I’ve been doing a bunch of game jams lately, in part to meet people and in part just because I love making music and sound. The jams are a good opportunity to try different things without significant time commitments or risks. I joined a team for the Fig Jam, and while the game was never finished, I’m very happy I decided to participate because it was a ton of fun writing the main theme!
When the team and I started discussing music for the game, I was given Frank Sinatra’s “The Best is Yet to Come” and the Cuphead soundtrack as references. I listened and took notes on both, but I quickly noticed that neither relates to the year the game was meant to be set in – 1999. Sinatra’s song was released in 1959, and Cuphead is meant to emulate cartoons from the 1930s. I guessed that the references were selected because they are reminiscent of film noir music, so to avoid confusion about the game’s setting I recommended blending their original idea with a more modern style inspired by the popular crime shows from the late 90s – Law & Order, Matlock, NYPD Blue, Unsolved Mysteries, and the like.
They liked the idea and the initial draft I presented (just piano for the first half with some synth chords for the second.) I started filling out the draft with samples and synths, but we soon realized that the game would not be finished or even in a playable state by the end of the jam. Nevertheless, I was really enjoying the research I’d done and figuring out how to blend the two ideas, so I orchestrated the first half of the track with saxophones, muted trumpet, trombone, piano, drums, and bass, aiming to capture the feel of the reference tracks, then filled the second half out with synths, drums, and metallic sounds to capture the dangerous and mysterious tone of crime show themes from around 1999. I added the horns at the end of the track, swelling up to loop back into the intro, and added a simple ending with a final piano note for a non-looping version.
Unfortunately, the team behind Chicago 1999 the game elected not to continue its development beyond the jam, so the music was never used. I am still very glad that I participated – writing the music for the game was an interesting and highly enjoyable challenge. I’m delighted with the finished track and it added something to my portfolio that I never realized was missing.
Interestingly enough, not long after I finished Chicago 1999 I was contacted by a student team from RPI about music and sound for their VR detective game. After listening to the track, they decided it was a good fit for the game and plan to use it in their project! Thanks to good timing (and a bit of luck) Chicago 1999 will find its way into a detective game after all!