Almost two years ago I had the opportunity to interview the creator of Stardew Valley with the help of Cole Medeiros, the Head of Operations & Biz Dev at ConcernedApe LLC.
Stardew Valley is definitely one of my favorite games, if not my favorite game, as it is cozy, and extremely comforting and funny to me.
This interview is centered on the soundtrack of the videogame!
I want to report to you here the interview hoping it might be interesting and insightful to anyone who is interested in this game ^.^
I want to report to you here the interview hoping it might be interesting and insightful to anyone who is interested in this game ^.^
- How did you come up with the concept for Stardew Valley?
Cole answering: Eric was a huge fan of Harvest Moon, but so he set out to make a game that expanded on its premise.
- How did you get the inspiration for its music?
No particular way, it was a culmination of various things I listened to during my life influencing me, all goes into the soup pot.
- Is there a certain process that you follow to create the music for your games?
Not a certain process. Normally I open the music software and start laying down notes based on intuition for the song I'm making. Then let it organically grow from there. It will develop a structure. I’ll start having ideas from that and it goes from there.
- What did you use to write and to make the music? Did you use multiple DAWs or just one? And why did you choose that/those specifically?
Just Reason.
- What makes a good piece one? Videogames wise
Something that fits the scene or conveys the feeling. What matters is “is it good?” Catchy and memorable and appropriate. Ideally it's creative and unique. Doesn’t sound like stock music.
- Did you scrap any piece?
Oh yeah, tons.
- Did you follow any "psychological rule" to make the music more appealing in order to keep the gamer's attention or is the music just made out of inspiration and out of how much it fits the game?
Cole answering: This one: “The music just made out of inspiration and out of how much it fits the game”
- Overall what was the best part of creating the music for Stardew Valley? And how about the best part of creating the whole game? :D
My favorite is when I'm making music that is not super high stakes. The music you hear over and over you have to be painstaking about, which feels limiting in a way. I don’t want it to be annoying or have irritating sounds. One off event themes or those that appear only once, working on those I feel more free because it's somewhat lower pressure. Still has to be good but I don’t have to worry about people hearing it a million times. In a way it can produce better music. Dance of the Moonlight Jellies is a good example of that.
