Indie Video games Plus spoke with the builders of Keylocker to speak about designing music for a recreation the place songs are a type of rebel.
Keylocker is a recreation of rebel in a future the place music is illegitimate. Are you able to inform us what impressed this idea?
Nana Moon, Director: The primary inspiration got here from two locations (or perhaps I ought to say two books)! The primary one can be Wandering Earth by Cixin Liu, one in every of my favourite sci-fi authors of all time, and Blindness by Saramago! Each books are extremely completely different, however they each labored their approach into my mind as important inspiration for Keylocker.
From Wandering Earth, I used to be impressed and intrigued by the alien lifeform that the character (who’s a climber) meets in one of many tales. That character exposes the entire historical past of their individuals in a brief format all through the guide saying how his civilization got here from the core and now they’re colonizing different planets. I needed to work out a worldbuilding a few civilization that got here from the core of the planet excavating outwards. That sounded just like the wildest idea to me, but it surely ended up working for Keylocker. You get the Satellites excavating from the core of Saturn, constructing a tube round themselves and capturing upwards making an attempt to succeed in the environment. A herculean process!
From Blindness, I took the idea of music lacking from the world. Blindness is a guide a few world with out imaginative and prescient, and I assumed that idea of lack was actually attractive for me and I needed to discover it, however via one thing that’s typically seen as “ineffective,” like a number of the arts, or music on this case! It’s seen societally as ineffective, however it’s certainly important for our residing and delight of residing.
Two different books that impressed me for the visuals of the world have been Neuromancer and Synners – each actually good cyberpunk books!
How did this illegality within the music have an effect on the way you carried out sound results and songs into the sport? How did this theme have an effect on the sport’s complete design?
Moon: This recreation was the primary recreation we truly employed somebody to do sound results for us; we needed the sounds to be actually skilled! We all know how necessary sound is for video games, and it was particularly necessary for this recreation the place we considered utilizing silence as a story instrument as properly, so the SFX needed to be good!
For that, we employed Gustavo Coutinho who has an incredible ardour for this topic and did essentially the most unbelievable work for the sport, with my favourite half being the prologue that’s fully silent till you discover Rocket and “unlock music.” It is a very iconic second within the recreation since, as much as that time, the entire recreation is “silent,” or, I assume, as silent as it may be with the chunky however oppressive sound results of chains coming from the jail that B0B0, the principle character, is making an attempt to flee.
Elektrobear, Composer: There was a aware selection early on to attempt to spotlight this theme by taking away music totally from the primary space of the sport till you meet Rocket, the Jukebot, and he brings music again into your world (actually). It would’ve turned gamers off the sport for the reason that environment early on will be fairly oppressive, however we expect it’s value it for the second you get to have with Rocket’s introduction.
What sort of music felt proper for Keylocker? What ideas went into making a soundtrack for a recreation the place music is towards the regulation?
Elektrobear: Determining what the music goes to sound like is all the time a little bit of a course of for me, personally. It begins with Nana sending me reference music with the type of tone or feeling she needs to succeed in, which on this case was an entire lot of soviet post-punk and goth punk. We tried to go for a extra regular Cyberpunk method as properly, but it surely wasn’t actually figuring out to start out with.
Finally, via some trial and error (plus an entire lot of emulations of Synths that outlined the early period of digital music and people traditional ‘80s feeling sounds), I began navigating in direction of a sound that pulled collectively inspirations from punk, funk, disco, metropolis pop, cyberpunk, Arabic components, classical components, synth-pop, and alt-rock.
In essence, there are 4 types of musical tracks in Keylocker. There are the band’s songs, which combine synth-pop vibes with that type of early ‘00s alt-rock feeling, and Psamathes pulling all of it collectively along with her heavenly vocals. There are the world songs which attempt to absorb the sensation of the world to specific and improve it, passing over the widest space of musicality within the course of. There are the battle songs, that are often my tackle the Cyberpunk music fashion – darkish driving synths and drums – and eventually, there are the boss battle songs that are strongly influenced by classical music to attempt to differentiate the Satellites from the remainder of the world as classical was traditionally the music of the higher courses.
Moon: For the reason that starting, we all the time knew we needed to work with a singer for this recreation, however we didn’t fairly know the way but. Elektrobear had by no means labored with a singer as much as that time, and I needed to out of the blue tackle the work of writing lyrics within the recreation’s language (all to make all the pieces genuine to the world), create that language and learn to make lyrics that sound good, in addition to serving to Psamathes and Elektrobear to acclimatize with the imaginative and prescient I had that was nonetheless a bit cloudy at that time. I can say that our final track collectively is unquestionably significantly better than the primary, however I really like all of them and I belief my life within the arms of those two if I need to in relation to placing their all into bringing a incredible soundtrack collectively.
Psamathes, our singer, truly has a bodily situation that causes her numerous ache, and she or he recorded the final track for us in excessive ache earlier than going out for her surgical procedure that wouldn’t permit her to document for some time once we had some tight deadlines. Though not advisable, I can actually really feel the fervour that they’ve for music and for creating such unbelievable songs after they inform me these tales (a lot later after doing the songs so I can’t cease them from doing outlandish issues! [laughs]).
How did you wish to work music/rhythm into the fight of the sport? What drew you to carry components of rhythm video games into the battles? What do you are feeling this added to the fight?
Moon: Some individuals come to our recreation anticipating Crypt of the Necrodancer, however our recreation isn’t like that! Our recreation is extra impressed by the Mario RPG video games with their timed hits on turn-based fight. The rhythm is added with a number of the timed hits which can be hooked up to the BPM of the songs. We even have a Guitar Hero-like part that showcases the band’s music (with the highly effective vocals by Psamathes).
Anglerman, Animator and Sport Designer: For fight, the principle concept was to remove the RNG accuracy of RPGs and switch it right into a timing problem that required gamers to pay some extra consideration. I consider this helps carry the gamers nearer to the precise issues occurring quite than being within the backseat. Keylocker could be very deterministic, with few RNG components in its entirety – all of which belong to the whims of the Whale of Time within the setting.
Likewise, are you able to inform us a bit concerning the Electrical energy system and its Offensive/defensive properties? What appealed to you about including this additional technical layer onto the fight?
Anglerman: Me and Nana went over loads of methods to make the traditional MP bar extra than simply spell foreign money. The aim right here was to offer the gamers numerous management of essentially the most significant standing results present in JRPGs: harm and protection buffs (charging EP into LATKs/LDEFs), in addition to having a continuing ‘mana defend’ towards ‘spells’ (EP decreasing electrical harm taken).
In-universe, electrical energy takes many shapes and varieties, but it surely’s all the time about powering everybody up, as Doppelgangers (B0B0 and Vendor) are identical to Robots (Rocket) in additional methods than they themselves understand. Due to this fact, they stay off electrical energy – they feed on it and use it to operate each day. All recreation programs needs to be topic to the world setting and lore and all tales should respect the gameplay. That’s what we consider in.
Moon: As Anglerman stated, we all the time join story to gameplay, and as that’s our motto, for this recreation we determined that to make the principle character actually be this beacon of hope in a society with out music. She ought to have one thing no person has any extra: a robust voice. Which serves as an allegory to combating oppression, doing so along with her personal voice, actually!
Characters even have many doable choices for fight skills. What ideas go into designing character skills so gamers will be artistic with how the character works? How do you stability them in order that many alternative character builds are doable?
Anglerman: Keylocker‘s TUBE world could be very a lot outlined by social hierarchy and sophistication hierarchy. Each single character within the recreation is tied to the definitions of one of many 10 doable courses – even the Satellites. Which means that every class is answerable for various things in society resembling ‘juggernaut’ NPCs dealing with trash compacting and oil extraction, ‘hackers’ dealing with scientific analysis, ‘attorneys’ dealing with all banking endeavors, and so forth.
Taking that under consideration, all class skills have been made to help each a particular gameplay fashion (tied to the 4 base actions) and to help the in-universe position they’d have. The remainder was trial and error and numerous testing! We discover it extra partaking to have the ability to customise as many points of characters as doable throughout the framework of the world guidelines (which on this case means the 4 base actions).
Like a lot of your previous work, Keylocker is crammed with hand-crafted fights meant to problem the participant. How do you create difficult fights with out overwhelming your common participant? What concepts are going into creating a great battle in Keylocker?
Moon: I believe our common participant is unquestionably overwhelmed! We had a great deal of individuals contacting us about their frustrations with the sport. Nonetheless, those who persist with the sport finally perceive one factor: with many struggles come many and greater rewards be they via a brand new piece of apparatus or a brand new piece of lore to maintain them hooked. The “I need to see what comes subsequent” finally ends up being the catalyst for his or her character arc from frustration to pure bliss! There’s additionally the large issue that B0B0 is somebody from the bottom caste on this society. If she doesn’t battle with combating the authoritative figures, then it doesn’t make sense story-wise, and fight and story have to be linked always!
Anglerman: Lots has to do with the sport’s philosophy of Dualities. Two assaults, two defenses, similar rule for enemies. You’re both within the offensive or within the defensive and the enjoyable factor is to juggle that quite a bit throughout a battle.
We discovered from our earlier video games that recreation components needs to be extra slowly launched and fights ought to get wilder as time goes on quite than peak halfway. Our encounters system was very a lot improved from our earlier recreation to permit some drastic modifications to enemies throughout their turns, resembling altering their AI fully based mostly on dropping an ally or forcing them to solid particular spells based mostly on their present LP/EP, shifting actors round to create new beginning factors, dynamic reinforcements that change relying on which enemy was killed first, floor results added to particular tiles, and variable enemy base stats throughout the battle. All is feasible, however solely to the characters who possess energy to change the battlefield in main methods, which is restricted to high-hierarchical figures in-world.
In the long run it’s a juggle between “that is cool” + “that is doable” + “this can make gamers mad.”
What ideas went into the visible fashion of the world of Keylocker? How did you form this oppressive world and the rebellious forces trying to take it again?
Moon: I lived in Brazil my complete life and solely not too long ago moved to England, and one infamous change of tempo for me is how a lot calmer issues are right here. I lived in an enormous capital earlier than. I used to be born in Rio de Janeiro and it’s chaotic there, it’s scorching, everybody is sweet to you as a result of it’s the one solution to undergo the chaos, there’s so many individuals round, it’s properly lived, and vibrant. It’s absolutely the reverse of the small countryside cottage English life I stay now.
The Scrapyard Zone is tremendous impressed by my dwelling city, not as a result of it has trash in all places, however since you kinda know everybody and if you don’t, they nonetheless are good to you. That aesthetic of makeshift houses are impressed by favela housing the place individuals construct their very own houses across the edges of harmful mountains. I all the time discovered that to be an exquisite state of being human, specifically as these on the periphery, residing on the literal fringe of a self-contained world. Favelas are like little small self-contained cities – they’ve virtually all the pieces they may want, they usually have a extremely sturdy sense of group. That’s what I needed to specific with the individuals of the Scrapyard Zone, the primary space you go to in Keylocker.
And B0b0 carries that dwelling along with her, taking her associates alongside for the experience. I discover it actually fascinating how one can observe these characters evolve and categorical their character arcs as they’re uncovered increasingly to the corruption of this world. The Satellites needed to look and be the precise reverse of that. There’s no sense of union between them; there’s solely a way of frigid battle. They aren’t associates amongst themselves and even their relationships are thought-about taboo and unacceptable. Their visuals are considerably impressed by the dystopian world staple of those who signify oppression having outrageous, socially unacceptable style. A bit just like the world we stay in ourselves. Have a look at the Met Gala. It brings a little bit of that sense of not taking a look at who they’re however as a substitute trying on the pores and skin that covers their id, their style being a shadow that pulls their crude selves into darkness.
Likewise, what concepts went into the character design? How did you discover the placing look of your characters, and the way did the unlawful music theme assist form them?
Moon: The characters have been positively impressed by numerous visible media from the previous that I really like. To say some, I can say Evangelion, Video Woman Ai, Akira, and Ghost within the Shell, positively. I assume Akira is simply pivotal as inspiration for any trendy Cyberpunk creation and Telesto is a personality that could possibly be featured in EVA (if I do say so myself). Though, the inspirations are so many who it then turns into one thing of its personal type.
I additionally actually love the aesthetics of PC Engine pixel artwork and needed to seize from that for the portraits and even world pixel artwork. Every Satellite tv for pc idea artwork revered particular character guidelines – they wanted to have some sort of encircling ring round them to signify their overbearing energy as Saturnian’s rings. B0b0 and the characters from the Scrapyard Zone are extra off the sting, residing in a Zone that’s closely noticed however on the similar time deserted, in order that they have extra sensible and distinctive apparel from one another, a factor of peripheral tradition the place individuals can have their very own fashion of dressing that could be very distinctive to every particular person.
Characters from Soundwave Metropolis have been purported to be extremely oppressed – you barely speak to them as a result of they’re silenced, in order that informs how they appear a bit extra same-y between one another. Members of the Church use a particular apparel relying on their rank, and it’s all associated to their unusual cult. The Clericopters have cone heads with smiles as a result of they obtain a head transplant upon being settle for as members of the clergy on its first rank, however then afterward you’ll uncover the bloody historical past of this grotesque faith and why they appear the best way they do.
All of that is linked to the world and in a roundabout way linked to the roots of Cyberpunk as a style. I principally needed to make the designs extra based mostly on the idea behind what’s cyberpunk, as a substitute of simply making it based mostly on issues that look cyberpunk sufficient. That idea of it being punk, that Vivienne Westwood and the Intercourse Pistols British tradition, that rebel towards the institution – it’s all a nod to that.
What do you hope gamers take away out of your recreation and its story?
Moon: I hope that on the level of ending this recreation, at the very least one particular person on the earth has the proper instruments to start out an anti-capitalist revolution of their very own that hopefully can save us all from this mindless insanity we stay in.
Elektrobear: The sport trade wants extra video games like Keylocker, and players deserve extra video games prefer it too. The world is way too stagnant and uninteresting for one thing like this recreation to be solid apart for an additional rehash or remaster of final decade’s artistic concepts. We needs to be celebrating and upholding the now and the way forward for video games and shifting ahead collectively. Making new and fascinating issues that problem the norm isn’t all the time a easy street, but it surely’s the required lifeblood of our artistic trade and I actually hope individuals can see this recreation for what it’s and are available to rejoice it. Extra video games ought to dare to be fascinating.
Keylocker is out there now on the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation Retailer, Microsoft Retailer, and Steam.
About The Creator
Joel Couture
Joel has been masking indie video games for numerous websites together with IndieGames.com, Siliconera, Gamasutra, Warp Door, CG Journal, and extra over the previous seven years, and has written book-length research on Undertale and P.T.. Joel is consistently looking out for digital experiences that push the boundaries of what video games will be, and seeks to delve into the artistic course of, meanings, and emotion labor that goes into the work of artists worldwide.
