Game 5: Ape Escape fan remake

Brief: Level music with a high BPM jungle/techno genre. reminiscent of games such as Jet Set Radio, Ape Escape, Breath of the Wild and shows like Cowboy Bebop.

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This last game was made by another developer who had directly messaged me from the "Game Dev League" discord server as a result of my aforementioned advertisement for my services. They had messaged me saying that they were more of a hobby game developer, not intendant on creating anything for the sake of making money, but rather sought to create a remastered version of their favourite undervalued childhood game, Ape Escape for the PlayStation released in 1999.

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The developer wanted to match the original music for the game. During this time period of the game's industry (the late 90s), video game music would take a sharp turn from its usual soundtrack being on brand with a video game companies brand image as well as the music matching the on screen events and characters to game music, temporarily, experimenting with different genres such as House, Garage or Acid Bass to cover the entire OST of games or to have the genre represent the game in some capacity such as with Ape Escape or Buck Bumble for the N64 released in 1998. 

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The reasons for Ape Escape to adapt a new genre could be linked to how the game industry's headspace felt, with new and futuristic approaches being made such as with hardware development with the creation of the Dualshock controller. Ape Escape was actually the first game to utilize the Dualshock controller with their game design of moving with the left analog stick and using an item such as a net to catch enemies with the right analog stick (Matt Fox, 2012). At the same time, companies such as SEGA were attempting to push the boundaries of video game hardware with consoles like the SEGA Dreamcast, which introduced concepts like DLC (downloadable content) and Online play connecting players with one another through a dial up modem.

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These features are vital to today's game industry corporations but led to the failure of the Dreamcast console. Nonetheless the dreamcast alongside other elements such as presentation styles at conventions as well as marketing strategies in advertisements give us the impression that the late 90s was a time for experimentation and this led me to understanding how I had to create my track. 

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Feeling inspired, I took more time composing this project than any of my previous attempts as I was a big fan of the aforementioned games such as Jet Set radio and was captivated by their soundscapes and tracks. 

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My composition began with a sample from the Zelda BOTW OST. 

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I then put it into multi-sampler and shortened the samples to fit my preferred chord pattern. I created an arpeggiator next and placed it onto the track before feeling as if the sampler midi pattern I had chosen previously was more suitable and recycled the Arppegiator settings into a new Logic preset synth track. I then added an 80s pluck bass and added another arppegiator with an accelerated setting to create a sense of speed within the track on top of the drums that were just a simple apple loop. This would form the A portion of the song, the B portion would be similar but would swap its drums for an amen break pattern with different voices as well as a sample of the song Nobody to Love which in turn samples Lyn Collins' "Think (about it)", a popular sample in the Jungle community.

 

I then added a touch of personality to the track by sampling voicelines and sounds from the original Ape Escape game such as the Drill attack sound.

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As well as voice lines from the game. 

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I created a rising high pass sweeping intro and delivered the track, ready to be looped by the creator and implemented into the game. 

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This project taught me the importance of historical context as the entire project was a fanmade love letter to Ape Escape as well as games from the late 90s to early 2000s period. Without knowing and researching the importance of this style I wouldn't have been able to make a track that satisfied the client's desire for a song that is reminiscent of the soundtrack of Ape Escape but provides additional variation of elements such as instrumentation and sampling to create something new but with respect to the theme of the game. In this case, the historical context was crucial in creating this song and I learned the importance of grasping the context when dealing with passion projects such as this one as well as projects which give reference to past games or historical aspects.

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