11 days in, 20 days to go. Brad (PrePixel) and I have made some great progress. Brad has been tightening up the controls and graphics code, while I’ve been making some fast paced music and designing graphics for the game.

The music

The music needed to be full of energy and varied enough so that it wouldn’t be repetitive. The original idea was something quirky and almost comical. I loved the idea of starting the theme with a lo-fi retro melody, similar to something you would hear in an old adventure game, like Space Quest or King’s Quest. Then quickly dropping into something dirty like dubstep.

The first idea:

http://soundcloud.com/farcloud/ld48-wip01

As the game evolved, so did the music. I soon realised that I wanted the music to be darker and more serious, to create tension and a sense of urgency. We knew we wanted the game to accelerate in speed the longer you survived to add challenge and variety. Because of this, I decided that the music too should increase in tempo with the game. This also made me realise that as the tempo increased, the style of the music could change and evolve.

I am currently working on a piece of music that starts at around 120 bpm, and ends at 170 bpm. Starting with a classical piece for the first 120 to 130 bpms, from there I will start to add a dance beat. I can nicely add in genres as the tempo increases. Dubstep is almost always 140 bpm, Hardcore Techno is around 160 bpm (although can reach up to speeds of 300 bpm), and Drum and Bass is averaged at around 170 bpm.

Next week I’ll talk more about designs and graphics for the game!