I'm so excited to be introducing you to this wonderful indie game called Indie Developer Survival. It's a game created by the Fairy Axe team and is about the survival of a lone indie developer. As this indie developer you are trying to make a living by creating games. Will you survive? Or will you be lost to the madness of working in an ordinary store? Doesn't this sound familiar - and isn't this a great game to explore further!?
I had the pleasure of composing some music for this game and am now very happy to share my interview with Link Hirvelä, one of the creators of Indie Developer Survival...
Who are you & what is ‘Fairy Axe’?
'I am one of two developers of Indie Developer Survival. I currently do programming, art and design in the team. Fairy Axe is a team of two people. Me and Simon, who works with sound and music.'
How would you describe the game you’re making?
'The game we're making is a survival, management type of game. It is about a lone developer who lives in an apartment, trying to make a living out of making games. Going through the development hell, the stress and the need to actually have money to eat, pay rent.'
Out of all the games you could have made, why this one? What makes it special?
'We felt a need for a personal game. So this game has some relatable moments to our own lives as developers. We wanted to tell a story about the development and let people live through it. Everyone that has worked on the game so far has had some personal ideas from that come from ourselves. So we hope that other old and new developers will relate to the game. Also players that are interested in games and development get some insight. It is very target towards indie developers but we all have started from somewhere. That is what so special with it for us, it is not just a game it is almost a biography of development.'
What’s the game development journey been like? Have their been any challenges along the way?
'The challenge has so far been designing it both to be entertaining and interesting. There isn't too many games that you can get inspiration from and as always finishing games can be soo difficult. About the middle of development when you reach what we call here in the office as "The pit of despair". When you just have to bite the bullet and chip away at the work. But overall the journey has been so far great, we have learnt alot about ourselves and we're making a game about the journey. We have the luxury of seeing ourselves in stress aswell as in the game, such meta.'
Why did you decide to work with me on the music for the game?
'Why we wanted to work with you was to get some variation in the music that we have in the game. We were looking for something that could define what the games music could be, we had a few ideas how the music could feel. But not as much of how it actually would sound.
How important is music in your game?
'Music is greatly important, it is one of the best ways to contribute to the feeling that the player goes through when playing. An example of music being important is in Dark Souls, the enemies in that game has a 4/4 rythm of their attacks with exception to one boss with a 3/4. The music is embodied in the game. As a developer we can direct and navigate the players with music.'
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Here's a sneak peak at that game music track I composed for you...
What do you think of the ‘Le Fairy Noir’ track?
'The "Le Fairy Noir" is the track that we absolutely wanted, we really wanted a noir track for the beginning of the game and it is lovely, it is great to start the menu just to listen to the track. It goes through the feelings that we wanted to feel. We hope our players also will love the track!'
I hope so too! It's been wonderful working with you on this. To find out more about this game and the Fairy Axe team check them out at:
About the author: Ninichi is a game and film music composer. She works on a range of freelance composing projects supporting talented game developers and film makers with their music.
Want some great custom music for your game? Listen to Ninichi's game music and contact her now to discuss your game music needs.
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