Greetings everybody! For this month's update, I thought it would be cool to have a chat with our composer, Filippo. Because music is so integral to the experience, a good composer can really help make a game into something special. Fortunately for us, we have a great composer! We’re super excited about what Filippo has planned for Innkeep on the music front, and thought it would only be fair to ask him to share some of his knowledge about the craft and what goes into it.
Hi Filippo!
Hello Daniel, thanks for having me here!
First off, what kind of other games have you worked on? Are there some titles that people might be familiar with?
I’ve composed music for all the Mimimi Stealth-Strategy titles, from Shadow Tactics, to Desperados 3 and their last project, Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew. If you’re into visual novels, last year I scored “Tavern Talk” by Gentle Troll. A personal, but not well known title I’ve worked on is a platformer called “ITORAH”.
So how did you get into making music? Did you imagine you would end up specializing in video games?
I started very early - with gaming! Music came much later, at around 15 my brother and I were making a road trip to a medieval city in Bavaria (Regensburg), and as I stopped in front of a music shop and told him “you know, maybe I should try playing the guitar” he just got into the shop and bought me a beginner’s classical guitar. It was one of those moments. Since then, I have been loving making and learning about music.
The realization that I should try to combine my passion for games with music came to me later on, when I was already enrolling for a film scoring course at Berklee (in Boston). I went for film because there was no game audio curriculum back then, but I was already hell-bent on becoming a game composer!
How do you understand the role of music in the overall experience of a game? What is it that you are ultimately trying to achieve?
I always remind myself that I have the privilege to tell the game’s story through music. It’s such a unique standpoint: you complement what the players see and do, but you wield this powerful emotional tool and can illuminate some corners of the experience in a way that feels like you’re “unlocking” the emotional core of the game. In the end, it really is about storytelling to me. It’s the same way I listen to songs: I’ve always enjoyed following a song’s narrative or, if it’s instrumental, invent one in my head.
So, I always try to make use of music’s narrative power within a game!
(Filippo with his dog, Jigen).
When you look at making music for a game, what are first trying to understand about that game? How does that inform what you then try to do?
It always helps being able to play the game, even if in a rough state. But looking at concept art, and probably most of all, talking to the developers about their vision is what really makes me dive into the game. I always love when I can get on board early on, in order to have discussions about the music and see how they evolve as the project grows.
In my experience, the most fruitful conversations about music for a game happen when we talk about its intention, the overall vision, aspects of the main character… that’s when the “storytelling” mode turns on within me and I start envisioning instruments and musical elements for the game.
So what does the actual creation process look like for you? How do you move from concepts to compositions?
That is one hard question!! I would say, in general, I need a time of chaos. Of not really knowing where anything is going, if what I’m doing is kind of OK, if I’m derailing, if I should change my job entirely…! But once I emerge from this process (which sounds worse here than it is - I tell myself to enjoy it as much as I can) with a “musical palette” for the game, then actually producing music is quite concrete and pragmatic. I have a compass and I trust it because we built it together with the devs.
Although you’re working in what is ultimately a digital format, it seems like analogue tools (synthesizes, musical instruments) are still super important. Can you tell us about the role analogue tools have in the big picture?
To me, it comes down to recording acoustic instruments: I just love that stuff. Be it playing plucked instruments by myself or working with a musician who spent years to develop their ability, there’s something so magical about bringing these sources into the music.
That’s not at all to deny the incredible ease that computer recording has brought to us, mind you. But personally, adding recorded instruments (especially acoustic ones!) to the tracks always inspires me.
Are there some specific challenges that make composition for games different from composition for other mediums?
There are many nuances, but the clearest and most important challenge is this: most other mediums are linear in nature. In games, players decide what to do, when to do it (of course the extent of this depends on the game). I love this aspect of composing for games.
(Filippo's studio, in Munich. Photography by Janine Greifenegger).
Looking at Innkeep, what attracted you to the project?
The cheekiness of it, it’s grotesque in such a charming way! And your drive in bringing this game to life. That’s very inspiring to me.
Is there something in the game that you are particularly looking forward to working on?
Since I have a background in stealth games, I can’t wait to musically sneak my way around the Inn soon… 😁
Lastly, because I think some people might be curious, do you have any advice for people looking at getting into musical composition?
One thing that helped me a lot (and still does!) is figuring out how a song is constructed, and learning about it, listening to different covers of the same song is a great way to do it for me! I really recommend Gabb’s rendition of many 8bit legends on piano. He’s a wonderful musician.
For more hands-on topics about how to compose, 8 Bit Theory has a couple of very cool videos. But it really depends if you are starting from scratch or have some background already. If I can help in any way to start a musical journey, get in touch :D
Thanks Filippo!