Composer Will Savino talks about his music for Souldiers, a metroidvania platform puzzler with RPG elements, pixel art and a retro-ish soundtrack. So much music in this game! It was fun to talk about it with Will! Also, Will composes loads of music for tabletop gaming, a topic I haven’t explored very much, and was…
A few things about my conversation with George Sanger. It’s the longest single-interview episode in my 11 years as a podcaster, and the interview itself flew by. I felt like each question could’ve been its own episode. I kept wanting to turn the page and discover more. Alas, we barely scrape the surface of this…
Joel Schoch‘s music for the Far series of games is truly wonderful (Far: Changing Tides from 2022 and Far: Lone Sails from 2018). I can’t recommend it highly enough. Joel does a laudable job scoring the open, watery worlds in both games. An abundance of live instruments but with respect for the, well, “simplicity” that…
There are 14,000 sound effects (aka “Foley”) in the game Unpacking. That’s a handful. And what a charming game, no dialog, just art and sound. You learn the story as you unpack the belongings of a young girl as she grows up, goes to college, moves in with friends, then experiences different relationships in adult…
Imp of the Sun is a gorgeous 2D platformer from Sunwolf Entertainment, a company co-created by the game’s composer, Jose Varon. The game was inspired by the landscape, history, culture, art and music of Peru, where the developers live. Jose got the chance to record instruments in a museum, some of which were 6,000 years…
The music for Loot River was composed by two brothers in Vienna, Austria – Markus and David Zahradnicek. Markus and David, who go by Wobblersound, are a full-service audio package, so for Loot River, they supplied not only the music, but the sound design and implementation. You can find a playlist and support Level with…
Chase Bethea talks about his music for Questlike: Pocket, a mobile monster-hunter RPG with a rhythmic component to battle. Chase wrote four battle tracks for the game, all in the same time signature of 5/4, and all at 60 beats per minute to match battle tempo throughout the game. In addition to the four battle…
Composer Ben Nichols talks about three soundtracks: OMNO, a gorgeous adventure game (for which he received an Ivor Novello nomination); Before We Leave, a colorful world-builder; and The Falconeer, a dogfighting aerial combat fighter. So different from each other and delightful to discuss each one! You’ll find a YouTube video on our channel (sometimes…
Join us on Discord to discuss the episode! This is music by John Robert Matz for Ambition: A Minuet in Power, an adventure game/interactive visual novel with all sorts of romance options, set during the ramp-up of the French Revolution in the 1780s. John Robert’s music is also set in the 1780s, the height of…
Composer Carlos Eiene began his career at age 14, uploading video game music covers to YouTube from his living room on piano and saxophone. He posted a video at the beginning of 2022 stating he would no longer be uploading game covers, but that he would be focusing on original composition. Carlos and I talk…
Video game music remix artist Lacey Johnson is a content machine! You can find dozens of remix videos of Lacey’s on YouTube, she’s got a Persona 4 album on Bandcamp and several more album projects planned (including Persona 3!) with dozens more YouTube videos scheduled. I got to meet Lacey in April at VGM Con…
A song by composer Robert Wolf is nominated for Best Original Song in the upcoming Game Audio Network Guild Awards on May 25, 2022. He composed “Immutable” for the game Arknights, a mobile tower defense/ tactical RPG from Hypergryph. Robert is a composer for Hexany Audio, a company that provides music and sound for many…
Mark Schimmelbusch – known as “Mahn” in the VGM world – talks about his album called The Old Blood: A Bloodborne Concept Album. This album was recently awarded best remix album at the 2022 VGM Con Remix Awards in Minneapolis. Mahn has remixed many other favorites from game music, and we enjoyed talking together about…
Composer Mason Lieberman works for Tencent Games, and writes music for all types of games and projects, like PUBG Mobile and Teamfight Tactics. He’s composed for tons of different anime projects too, like RWBY and Beyblade Burst Evolution. Mason has a keen ear for composing J-rock, and other J-styles and C-styles, and was exposed to…