A Chill Soundtrack
When it came to making Freeze-E Frosty's we knew we needed to have a vibrant soundtrack that will capture the feeling of the game. At the beginning we didn't know how we were even going to start on a soundtrack. Luckily for us the very talented Mike Coons joined the team.
There are 2 hidden tracks in the main menu.
Mike Coons brought along with him over 25 years of composing experience. He however had never worked on a game before. Mike is an extremely talented guy. He composes all of his music and he plays just about every instrument I can imagine.
Over the period of a few months I shared with Mike some of the best soundtracks in gaming. I wanted the game to have a soundtrack that was retro with possibly some chiptune sounds. I sent him links to just about every game I could imagine. Bomberman, Mario, Contra, Crash Bandicoot were just a few games I sent him as reference. Mike came by weekly to demo his latest tracks. Below is a breakdown of the songs in the game.
Cold as Ice Jazz
That baseline is as smooth as Frosty.
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The first level is where we introduce the player to the world of Freeze-E Frosty's and the character of Frosty. When I described the character of Frosty to Mike we decided on a cool baseline that would emphasize Frosty's "too cool for school" attitude.
The first thing Mike came up with was just the baseline. It was a very mellow line that sauntered through your ears. We talked about adding a bit more to it and what he came up with was great. |
For reference I told Mike that we were kind of going for a very 1950's malt shop kind of vibe. I described it as something that would be played through a jukebox. When it came to the tone and the vibe he certainly matched what we as a team was looking for.
He filled in the track with some light piano and guitar that came together to form a very relaxed Jazz sound that perfectly reflected Frosty as a character. The piano to me fits well with the feel of the game, the song sounds relaxed but the piano is something of a warning that things might get a bit tense.
Meltdown
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The factory is Freeze-E Frosty's eventually goes haywire leading to a chaotic meltdown. For this track we wanted to capture the sense of urgency and panic.
The first track Mike gave us was a bit dark. The second track was a mostly piano track. It felt right but it was missing the urgency. It wasn't until he combined the two he came up with something that fit the bill. |
The factory is going haywire!
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The track that he came up with captured the mood exactly. He kept the piano but added in some horns and gave it a pulsing rhythm. It is one of my favorite songs he composed for us. It has a very moody feel to it without being overbearing.
Forklift Funk
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For the second level of FF I knew exactly what I wanted the music to sound like. As a huge Mario fan I just had to share with Mike the music from Super Mario Bros from the NEs. World 1-2 is the underground level and since I was a kid that iconic music has stuck with me.
I sent Mike a clip of that music and told him that I wanted our second level to pay an homage to it without being overtly noticeable. I knew it was going to be a challenge but Mike was an expert and so far he hadn't let me down yet. |
Moody and atmospheric. Capturing the level perfectly.
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Mike really knocked this one right out of the park. He really made a track that not only paid homage to one of the classics but it stands on it's own. I remember running play tests of the level and having people come up to me asking if they can get a copy of this song. It was pretty much at this point I knew Mike was capable of working with the guidelines I gave him and excel.
Royal Ice Palace and Jurassic Flavor
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We knew that our hero Frosty was going to do battle with a T-Rex for a long time coming. What came to my mind as memorable song we could use as a baseline was the Jurassic Park theme.
I sent over a clip of the Jurassic Park theme over to Mike and he got to work. He was able to replicate the sound really well. I dropped it into the boss fight level but it didn't fit the mood of the boss fight. |
The track below is what he came up with. It had the Jurassic Park influence but it lacked the magic of previous tracks. I am not saying that it wasn't good, because it was good. It just didn't fit the mood of the boss battle. We ended up using this track for another area in the game known as the "Trophy Room". We scrapped the Jurassic Park idea and decided to go in another direction with it.
Mike headed back to the mixing board and came up with two different songs. The first was a very slow and grim. The second was a much more fast paced song. We originally were going to go with the faster paced track but we realized that before the boss fight is a short intro/tutorial and in between phases of the boss fights we had lulls in the combat so we needed something, we couldn't simply have no music for that part. Mike mixed both tracks together to make what became the track below. It builds up slowly and turns into a much more fast paced song. We looped the first half of the song for the start of the level and for the parts in between the rounds.
Ice Cream Adventure and 8-bit Boogey
Mike produced a lot of content for us, so much in fact that a few tracks didn't make it into the main game. Everything he came up with was fantastic. He took whatever mix of ideas we had in our heads and turned it into music. Below are two tracks that are not in the main game but were added as Easter eggs in the games main menu.
Ice Cream adventure was going to be the song for the first level but it was taken out in favor of "Cold as Ice Jazz". We liked the song, it reminded us of Crash Bandicoot. We instead planned on using it for a level that would come after the boss battle. Early on we thought we might want to continue the project.
8-Bit boogie was a great song that was also a contender for the first level song. I personally love the chip tune sound it has. This song is really upbeat, it properly reflects the tone of the game but we wanted a song that would suit Frosty's character.
Implementing the music into Kismet
When it came to implementing the music into the levels I found that using the matinees in Kismet allowed me the perfect level of control over the music in game. I was able to link it to switches and actions in a way to accommodate for just about any situation.
The kismet for the main menu was very easy to pull off.
The music was easily implemented into all of the levels. The only level that really had some problems was the boss fight. I had to make sure that the first half of the boss fight music played at the start of the level and to transition into the speedier battler music once the boss showed up.
Music was broken up into phases for the boss fight.
Things in the boss fight became pretty complex. I had to break the music into three music phases, one for each phase in the boss fight. I also had to have phases for each transition from round to round. In the end I was able to get the matinees to play the appropriate music when necessary. The whole thing came out spectacular, the music in the boss fight was flawless.
Play us Out
Freeze-E Frosty's went on to win Game Wizards Game of the Year at Art Institutes of Santa Monica that year. Mike didn't have any experience working with games but he didn't let that stop him from taking the challenge. I was happy to work closely with him to perfect the soundtrack and in the end his weekly visits was something the entire team rallied around. If it wasn't for him Freeze-E Frosty's would have been a much different game. The soundtrack stands as the best soundtrack Game Wizards has ever heard.
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