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Reverse 1999 | Dev diary in music-developer Insights

8K View2023-10-25

Reverse 1999 pre-download will be available today. Tomorrow is the day when Timekeepers set off again into the world of the Arcanists. The portal for this journey is now available for downloading. All Timekeepers are advised to prepare themselves.

The journey begins on Oct 26, 7:00 (UTC-5)

Audio-visuals are often a part of describing gaming experiences. Besides from the artistic perspective, music is also an irreplaceable element for creating an atmosphere and forming certain emotions. And the Reverse 1999’s music pieces have been well received by players! For today, we'll approach things from the "audio" aspect of the game and describe how their music design starts on paper and becomes the musical pieces you can enjoy.

In-game music can be loosely divided into themed music, PV music, and background music (BGM). All music, regardless of type, will be composed in the 3 steps described below:

Getting to know the story or script and the scenario for playing the music.
Clarifying the music genre and requirement.
Start composting.

PV Music

The vibe, the tempo, and the shots

Version themes or character PV will involve a director who's in charge of directing the overall video contents, scenes, and angles, and finding links between the music and the animation itself. PV music can only shine when the music goes well with the shots. Timing the scene and camera switches will be important. The process must also ensure that the vibe of the music matches the theme.

The following describes their process in detail:

The production crew will first study the video layout, the style of music that the director is looking for, and the background script of the video.

Group discussion with the creative video and dev teams to confirm the overall tempo and structure of the video.

Listing detailed requirements, including crucial scene switches and how the music should match it, the style, and emotions to be conveyed by the music, the instruments needed, and other particular requirements.

Only initiate music production once everything listed above is ready.

The overall process is almost the same as the basic process described above. Since PV music production has stringent requirements when it comes to matching the emotive tempos of the music and the video, the process will require them to work more closely with the dev team and the director. The official of Reverse 1999 wants the music and video to synergize and highlight the content features to give the audience a more
immersive experience.

Background Music

Typically divided into story BGM and system BGM

Overall, story BGM production will follow the basic process but with a greater focus on the story background and contents. We won't go into too much detail here.

As for system BGM, the production crew will work with the system dev team to understand how the systems play and interact with one another. They will also work with the writing team to learn more about the version theme. The production crew would then bring the gameplay interactions and music style together, create a compiled music requirement document, and finally start creating the music. The rolling sound made by The Spinning Wheel when you summon your Arcanists and page flipping sound effects when tapping on menu buttons are all created for the game by following this process.

What do you think of Reverse 1999’s music production process? Is it within or beyond your expectations? Is there any music performance in their released contents or gameplay that left a lasting impression on you? In any case, feel free to share your thoughts with us in the discussion section.

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