Music is a topic that is long overdue here on the blog. We have hinted at it in the past when we introduced the Kelp Forest and the Deep Sea Cave, but never actually talking about where the musical inspiration truly came from.
That changes today!
For all of the music in the game I am working in FL Studio. I have been using FL Studio for just over 7 years now. I find that it best suits my workflow: it is quick and easy for me to get an idea from my head to something audible for others to hear.
Inspiring Music
I took a lot of inspiration from 3 main games:
Star Fox 64
In coming up with references to the songs that we wanted Star Fox 64 was the very first one we all agreed upon. The “Ready for Action” tone of the soundtrack is what we fixated on when we were recalling soundtracks of our yesteryears. That tone really fit what we wanted out of Fingeance.
Bomberman 64
THIS SOUNDTRACK IS SO AWESOME!…
Ok… Fanboying aside, the entire soundtrack to this game is one that we have referenced more often than any other soundtrack. The range of tone the entire soundtrack has is what we strive to have for Fingeance. From intense showdowns to happy-go-lucky tunes this soundtrack is where I go to when I am talking to the others on the team that don’t know as much musical terms as I do.
Bomberman Hero
https://youtu.be/qutUyQqhjdM?list=PL54D6882B076D3531
Here is the soundtrack that you will hear the most similarities to. The instrumentation of Bomberman Hero is found ALL OVER Fingeance. Most notably the breakbeats with the intense hi hats are on all of the biome songs.
Different Tones for Different Biomes
Each biome in the game has a distinct visual appeal, Kelp Forest is overgrown with vegetation while the Deep Sea Cave is a closed in, mysterious, and dark experience. I wanted to have each of those themes reflected into the music as well.
The Kelp Forest has lush chords that drive the song with lots of low end sounds.
While the Deep Sea Cave has reverb heavy melodies with a dark percussion backing
Hopefully I was able to give you a little more insight as to where the music inspiration came from and why things sound the way they do.
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The music theme for Fingeance has been an extremely tricky proposition. Normally when I am coming up with music that is for something, I get a feel for what I need to do pretty quickly. I could look at what I was making music for or it be described to me and I could get a basic idea of where I want to go with it.
Fingeance on the other hand…
I looked at the game mechanics, the art style, the setting, the characters, etc. I looked at all of these things and I couldn’t come up with anything.
Not a single thing.
I couldn’t think of the tone that I wanted everything to fit under. This has been going since late last year. I had been struggling to find any semblance of a song. I turned Lane and Stephen and asked what they thought they wanted in the game, but that was fruitless and as GlitchCon grew closer I eventually just recycled older tracks from my collection.
Getting Our Groove Back
We didn’t really find our muse until after GlitchCon where I tasked everyone to come up with a list of songs that they felt would work with a multiplayer shoot ‘em up with roguelike elements. Eventually, after much discussion, trials, and tribulations, here is a sample of what I came up with:
Again, this is a very early version of the song (in fact, those who use FL Studio can probably spot the standard loop in the song) it really is there to help me get a sense of where to go with the song in terms of tone and instrumentation. I was looking to create an underwater vibe to the song, but the stereotypical song for those are “chill” type beats. I needed to pump the player up for adventure. That is where the DnB beat hits and hopefully that will help out energizing the player.
What do you think? I really am curious to hear your thoughts on if I am on the right track or not. Leave a comment and tell me what you think!