When deciding which game engine to use to create a game, especially one with an experimental, handcrafted feel like Mixtape, you need to weigh a number of factors, including the available features and compatibility with the scope of your project. And there may be financial incentives as well. Beethoven & Dinosaur creative director Johnny Galvatron says he owes a lot to Unreal Engine for launching his career as an indie game developer.
The studio’s debut game, The Artful Escape, was made in Unreal Engine and was initially just an in-engine video that Galvatron sent to the engine’s representatives, which was enough to earn him a check for AU$25,000. “It changed my life because I was so poor,” he tells me. “I continue to use Unreal because it paid me.”
Explore mixtape styles
Having a cinematic quality is certainly important to the mixtape, and the story, which centers around three teenagers spending their last night together, is reminiscent of John Hughes’ formative coming-of-age films from the ’80s. But where the studio’s previous album, The Artful Escape, eschewed folk music traditions in favor of something more colorful and psychedelic, Mixtape also embraces a stylized presentation that fits the structure of these three friends reliving their best teenage years through dreamlike reenactments.
“The step animations created by our talented hand animators have a clay-like feel, giving them a nostalgic feel,” Maksimshin explains. “This was a creative and technical challenge, as we had to build a custom rendering system to keep the 3D characters as if they were 2D images. We saw this as a great opportunity to push the boundaries of what Unreal can do while bringing visual elements that evoke the right feelings.”
The game feels perfectly on-trend for our newfound love of cassette players, and the soundtrack feels as nostalgic as the animation, with songs by Joy Division, Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Iggy Pop that were crucial to the game’s story, but most importantly, Galvatron’s all-time favorite song, DEVO’s “That’s Good.”
“We basically wanted to start by saying, ‘How can we build a game around ‘That’s a good thing?'” he says. “We created a playlist and laid it out end to end, trying to find a cinematic pace that would flow throughout this playlist. Then we rearranged it to see how it felt, saw where it got heavier, where it got lighter, and moved it around until we got something we liked.”
Game design as a concept album
Unlike the game development standard at the time of building vertical slices (basically creating entire levels that showcased the core mechanics of the game), the team decided to create “horizontal slices” instead. “We wanted to take a holistic approach and sketch out the entire game and treat it like an album,” Maksimshin explains.
The clue is in the title, with Galvatron describing the mixtape’s structure as “heavily influenced by a kind of late-night MTV that mixes up different music and aesthetics. Even the characters seem to be from different eras, and they live in this town that’s almost like a classic radio station.”
I know we don’t learn anything specifically about what you’re doing in each scene of the mixtape, but I think that would probably spoil the surprise since Galvatron teases that the gameplay is informed by the song’s meaning. (“What should I do while listening to Joy Division’s ‘Atmosphere’?”)
Even the largely 80’s soundtrack doesn’t strictly define the exact era in which the game is set. [coming-of-age] “The story is full of nostalgia. We really try not to be like, ‘Hey, do you remember this?'” Maksimishin says, adding, “It’s more about remembering what it felt like when you were a teenager, so even if it’s not necessarily your generation’s thing, it’s relatable.”
Opposite of AI slop
You might immediately wonder if there’s an AI involved, perhaps there’s a purpose behind the physical act of creating a mixtape (or CD), or even in the hand-crafted aesthetic that deliberately makes this game stand up to the sophistication of modern assets.
“I think our game is kind of the opposite of an AI slop, where every visible dialogue is lip-synced by hand by an animator,” concludes Maksymyshyn. “When you play it, you can see how much love everyone puts into it. So I think that really speaks to the soul of this game.”
Mixtape now available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S (includes Xbox Game Pass), Switch 2 launches on May 7th.
