But we also wanted to know how the team came up with the Achievements for the game. Continuing our series of finding out where Achievements come from, Teasdale answers our questions about "Rock Band"'s range of Achievements, including how they differ from "Guitar Hero II"'s Achievements and the possibility of Achievement-laden downloadable content.

But for Teasdale, personally, he said he'd like to see a new kind of Achievement:

"I'd love it if there was some form of additional Achievement-like system in the future that was more like a badge of honor or a way for people to see your play style... Imagine if you could view someone's Gamercard and see that they'd beaten me in a "Meet the Developer" tournament, or chosen to team up with the Scryers in "World of Warcraft," or even was an "Early Adopter" and played a certain game in the first week of release. You can't do these with Achievements, since you could never get 100%, but with a badge of honor system as well as Achievements, things could be much more flexible."

More material like that follows in what may well be our last "Rock Band" post of 2007!

Multiplayer: How did you come up with the Achievements for "Rock Band"?

Teasdale: The design team here at Harmonix all have Xbox 360's, so we already had a good idea about what kinds of Achievements we liked getting and what Achievements we hated. We took those experiences and came up with some guidelines to form our list. We wanted to provide incentive for all kinds of gamers, whether you're an explorer who likes diving into every nook and cranny in a game, or whether you're a hardcore player that wants to try and do insane things like complete the "Endless Setlist" on expert or get 100% on Expert vocals.

Multiplayer: The Achievements in "Guitar Hero II" are more based on things such as scores, streaks and stars (and buying stuff). Why did you decide to change that for "Rock Band"?

Teasdale: I think a lot of this comes from the depth of "Rock Band" compared to some of our previous games. We have four instruments to track stats for instead of one, as well as a big non-linear campaign mode that involves traveling around the world and reaching a bunch of milestones as a band. When you have a 50 Achievement limit, it's sometimes hard to justify having 20 drum-specific Achievements. I think we've achieved a good balance between these in "Rock Band."

Multiplayer: What do you think is the hardest Achievement in "Rock Band"? The easiest?

Teasdale: The hardest Achievement in "Rock Band" would definitely have to be the "Platinum Artist" Achievement, which requires all players in your band to finish the "Endless Setlist" (58 songs back to back) on Expert. We actually give the player other cool stuff beyond the Achievement because of its difficulty. The easiest depends on your play style -- if you're a pro, then five-starring a song comes pretty easily, whereas if you're an explorer then the "Play in a Big Club" in Solo Tour or "Win a Van" in Band World Tour can be grabbed by playing only a few songs.

Multiplayer: Have you gotten all the Achievements yourself in "Rock Band"? Why or why not?

Teasdale: On my Xbox at work I have all 50 Achievements, but at home I'm about a third of the way there. One of the cruel realities of video game development is that making games leaves you less time to play games, and with the amazing line-up that's come out over the last few months I've been spending that small amount of time racking up Achievements in games like "BioShock" and "Mass Effect" alongside my "Rock Band" band's progress.

Multiplayer: What's your general process for choosing Achievements in general? What makes a good Achievement?

Teasdale: What makes a good Achievement depends on what kind of experience you want to deliver. My favorite Achievements are the ones that reward the player for playing the game differently, or that give positive reinforcement for choosing a particular play style. The example I keep using here at Harmonix is the "Don't die for 60 seconds" Achievement in "Geometry Wars" -- it suggests a way to experience a completely new type of game without the game having to provide a brand new mode to play.

Multiplayer: Some say Achievements are a cheap way to make a game replayable. Do you agree or disagree?

Teasdale: I agree if the Achievements are badly designed that they can be cheap and just end up promoting Achievement grinding, which goes counter to the whole reason Achievements are around in the first place. Designing Achievements requires real design skill and isn't something you can just phone in. Much in the same way you can make cheap gameplay concessions to force replayability in gameplay by adding in things to grind, designers can also use Achievements as a tool to promote that.

I think that's the core to the whole achievement debate: at the end of the day, Achievements are just a tool that designers can use. They can greatly enhance a game if they do it well, and they can make it feel worse if they abuse it.

Multiplayer: Are you yourself a fan of Achievements? Why or why not?

Teasdale: I'm a big fan of Achievements, but my play style doesn't really fit with the Achievement grind or the desire to get 100% completion of Achievements in a game. Personally, I'd love it if there was some form of additional Achievement-like system in the future that was more like a badge of honor or a way for people to see your play style, and even allowed people to be badged with things that were time-limited or impossible to get both of.

Imagine if you could view someone's Gamercard and see that they'd beaten me in a "Meet the Developer" tournament, or chosen to team up with the Scryers in "World of Warcraft," or even was an "Early Adopter" and played a certain game in the first week of release. You can't do these with Achievements, since you could never get 100%, but with a badge of honor system as well as Achievements, things could be much more flexible.

Multiplayer: Are there any plans for additional "Rock Band" Achievements in downloadable content?

Teasdale: We haven't announced anything like this, but we're looking into how we can extend the "Rock Band" platform. I think that if we were to do Achievements in DLC it would have to be in something that everybody had access too, or were Achievements that were mechanically big enough to justify them rather than just "beat this song."