I was commissioned to write the soundtrack for TrampolineTales's Maze Mice, a Pac-Man like roguelike with elements of Vampire Survivors.
When it came to expectations, I was given considerable freedom to make the game sound how I desire. There was very little guidance given by Dan, as they trusted me due to my time working on their previous project, Luck Be A Landlord. However, that game had a placeholder soundtrack which gave me guidelines to work within. For Maze Mice, I was on my own and writing from scratch without expectations or reference material.
To begin with, I didn't want Maze Mice to just be a repeat of Luck Be A Landlord. LBAL's soundtrack was heavily arcade inspired, using many retro sounding synths, along with some "weirdness" thrown into each song to give the impression of "spinning". For example, the rapidly panning white noise in the song Big Man Zaroff, the disorienting cricket-like sounds in Hex of Funkiness, or the up and down arpeggios of Rainbow Peppers.
In contrast, I decided to take the focus away from synths in Maze Mice's soundtrack, and focus mainly on sampled instruments. This eventually led me to the genre I would take inspiration from for the soundtrack: Funk. I also took inspiration from related genres such as Jazz, House, and Disco.
The Challenge
As mentioned in my previous blog post, I always challenge myself when writing a soundtrack. This time, I challenged myself to use chords and progressions that I was not used to using. You will rarely find a chord in this soundtrack without any kind of upper extension. I will go through each song, explaining how I completed the challenge I set for myself. The terminology will begin to get a bit technical.
Twists and Turns
Once I decided on all of the guidelines to follow, I got to work on a demo. This demo later became the song Twists and Turns. It features electric piano chords and trumpet hits, as well as a piano for the most of the main melody. This song starts in the key of D Minor, shifting between two chords: Dno3(7,9) and Bbno3(7,9). That second chord contains a G#, which is outside the key of D Minor, and a tritone away from the key center. However, the movement between these two chords sounds coherent due to the fact that the root is in the key, and the chord shape itself is the same, just with a different root.
There is also a passing chord to get back to the start, which to be frank I do not know the name of, and every tool on the internet I've found gives it a different name. That being said, it is made up of C#, A, A#, and D#. Despite my lack of knowledge about this chord, it has good voice leading, and works well in context.
Keep it Moving
You can't have a Funk and Jazz inspired soundtrack without some saxophone! I wanted to make a song that was a bit less dark and a bit higher in energy than Twists and Turns. The main chord progression uses chords built off the root, the flat 3rd, the 5th, and the flat 7th in that order. The flat 7 chord is minor, leading to it using the flat 2, going out of key. As well, all of the chords, no matter what, have an upper voice playing the tonic of the key.
The climax of the song uses a VI - v - bV - bvii chord progression, bringing it out of key often. This chord progression also allows the upper voice to descend by a semitone each chord change. Due to the various chord progression throughout this song, the flat 2 is used quite often. Despite that, the song still maintains an upbeat and energetic feel. Probably because of the sax.
Don't Look Back
The last song that plays during gameplay, Don't Look Back, is written in C Dorian. I use a similar technique to Twists and Turns here, where I use chords with extensions that go out of the key. However, I would like to draw attention to a part near the end of the song, where the song modulates down a whole tone to Bb. During this part, the electric piano goes between the i chord and the III chord, before jumping up to the IV chord. However, the IV chord of Bb Dorian is the same chord as the III chord of the original key of C Dorian. This is taken advantage of by the synth flute, playing an arpeggio in the original key of C Dorian while the rest of the music is still in Bb Dorian, giving this section a unique sound.
Amazing Mice
Amazing Mice is the title theme. I ended up writing it last due to the difference in energy between the gameplay sections and the title screen. It is written in the key of C# Mixolydian, making it currently the only song in the game in a major key. Considering how different this song had to be from the rest, I decided to not challenge myself too much in terms of chords for this one. I only really used one challenging chord in this song, which is the Caug7(9) chord used at the end of most phrases to lead back into the tonic.
Good Try
Good Try is the song that plays on the results screen. Did you notice there are two versions of this song? The chord that plays at the start changes depending on whether you made it past 10 minutes or not!
Conclusion
Writing the soundtrack for Maze Mice was a fun yet challenging experience for me. Due to the freedom granted to me, I was able to explore new genres I had not worked with before, and push myself to learn new musical techniques. Dan is also wonderful to work with, and I hope to continue working with them in the future, whether it be for more Maze Mice, or another future project. I hope players enjoy the love I put into the soundtrack, and the love Dan put into the game.
The demo for Maze Mice is available Here: MazeMice.com
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