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Creating the music and soundscape of Neva - Berlinist interview

We chatted with the composer of GRIS and the upcoming Neva about the evolution of his music in games, its adaptation to the more action-oriented gameplay and its nuances in puzzles while preserving his own style, and also about how Gris opened the doors to new projects.

Audio transcription

"All right, so we are in Barcelona for the Neva presentation event by both the Devolver and Nomada studio and I'm Standing by Marco who is from the Berlinist and I You know I wanted to talk with you guys back in the day for Gris because I loved the music and the way it sort of Enhanced or lifted the experience. So thank you so much for joining us. Grazie mille How did you guys change your work in terms of composing and the sounds we're gonna hear now coming from Gris, okay, well The most important thing here that has changed is the how the game how how the gameplay is For example in Gris you cannot die you cannot fight So in Neva you have to experience those kind of stuff this kind of stuff So you have to fight enemies you can die you have to watch Take care of your companion So in terms in tech in technical terms What has changed is that the music what works inside the game?
For example, you have different layers that comes in and out Accordingly with the situation of the game. So it's a more dramatic perhaps now that you can die Yeah, but Not the dramatic you can imagine because we work a lot with sound effects team in order to Give the feeling throughout the dynamics so by Change change the volumes or the EQ or the of the of the battle or the landscape so you can experience that in that way Yeah, the music could be more dramatic more intense more there is more density or sound during a combat scene or a boss fight or a chase Scene and you will notice that co-founder no no matter co-founder Roger Roger told me before that You might also have to do with the puzzles this time around that some of the puzzles Have some music to them and the music the musical notes are important for you to solve the puzzles like in Zelda for example How do you guys work on that? Well more?
It's more like to help the player but nothing to solve lose our hands. Yeah. No, not so much. We don't want to How can I say that we don't want to spoil the solution of the puzzle But we want to the player to be as calm as possible and focused as possible during those moments that could be Could appear more difficult than the usual So if you are listening to a music that is a like dark music because you are maybe you are passing for a dark Landscapes a dark level we want in that specific moments to to have a music that is more patient more More player friendly helping him solving the puzzle, but you the music will not deliver the solution of the buzzer Did you mention that?
How much both Gris and Neva?
differ in terms of Genre from what you guys Have as your trademark style because you guys play your thing Produce your music, but then these of course is is different How much do you sort of take a detour from what you guys do normally well First thing we said you have to Preserve your Mark, so we wanted to our style to be the same but different in this case how we do that of course we did it through Composing ambient soundtrack that are really Quite Coherent with the with the level Especially the exploration phase of the level, but then when you enter a fight went you enter a boss Fight you have to change that that in that case. We had to take a little detour from what we are you We did usually so there you will find more electronic instrument more synthesizer more aggressive sound in some cases and Also more complex dynamics in terms of The battle music that of course are specific to Make the player feel more danger more in a dangerous situation We have the instruments in the background you guys played before on a stage and you guys are going to play once again What is the piece that you?
perform Performed here earlier was beautiful. I was doing another interview back there, and he was in the background it sounded fantastic So what's this exact piece that you guys played? Okay?
I won't say the titles because titles could be I could spoil something also so but they are extract from Let's say As long as Never is a game that talks about a friendship a Relationship, but this relationship is going to develop during a whole year Passing through four seasons we choose from the autumn and the winter of the game So those sounds those tracks could feel a little bit more Nordic more Scandinavian color called but in the game you will feel other kinds of sounds that could Ehm Transport you to Japan maybe to Italy because Italy Spain Mediterranean as well. Yeah, there's something like that, but more in the Instruments that we choose because we always prefer to work with at least piano and cello So and around that to build Everything else So the idea is to convey to the public to the audience a feeling of those seasons Specifically are you gonna play the same one again? Yeah Looking forward to it because I couldn't so I will be among the audience and final one How did Gris?
change Berlinist well, it changed us a lot because there is a Before and after Gris it was our first our first experience in the working in the video game industry as a composer and So it made us love video game a Lot more than before because we already loved video games before Gris And but now we as part of them it as I said earlier Today It's something special to do a soundtrack, but it's a privilege when you can work for a soundtrack for game like this So I don't that's it. What comes next another video game perhaps a movie. Would you like to do that?
We really love to make a movie but video game video games are those Interactive parts and the fact that it's not a passive medium that you can play with it that It's a little bit more interesting for us. We find it more interesting also because we love to play We love movies too, but we love more video games to play and not just music exactly exactly So when the music help helps you out during a playing session of your favorite game Something that really fulfill us as as people as person For those that might have become fans after Gris or after Neva and didn't know about Berlinist So what sort of what is your latest release?
Music wise on Spotify. How can they they watch you performing live?
What can you tell them in terms of you know, new new Berlin is fans. What can how can they learn more about you?
well, if you are new fans and you don't know Gris you Go and listen to Gris, but the last Soundtrack we produce is for the game Worldless So, okay. So it's the last thing we do we did and it's More electronic stuff than Gris. It's more also Tough stuff because it's a tough game. It's a turn-based RPG with a turn-based combat system that As Some elements from the Devil May Cry or other games that are action based so if you For about what you can listen, you can listen to this soundtrack on Spotify about live concerts. We have some plans But we cannot tell anything about those and share those plans. There will be a good concert next year We were we will be in good company Enough of a hint and I'm privileged that I'm gonna see you live now. So thank you so much for your time Let's let's wait and and see how never comes out and I'm gonna I'm looking forward to listening to your music "

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