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JamLegend Logo
Offical JamLegend Logo
Information
Devolped By Foobrew
Type Online Music Game
License Proprietary

JamLegend was an online, browser-based music game by Foobrew. The company behind the project was founded in 2008 by Andrew Lee, Arjun Lall, and Ryan Wilson. Players engage in a social experience though Adobe Flash Player to view it's applets whilst the mainframe is programmed using Java, and Flex. As of April 29, 2011, JamLegend has terminated their services to move forward in new ventures and closed the site.

History

JamLegend was established on August 26, 2008 as a Guitar Hero spin off. After countless hours of coding, the project led into a private beta where users could invite friends and family to join by providing ones email address. Upon receiving an invitational email, the user would be prompted to visit http://www.jamlegend.com/register/AEF in order to register an account. Having an account give you full access the game and all in it entirety. The game was pushed into a public phase on December 4, 2008. JamLegend had opened its doors to many artists who were not suitable for the Guitar Hero series and allowed them to submit their songs for others to play. When the public phase began, an Official Trailer to attract more users. One of their goals was to change the way people play music online. They successfully achieved their goal within the 3 years they were in service.

Gameplay

Jam Sit

Play flat to the surface

Jam Guitar

Play like a guitar

Controllers

Players can either use a standard keyboard or connect up a plastic guitar by following a short tutorial: Playing with guitar controllers. Keyboards can be used similarly to a plastic guitar by flipping it over and tilting it slightly. However, this style of play will only work on desktop computers unless you have a USB or Bluetooth keyboard.

Notes

In music, a note represents a sound or a pitch and two or more notes side by side is called a string. Notes scroll down a vertical track, also known as an extended guitar neck. The notes are slotted into three to five rows in relation to the songs rhythm and the difficulty chosen for the song. Also, you may need to hold notes down a given period of time.

As notes align with the bar at the bottom of the screen, you must strum and press the corresponding key. Notes with white sparkles on them are called hammer ons and pull offs. If you successfully hit the previous note, you will not need to strum the notes proceeding in the chain. Notes hit successfully will result in an increase to your streak and score. These notes are worth 50 points towards your score. As your streak increases, your multiplier will also increase and the amount of points that each note is worth will increase. If you fail to hit a note, your streak and multiplier will reset.

The Jam Meter rests to the left of the track. It is shaped like a half moon and is divided into three quadrants: green, yellow and red. If you are successfully hitting a lot of notes, it will point towards the green, yellow if your not doing too bad and red if your missing a lot of notes; therefore, you should start hitting notes or else you will fail the song.

To the right is an in-game leaderboard, which is a vertical bar that places your progress along with the bot or other online players as you play a song. Each person is denoted with a pointer and the persons name. It also shows the highest possible score but will suggest a goal based on how well you play if you're playing against the bot.

Songs

There are a total of 673 Songs and 245 Artists as of September 6, 2009. All of the songs and artists have been listed here: Songs and Artists. You can also view the official song and artist lists here: Official Song List and Artist List. The ones posted here take less loading time and are easily sortable.

Instruments and Difficulty

Once you have chosen a song, you will need to select an instrument. You can only play Guitar and BeatJam at the moment but other instruments will be added at a later time. The main difference between the two is strumming.

Options

The game options can be accessed in the menu bar near the top of the screen or before starting a song.You can configure the keys you use to play notes, turn off three note cords or change the volume of the crowd you hear during a song. This does not include the default configuration provided; however, it cannot be changed. Once you've done changing you settings, press save or restore defaults if you'd like to revert back to the default settings.

Points and Achievemnts

When you invite a friend to create an account at JamLegend though your referral link, you be come the head of the band called the Band Manager and they become your band members called Managed Talent. The Band Manager earns a small percentage of what their Band Members earn and 500 bonus Xp once they reach level 2. If did not get invited though a referral link, you cannot have a Band Manger or become Managed Talent.

Every time you play a song, you earn ladder points which gives a general idea of your skill level. If you are consistent of doing well in a song, it will increase but if you are doing worse than usual, it will decrease.

You earn Ladder Points simply by playing song. You will often see a goal score set for you when you play a song, if you beat your goal you will earn more ladder points. If you don't, you will lose some. You start off at a level 1 ranking with 0 Experience Points or Xp as some call it. You gain them after a song depending on your song score. A glowing colorful circle with a question mark is placed randomly along the track of a song. You hit these like regular notes but they will give you x2 to x5 the number Experience Points or Xp instead.

Achievements are a mark of accomplishment after you have completed a specific task or reached a certain goal and there are currently 48 to unlock. This includes but limited to song, social and any other multiplayer related. Each achievement is worth a number of points called Groupies and there is a total of 1764.

Duels

After you have finished a song, you can challenge a friend or another 'JamLegend player by click on the duel button but you must be logged in to use this feature. This will let the other player see your score and be able to play the same song and difficulty to try and beat your score. There is a

Showdowns

None

Account Type

Alongside the free version of the game, you can also buy a monthly membership for additional benefits. You can upgrade your account to either Pro or Pro Plus by paying with JamCash. $4.99 is worth 4,000 JamCash and $9.99 is worth 8,000 JamCash.

Free Pro Pro Plus
Price per Month
Free
4,000 JamCash
8,000 JamCash
Capacity
5 Songs
200 Songs
500 Songs
Remove Songs
No
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Pro Badge
No
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No Ads
No
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JamLegend Guitar Hero Rock Band
Price
Free
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CD Required
No CD
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Multiplayer
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Single Player
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Career Mode
Levels
Rankings
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Players
1 - 12
1 - 8
1 - 4
Custom Songs
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Limited
Limited
Content Store
No
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No
Goodies Shop
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1 "Guitar Hero" is a registered trademark of Activision, Inc.
2 "Rock Band" is a registered trademark of Viacom, Inc.

As you can see, JamLegend has many strong advantages over the other well-known games but there are still many features yet to be implement that they may or may not have.

Quick Tips

  • Notes with white sparkles on them do not need to be strummed.
  • Want to use different keys? Go to the options in the top right.
  • Having problems with 3 note chords on your keyboard? Just disable them in the options.

Trivia

  • The company participated in the LaunchBox Digital 2008 summer cycle.
  • JamLegend Videos powered by Fliggo was released on Febuary 25, 2009.
  • On January 3, 2009, JamLegend reached 1 million plays.
  • On March 11, 2009, JamLegend reached 4 million plays.
  • Amazon Web Services are used for the sites data storage.
  • If you press the number 3 on your keyboard, it will play the Cowbell.
  • On April 15, 2009, Canon Rock by Jerry C became the first song to reach 1 million plays.
  • Canon Rock by Jerry C was the most played song on JamLegend with 9 million plays.
  • The music for the official trailer was created using Garage Band on a Mac.
  • JamLegend was acquired by top of the line gaming social network, Zynga.
  • 2 million in funding had been raised after acquisition of the project, led by cofounder of Tellme and iLike Hadi Partovi.

External Links

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