The Garden Path Solo Developer on Hollow Knight and Final Fantasy Influences – Article
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We’re bending the rules a bit for today’s Nintendo Life Video Game Music Festival interview – this game is yet to come out. Scandal!
But hopefully you’ll forgive us, because The Garden Path, which recently finished its Kickstarter campaign, hitting the strict targets for the Switch launch and local multiplayer, it’s pretty cool to keep an eye on. The game is being created by a single person: Louis Durrant, who is a UK based illustrator and game developer, and composer by the name of “carrotcake”.
To put it another way, Louis Durrant is spinning a ton of different turntables to make The Garden Path, so it’s incredibly impressive that the game looks and sounds. is good and it’s not just a bunch of broken dishes.
We talked to Louis about his background, inspirations, and how to juggle so many different jobs at the same time …
Nintendo Life: How does it feel to juggle development, illustration, and composition? Have different rooms / moods you need to be in for each one?
Louis Durrant: It is fun! I enjoy it because it is the same room and the same mood. Everything works together: you use the music to influence the artwork and the artwork influences the music.
Where do you draw inspiration from when you make the music for The Garden Path?
Steve Reich, Julius Eastmann and Hiroshi Yoshimura are my main references, but the influences come from all directions. I checked the Hollow Knight soundtracks, Final Fantasy XIV, and I studied the instrumentation of Sufjan Steven’s ‘Illinois’ a lot to find the sound I was looking for.
How is your songwriting process?
When I was doing more melodic work, I would wait until a melody appeared in my head and then write about it.
‘The Garden Path’ is much more rhythmic and layered, which is why I generally hit random keys on my keyboard until it sounds good. I bet on the premise that if I think it works, someone else might as well.
We love the way the songs have organic sounds, like crickets, birds, and streams. Is that based on the location of the character or is it within the songs themselves?
That is based on the game world, but it is a key component of the game composition. Since the songs are mostly simple, repeating melodies, they reflect those sounds: a bird may have only one song, but it repeats it often, and there may be a rhythm to the sound that a river makes.
The music is similar, with short melodies that appear and disappear to invoke that sensation of moving through a forest that feels awake.
Can you tell us some of the song titles in the game? How do you come up with the names?
‘A tree that looks like a man’, ‘Rivers you can’t see’ and ‘They came shortly afterwards’ are some of my favorite titles.
Usually, I just stick to the first sentence that comes to mind as I write, and stick with it. Finally, the title and the composition become inseparable.
How did you start composing? And what made you decide to study graphic design and not one of your many other interests?
I’ve been writing music since I was allowed to use my dad’s Yamaha keyboard. I was writing songs for my rock band at school, that led me to produce music. From there it made sense to make music for my own work. The soundtrack is much more fun than pop and rock, because you are not limited to chords and lyrics, you can do anything as long as it suits the scene.
Music is too fun to be my job. The images and illustration are my work.
What genre of music would you love to write a soundtrack for next?
I would love to do something Bounty hunter-the thing is. Thoughtful science fiction, maybe a little jazzy. I think that would be great. However, I have no plans for that kind of project!
What do you think of the trend for “lo-fi music” in games?
I’m a huge fan of lo-fi music and lo-fi games. A lo-fi trend often means that the creative process, whatever the medium, is being democratized. That can only be a good thing.
The Garden Path is scheduled for an October 2021 release on Steam and itch.io, which means it’s pretty close to the finish line, though there’s no release date for Switch yet.
Thanks to Louis, who can you follow on twitter, for talking with us and do not forget to consult The Garden Path on Steam or the demo on itch.io To discover more.
Be sure to also take a look at our other VGMFest features; We will have many more in the coming weeks!
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