Following our hands-on impression of People of Note — the upcoming turn-based musical RPG from Iridium Studios — we had the chance to sit down with the game’s creative mind, Jason Wishnov, who wears just about every hat imaginable on the project: creative director, writer, designer, programmer, and more.
Much like the game itself, Wishnov’s approach to development is a blend of passion and precision, an ambitious attempt to marry the storytelling and structure of classic RPGs with the energy and timing of a rhythm game. What started as a spark of inspiration after seeing Hamilton has since grown into a full-scale musical adventure, one that’s been years in the making.
The Spark Behind People of Note
MP1st: Tell me about the start of this game?
Jason Wishnov: I gotta be honest with you, I saw Hamilton. It was touring in L.A. and I… I came out of that and I was like oh my god, every game developer who comes outta that is gonna want to make a musical game, so I gotta hurry up and make one before anyone else does! [But] there have been a few other musical games in our time.
Musicals are so prevalent in our culture, not just Broadway [which I love], but like most Disney movies and more recently K-pop Demon Hunters. Why haven’t there been many musical games that really take advantage of that?”
Personally, I love Final Fantasy… I love classic RPGs.
MP1st: I was just thinking of the Final Fantasy VI opera scene — one of my favorite moments in all of gaming. Why don’t game developers do more of that?
Wishnov: Yeah, why don’t they? And so it’s like, “Be the change you want to see in the world,” right? And then I spent years of my life trying to make it happen.
MP1st: How long has this taken to develop, then?
Wishnov: It’s been in full development for over four years. It’s been quite a run and we’re not to the finish line yet, but it ain’t gonna be that long.
MP1st: You think within 2026?
Wishnov: Yes, absolutely within 2026. Somewhere in there.
MP1st: Did it take that long because of the team size?
Wishnov: We were about 15-18 folks at its peak, I mean, it’s kind of sloped down near the end, but… It’s a big game. It’s a long game. You’re playing a small part of it here at TGS, I can’t give you an exact hour count, but it’s a full-length JRPG. We’re not talking Persona 5 length or like a 90-hour game. Not that. But like, JRPGs are long games.
Crafting a Musical RPG
MP1st: Yes, they are, usually.
Wishnov: We’re on the lower end of that. It’s gonna be a good length, and you can see on the title screen, a little Easter egg, you go to EDM, and that’s the city of Lumina. You go to all these different cities: rock, EDM, I can’t give you the other ones just yet, but there are quite a few.
MP1st: Was it hard to work music into things, or did those ideas just come naturally?
Wishnov: Oh, was it ever! Today you heard two different tracks. In some battles, it was heavy metal, and then for the boss, it was a different one. With each track, there’s got to be a base default version, a pop version, a rock version, an EDM version, and then, when you do the Mash Up attacks, I have to have a pop-rock version, a pop-EDM version, etc., right? Every track in there had to be composed 11 different times, because of the different combinations of genres, and there are 13 battle tracks throughout the game.
There’s a pop battle track, a Celtic battle track, a rock battle track….
MP1st: Is that 143 total different battle tracks then?
Wishnov: Sir you are good at math.
MP1st: That was a risk, doing that on the fly and with a microphone. But anyway, so did you do some of that composing?
Wishnov: I did the lyrics, but not the composing. That was a group effort, but composing the musical numbers, we got our friend Jason Charles Miller, he’s an incredible vocalist — actually the vocalist in some of the Final Fantasy XIV stuff. And then for the score, we got Jimmy Hinson, AKA Big Giant Circles.
MP1st: Oh!
Wishnov: You know BGC?
MP1st: Yeah, I’ve got him on my playlist. Big Giant Circles did a great version of Opening Theme: Bombing Mission from Final Fantasy VII.
Wishnov: Oh, he’s the best. He’s done all the game music, he’s the one who made those 143 tracks. He’s on fire.
At this point, a PR manager rushed over and asked if we were discussing vocalists who perform in People of Note, but Wishnov assured the man that we were not. He clarifies that Jason Charles Miller is a vocalist in other games, but his role in People of Note is that of a composer.
Wishnov: I can’t tell ya who the voice actors are yet, but I think they did great. I love them.
MP1st: About when will they be named?
Wishnov: Some time between now and… 2080. One day before this game is playable in your home.
And with that, time was up, and I had to go play other games while Jason had to guide players like me through Iridium’s newest creation. Would like to thank him and the studio for taking their time with making the demo and speaking to us at Tokyo Game Show this Year. Cannot wait to see how People of Note ends up, and hopefully that wait isn’t too long, as the game is slated to release sometime in 2026. If you want to read up more on the game, be sure to check out our first hands-on impression!
