Here's a recording of my sequencer playing the Runnink out of Space soundtrack!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DumYSU9i3o4

The making of Runnink out of Space's music

This is the first time I've entered Ludum Dare strictly as a musician, which was an exciting change. I knew working with the talented @Aurel300 would be a breeze, and the challenge of making Amiga-sounding music was quite attractive.

I'm used to making more modern elecronic music, so while I wanted to make the music sound retro, I wasn't comfortable going with true vintage software like a music tracker. Instead I stuck with my software of choice (Propellerhead Reason), and tried to study some Amiga game music, eventually looking for samples, instruments & production tricks that could help get a fitting feel. I eventually found this public domain Amiga sample pack which was of great use, as ~90% of the music ended up built out of samples from it.

The first hours of production turned out a bit frustrating, if only because my LD participation was quite improvised and I had no keyboard, no quality headphones, just a small netbook with cheap earplugs to work with. Brainstorming melodies and other ideas was difficult in the beginning, but I eventually figured out a base that conveyed a fitting atmosphere for our "quirky puzzle game in space". Eventually I got hooked into the work and forgot my hardware limitations :)

In the end the main theme is... not exactly what I pictured it would be! In particular it's less ambient that I aimed for, but this wasn't a big issue. The overall retro sound feels also less "authentic" than I hoped for. But overall, I still feel the track is good, catchy, and not too repetitive. It also seems to do its job of helping set the mood of the game.

So this was a great experience overall, and one which grew even more my curiosity for retro music and chiptunes.