In a landscape often dominated by familiar formulas, the arrival of a turn-based musical RPG is a bold overture. People of Note, launching from Iridium Studios and Annapurna Interactive, represents a multi-year gamble by creative director Jason Wishnov to blend his “theater kid” passions with deep, strategic role-playing game design. Moving beyond the gimmick of its premise, the game seeks to legitimize the video game musical not just through show-stopping numbers but through a combat system where music is the core mechanic. This deep dive explores the design philosophies that shaped People of Note, from its genre-blending battles to a radical commitment to player accommodation, examining how it aims to compose a new and inviting experience for RPG fans and musical enthusiasts alike.
The Theater Kid’s Gamble: Validating a Musical RPG Vision
Jason Wishnov’s vision for a turn-based musical RPG was, for years, a tough sell. Inspired by the cultural phenomenon of Hamilton in 2016, he found industry skepticism at the idea of merging Broadway-style songs with RPG combat, a genre he notes had only Persona 5 as a major standout at the time. His conviction, rooted in a lifelong passion for musical theater shared by many in game development, preceded a broader market shift. Only recently have titles like Stray Gods, Alan Wake 2, and UNBEATABLE begun experimenting with musical forms, while RPG successes like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Metaphor: ReFantazio ride a renewed wave of player interest in turn-based systems. Wishnov’s challenge evolved from proving the genre’s viability to executing a design that would hook players on its unique, unconventional symphony.
Structuring the Score: Musical Numbers as Narrative Payoff
People of Note distinguishes itself in how it integrates music into the gameplay structure. Unlike Stray Gods, where players perform songs through interactive dialogue, Wishnov’s game treats its big Broadway-influenced musical numbers like cinematic cutscenes. These sequences serve as emotional high points and rewards for overcoming major story beats or challenges, adhering to the classic musical theater theory that songs erupt at peaks of feeling. This spacing allows the turn-based combat to occupy the core gameplay loop, with music still fundamentally driving the mechanics, not just the mood, across the game’s 25-hour runtime.
Combat as Composition: A Battle-Strategic RPG System
The heart of People of Note is a combat system where musical genre is a tactical element. Following the story of Cadence assembling a band, players blend four genres—pop, rock, EDM, and hip-hop—each with unique strengths and weaknesses. This required composing each battle track in 11 distinct variations to account for every possible genre combination. The turn order system further deepens the strategy, visually inspired by the staves of sheet music and functionally influenced by musical time signatures. This interface not only shows which character acts next but also indicates how many actions they can take, turning the flow of battle into a readable, manipulatable score.
Rejecting Attrition for Constant Novelty
This design feeds into what Wishnov terms a “battle-strategic” philosophy, a direct counter to “attrition-based” RPG design. In People of Note, ability points fully refresh at the start of each encounter, eliminating the common resource-management grind that can encourage players to hoard items and abilities. Wishnov argues that attrition design often leads players to ignore large parts of their toolkit, saving them for a hypothetical future challenge. His goal was to emulate the pacing of 3D Super Mario games, constantly introducing new enemy types and scenarios to ensure players are “constantly be seeing and feeling something new” without repetitive backtracking or grinding.
The Philosophy of Player Accommodation: Skipping the Tomato
Perhaps the most radical aspect of People of Note is its approach to player agency and difficulty. Wishnov expressed frustration with games that rigidly enforce a single way to play, potentially alienating audiences curious about the experience. Drawing a direct contrast to the discourse surrounding Elden Ring‘s opaque difficulty tuning, Wishnov champions a philosophy of maximal customization. The game offers not only standard difficulty settings but also the option to skip entire sections—be they puzzles, cutscenes, musical numbers, or even combat encounters.
Optional Depth and the Legacy of Accessibility Ideas
This “skip anything” approach is complemented by optional “puzzle battles,” which function like chess puzzles within the RPG framework, teaching advanced combat synergies with a single, clear solution for extra rewards. Inspired by games like Wargroove, these puzzles allow depth-seeking players to engage while others can move on. Wishnov’s stance—”it’s not my place to tell you what you like and don’t like”—echoes a long-standing, often-criticized idea in game design. He notably aligns with the sentiment of former BioWare writer Jennifer Hepler, who in 2006 suggested narrative-focused players should be able to skip combat just as action-focused players skip cutscenes. Two decades later, People of Note actively puts that theory of inclusive design into practice, framing it as a service-oriented approach: “If someone wants my burger without a tomato on it, by all means I will make it without a tomato on it.”
Ultimately, People of Note is an experiment in harmony, attempting to synchronize the emotional crescendo of musical theater with the strategic depth of a modern RPG. Its success may hinge less on proving the commercial viability of its genre mashup—a point the market is gradually conceding—and more on its execution of a player-centric design philosophy. By treating difficulty and engagement as customizable preferences rather than rigid challenges, Wishnov and Iridium Studios are not just composing a game; they are conducting an invitation, offering players the conductor’s baton to orchestrate their own experience within a lovingly crafted, theater-kid dream.
