We hope you have a great weekend, friends!
Ahead of the release of Laika: Aged Through Blood next week (October 19 - Woohoo! 🥳), we'd like to give you some additional insight into the game, so we've conducted a developer Q&A with Bea from the Brainwash Gang about the musical side of the game.
Have fun reading!
1 | First, please introduce yourself and your position on the Brainwash Gang team.
My name is Bea (beícoli), and I make music for our games amongst other boring administrative tasks.
2 | What is your background in music? Are you self-taught, were (or are) you in a band? What types of music do you enjoy composing or playing?
I am self-taught. When creating music I really enjoy using my voice and add a lot of layers of little voices that combine. I also like to use my voice to tell stories. So I guess I like singing! Although this changes a bit with every project since I feel I’m still very new and learning new things everyday.
3 | How did you approach composing music for different game genres? Are there specific elements you focus on for each genre?
I think up until now it was more determined by what I was able to create with the very little resources that I had. Also for our first games we were all experimenting making them with sticks and stones and not very sure of what we were doing which was perfect for me to do the same and try whatever I liked.
Now I’ve reached a point where I know a bit better what I enjoy making so I try to adapt whatever genre to my taste. I feel that doing that not only I enjoy the process more but also helps me with not trying to replicate what other people are doing in said genres and try to find a sound that’s more personal to me.
4 | Can you describe your process of translating the game's narrative and atmosphere into musical themes? How do you ensure the music enhances the player's experience?
I usually like to make a few tests at the beginning of the process while I see how other parts of the game develop and decide what direction makes more sense. I sometimes look for inspiration in other music and other times just follow my intuition I guess. I honestly never tend to think about enhancing the player experience, I just try to focus on enjoying what I’m making and move forward along with the rest of the team, following their progress and trying to match their efforts with mine to create something that feels like ours.
5 | For Laika, what instruments or sounds did you incorporate into the game's music? How did you decide which ones to use?
For most of our games the main instruments I use are guitar and voice, and from there I keep building in whatever direction goes with the game. Again with the guitar and voice thing, it’s more a matter of what I can do with my resources and what I’m more comfortable with. The more I learn the more I experiment with other sounds and for that I usually just follow my intuition.
For Laika the only rules I tried to follow were being more conservative for the ambient music (leaving a little room to add some less expected elements for the bosses) and giving myself more freedom for the mixtapes. The idea is that the mixtapes are all made by the same musician, so I added a couple different styles of songs here and there to try to follow what I was saying before about growing, experimenting and trying different things. And also to keep things a bit more fun cause, not gonna lie, I have a tendency to get bored of what I’m doing easily.
6 | How do you balance the need for repetitive, ambient tracks with more dynamic and engaging pieces Laika’s or any other game’s soundtrack?
It has been pretty easy in Laika since we decided to implement a very clear system that differentiates between ambient music for dungeons and a mixtape collection for the wastelands and other “special” moments. But I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to do it. In the past we’ve used music in very different ways and it has just been a matter of making an artistic or creative decision on how to use it and what it can contribute to the vision we have for the game as a whole. I definitely tend to enjoy making songs with lyrics and such a bit more than ambient music so knowing that we try to incorporate it when we can and make sense.
7 | How closely do you work with the rest of the development and creative team to ensure the music aligned with their vision for Laika?
We talk a lot about all aspects of the game and I like to observe and learn about what others are doing to get inspired, especially in the art department. But the good thing is that after working together for so many years and in so many games, I feel like we already know pretty well what works for us and what we like as a whole in the team. For example, one thing we enjoy a lot is creating contrasts and music is perfect for that, so you’ll see a lot in our games something very intense happening with a very soft melancholic music that challenges a bit the feelings you can get and might make it a bit more complex.
8 | Do you have a favorite game soundtrack that has inspired your work? How has it influenced your approach to composing for Laika?
Not really. At some point I did listen to RDR OST because I felt like it could match some of the vibes I was looking for and I was also inspired by Outer Wilds for a specific part. But honestly I don’t play a lot of games and when looking for inspiration I don’t restrict myself to just this medium. I like to look in other places as well, although in most cases what I make doesn’t end up sounding at all like that. For example when making specific parts for Laika I listened to a lot of the Mandalorian soundtrack which I love and also a lot of random music that’s not part of any soundtrack.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1796220/Laika_Aged_Through_Blood/