"Player choice has always been central to what we're building," says Jason Wishnov, founder of Iridium Studios and creative director of People of Note. "I think people should be able to play how they want."
Wishnov describes himself as a self-proclaimed "theater kid"—and he's far from alone in the games industry. According to Wikipedia, the term refers to young performers who wear their passion for theater on their sleeves, often breaking into song or quoting musicals in casual conversation.
Walk the floor at any major industry event and you'll encounter no shortage of developers ready to debate Sondheim or dissect Taymor. Yet despite this enthusiasm, musicals—a cornerstone of stage and screen—have struggled to find their footing in interactive entertainment. Only recently have titles like Stray Gods, Alan Wake 2, and UNBEATABLE begun experimenting with the format—and even then, only Stray Gods explicitly bills itself as a musical.
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Making a video game musical is inherently risky, but Wishnov has been chasing that vision since 2016, when he saw Hamilton. The challenge? His pitch combined musicals with turn-based combat—a tough sell at the time. "I think the only mildly successful turn-based RPG in [2016] was Persona 5," Wishnov told Game Developer.
Years later, the landscape has shifted. Recent successes like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Metaphor: ReFantazio have capitalized on renewed interest in turn-based systems, building on momentum from indie darlings like CrossCode, the Trails series, and Chained Echoes.
Still, timing the market correctly isn't enough. You need to hook players and convince them to embrace something unfamiliar. With People of Note launching today, Wishnov shared his approach to elevating the musical RPG beyond novelty—and why empowering players with flexibility can open doors to genres they'd normally avoid.
Unlike Stray Gods, which casts players as a singing protagonist, People of Note takes a different tack. Turn-based battles and narrative sequences unfold between the show-stopping musical numbers. Those Broadway-style moments function like cinematic cutscenes—earned rewards that punctuate major story beats or emotional crescendos.
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This structure aligns with traditional musical theater, where songs mark pivotal emotional moments. Music remains integral to People of Note's design, but spacing out the big numbers across a 25-hour runtime allows the tactical combat to shine.
The game's narrative mirrors its mechanical philosophy: protagonist Cadence assembles a band that fuses disparate musical styles, and the combat system reflects that fusion. Players mix and match genres—pop, rock, EDM, and hip-hop—each with distinct tactical advantages. "We had to create every single battle track 11 different ways to keep track of all the different single genres that could come," Wishnov explained.
The game adds another layer of complexity through a turn order system modeled after musical staffs. While turn order displays have become standard in modern turn-based RPGs—sometimes as simple visual cues, other times as manipulable systems—this staff-based approach goes further. It reveals not just when characters act, but how many actions they can execute, drawing inspiration from the time signatures used in musical composition.
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These mechanics support what Wishnov describes as "battle-strategic" rather than "attrition-based" design. People of Note refreshes ability points at the start of every encounter, eliminating the resource management that many turn-based RPGs use to pad playtime. Players move forward without constant backtracking to replenish supplies.
According to Wishnov, attrition-based systems encourage players to hoard powerful items for climactic battles, leaving much of their arsenal unused during regular play. "I wanted the player to constantly be seeing and feeling something new," he explained. "You never stay that long in one area, you never fight the same enemy that many times."
He drew a parallel to Nintendo's 3D Super Mario titles, which prioritize variety in encounters and puzzles over repetitive enemy confrontations.
Wishnov's theatrical background clearly informs his design philosophy. But even the most thoughtful mechanics face their real test when players take control. His solution for drawing newcomers into the genre? Maximum player agency.
Beyond rejecting attrition-based design, Wishnov takes issue with games that offer no difficulty or accessibility options, forcing every player to engage on the same terms regardless of skill level or preference.
The conversation naturally turned to Elden Ring, which has sparked considerable debate about its difficulty philosophy. FromSoftware's approach allows players to adjust challenge through discovered items, character builds, and strategic choices—but identifying these difficulty-reducing elements demands either extensive experimentation or external guides.
Wishnov prefers transparency. People of Note offers traditional difficulty settings alongside the option to skip any content players find frustrating—puzzles, musical sequences, even combat itself.
"We wanted to make this experience as customizable as possible," he said. "I recommend to all players that you experience it with everything in there, but it's not my place to tell you what you like and don't like." He likened the philosophy to bowling alley bumpers or restaurants that accommodate special requests without resistance. "Difficulty isn't a set thing. Difficulty is the difference between the challenge of the game and the skill of the player."
"If I'm running a restaurant, and someone wants my burger without a tomato on it, by all means I will make it without a tomato on it. I'm just not going to run the fancy restaurant where they yell at you. I run the restaurant where we say, 'you got it, honey, coming right out.'"
Player accommodation extends beyond toggle switches. Wishnov highlighted People of Note's puzzle battles as a way to help players master the combat system's intricacies. "They are truly effectively chess puzzles in a turn-based RPG form," he said.
These optional encounters present players with a single correct solution, revealing the combat synergies the developers intended. Some games restrict available characters or items in these scenarios to emphasize specific strategies.
The mechanic has gained traction in recent RPGs and strategy titles—Wishnov cited Chucklefish's Wargroove as a key influence. Like in People of Note, these puzzles entice players with bonus rewards while remaining entirely optional. Those seeking deeper engagement can pursue them; others can continue the main experience uninterrupted.
Without this flexibility, Wishnov noted, fans of the game's Broadway-style music might simply watch the numbers on YouTube rather than play through the game.
This approach echoes earlier conversations about player choice. Jennifer Hepler, who worked on Game of Thrones Ascent, Unavowed, and BioWare titles including Dragon Age II, suggested in a 2006 interview that narrative-focused players might benefit from the ability to skip combat, just as combat-focused players can skip cutscenes. Her comments triggered a severe harassment campaign, though she deserved recognition for identifying underserved player needs.
Two decades later, Wishnov's vision of converting players into theater enthusiasts may finally validate her insight.
Bryant Francis is a writer, journalist, and narrative designer based in Boston, MA. He currently writes for Game Developer, a leading B2B publication for the video game industry. His credits include Proxy Studios' 4X strategy game Zephon, Iron Anchor Studios' Down With The Ship, and Amplitude Studio's 2017 game Endless Space 2.
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