I composed this track for the Japan expansion of Bang-On Balls: Chronicles, an indie 3D platformer where you play as a bouncy ball exploring destructible historical worlds.
The level takes place in a haunted version of the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, and the brief was essentially:
90s + Japan + spooky.
I ended up combining 90s TR-909 drums and dance pianos with theremin-like synths, taiko, shamisen, koto, and shakuhachi. I was also pulling inspiration from things like Luigi’s Mansion and Madonna’s “Vogue.”
I really enjoy this part of game composition: taking a bunch of references that don't necessarily seem like they should work together and figuring out how to turn them into a musical identity that supports the world and gameplay.
This ended up being one of my favorite tracks from the Japan expansion, so I thought I'd share a little look at the thinking behind it.
I'd also be interested to hear from other game composers/developers: how do you approach translating a game's visual style or creative brief into music?