… Man this could make us famous …

(Grim 8 months into development)

As of March 2020 I was brought on to Konologic games as the lead audio director for the game Grim. Grim is an amazing game that I’m sure will put my skills as a musician on the map more than any other project has. Music scores reaching up to 8-9 minutes long across the game. Full sonnets and lengthy melodies coveting the players ears from setting to setting, this has become a home in my heart. Large scale worlds with intense heart pulling story with Characters I’ll never want to forget…

What is GRIM?

Grim is what you get when you cross Dantes Inferno (the divine comedy, a book of man descending the 9 circles of hell) with hyper light drifter, one of our generations most awe inspiring 16-bit titles. Grim sets out to make a story driven 8-bit game that isn’t trying to be a mysterious ‘haha lets make the story kind of hard get”. The story hits you in the gut like your first love telling you to get out (I’m lucky enough to be married to my first love <3 ). Pulling the player in immediately, it makes you asks questions. Not about the game but about your self. Daniel, our lead writer, put together a story so grand and breathe taking that I get excited every meeting we have. I feel like a child waiting for story time but I’ll get into that later.

Grim has an atmosphere that is constantly changing. One moment the shores of despair, the next a sanctuary among brothers and sisters. The game has constantly making moral decisions you would other wise never face if it not for an intense experience. I always walk about form grand story moments feeling as though I’ve learned something about myself.

Combat is intense but not always needed. Much like Dungeons & Dragons, Grim rewards it’s players for their creative problem solving. It still faces the harsh reality there is no way around conflict at times.

What kind of soundtrack will this be?

For the most part it’s been atmospheric orchestral mixed in with analog electronics. For the faster pace moments, orchestral metal has been my go to so far. A splash of very gothic almost religious type music is used quite often as well due to the theme being around heaven / hell. Over all it is very diverse with a large emphasis on staying emotionally close to the narrative. I believe story narrative has been the driving factor behind the music rather than the setting so far. This game really has a deep soundtrack in the sense that it holds a lot of the weight for the game.

My approach to the style has been a bit personal. I often see what the story conveys and my reaction, as well as the reaction of my co-workers. So each song has been about our emotional experience through the story just as the player will experience. When I feel hollow I bring in the analog electronics. When I feel rage or anger I bring in the big guns, my 8 string guitars tuned down to pull up hell. During the more subtle moments, light flickering percussion mixed with wood winds and atmospheric pads.

Closing statment

If you are on the look out for game on the level of breathe of the wild story to get lost in with more involved music, support grim…

Official Website Here

THE PROCESS OF MAKING AN OST ~ COSMOS: ESCAPE FROM FREEDOM (half way through development)

how is started

First, I’ll tell you how Cosmos stared. Cosmos was born twice. My partner in crime Jacwab owner of Pixel Plant Studios had been working on the game during his university days for 5 years. It went through 3 name changes during that time including “Abyss” which ended up being the games hardest difficulty setting name. On December 31st I got a message I was going to be SUED for a game I didn’t write music. Jacwab had used my music in his test build as well as others music upon release. My music label and the label of other musician went nuts and luckily I got it taken care of. I started playing the game and realized it had a lot of potential. I was really enjoying the game and realized what it could be. After getting in contact with Jacwab we were able to agree on having me step in for music, audio eng, and creative design which later turned into me writing a full game campaign. We haven't always been on the same page with he game but we both care about it immensely. In the end of the day we were great friends and make something incredible.

what the game is about

At face value, Cosmos is a bullet hell game about killing “Cosmic echos”. Bullet-hells are a game genre notorious for players that just want to escape what’s on their mind. Escapism is something a lot of game lovers struggle with so I thought a game targeting said people in a genre that attracts them the most would be awesome. Hence, the story of cosmos, escaping what people consider freedom. Many people believe that freedom is being able to throw yourself at something you want. Real freedom is having control over your life and being healthy, not devoting your life to playing games 8 + hours a day after a dead under job. (and only being okay at it at best). I wanted to make a game that let them feel like they could free themselves with and catch their own issues via relating to the co-pilots in the game.

was anything not put in

We did about two weeks work of art for the campaign / menus that we ended up never using. I worked on a lot of sprite but Jacwab believed it did not end up being apart of the full games vision. I’m kind of happy i ended up doing all that work though because I learned a metric TON about pixel art. All in all not a bad sunken cost. Some games will end up scrapping years of work but his happened in two weeks. The only thing that was a bother was people not feeling they were able to speak their minds due to some IRL issues which were very understandable from both points of view. Teams grow from things like this, glad we were able to move forward all in all.

how the soundtrack was made

When I first started writing for cosmos, I made what I call a “congruence baseline”. I gathered all the instruments, synths (analog or vst), and effects i would need to make a congruent sound design and sound track. I tried my best to write something unique that ran parallel to your typical “8-bit” sound track. The biggest factor was creating a lead sound that felt like a singer. I wanted the player to feel spoken to as directly as possible, by the music, without their being lyrics. I created a very strained, human error filled synth that ended up giving this game its signature feel and sound. Through the use of chorus modulation, lo fidelity filters and a pitch shifting ribbon, it was exactly what I was after more or less. Every song is from the emotional perspective of the co-pilots. Meaning it is singing to the player of the inner conflict these co-pilots are facing. My hope is that players would relate in heavier to the co-pilots via this music all the while keeping the game intense and exciting. In the literal end, the final boss song, I created only one song that from the point of view of “inner conflict”. I wanted the player to feel like they are finally facing something outside of themselves. A hard hitting emotional challenge that existed outside of themselves as people.

Apart from the music just trying to reach the players and be exciting, I admit to a level of personal projection. Staring into the night sky for years as a child, I had made up a very emotional journey in my mind that could only happen out there in the cold dark. Much of the soundtrack reflects a level of inner conflict I felt during the creation of the game. During the games development I was married and moved. Me and my Wife were going through an awful legal issue and only had each other, and at times I only had myself. She was being put through a horrible process and sometimes even I couldn’t be there for her. There are moments in our lives where sometimes, the only person that can be there for us emotionally is ourselves. The song “the man who fell from earth” is all about that.

dumb nerdy music stuff don’t read this is you don’t like synths

SOOOOOO at the time of writing this I know own a kurzweil pc2X with a pitch shift ribbon for proper inflection of the long shifting notes. I do not recommend this personally, I’d say an ipad with a app would work better but I have to admit the attraction to doing everything analog was just toooo good. I had to do it. I talked to briefly with Chris (writer of the Risk of Rain OST) about how to make this a reality. I ended up with the insane desk picture on the right. All in all, i’m waiting for the new Korg keytar to finally release from NAMM. honey if you are reading this please by my that keytar, I will serenade you with it until you die.

I had a very easy time mixing this album because of a couple really great plugins. Specifically East West S. Orchestra had a crazy mic set up that allowed my few non-analog synths sound very warm. They had a 12 voice channel that really let the full notes breathe and not feel all that “choppy pio roll” crap. So look into voices if you want to avoid that for sure.

This album really made me realize how much equipment i was missing in order to really make what I wanted to. Very much opened my eyes.

mission statement

My hope is that this album speaks louder than the game and makes people hear the message. I had a wonderful time working on the game and it will remain one of my favorite albums I’ve ever written for certain.