Amusement park sim Park Beyond is coming in June, and ahead of its impending release, Bandai Namco has released another dev diary breaking down the creative process behind the game. This time, it's all about the music, and Park Beyond's composer and music producer talk at length about how they created the music and what the score means to the game.
We've already learned a lot about Park Beyond, including how its gameplay will work and how your slimy rival will try to undermine your efforts, but it's the music's time to shine now. In the new dev diary, composer Olivier Deriviere and music producer Reimer "Kettel" Eising talk about how they went about creating the game's whimsical, cutesy score, and why Deriviere's preconceptions were challenged while working on Park Beyond.
First, Deriviere talks about how getting the brief for Park Beyond was "unsettling", because he's used to working on narrative-driven games. However, Deriviere says it quickly became apparent that Park Beyond developer Limbic wanted the game to "have an identity" that was "more than just a management [game]".
Deriviere says that the music has to achieve the same aim as Park Beyond itself, which is to make the player believe that the impossible, physics-defying creations of their park could actually work. He says the compositions begin with children's toy instruments, in order to evoke the feeling of childlike wonder, and then become more electronic as they progress. Eising then adds his own "colors" to the sound in order to expand it and make it work for the game.
If you're a music nerd, you'll appreciate Deriviere's breakdown of Park Beyond's main theme, which is in the relatively uncommon time signature of 7/8, making it sound "off", in his words. Despite the music being embellished with electronic elements, Deriviere says it sounds "almost as if it was live instruments" and avoids the usual "cold" feeling of electronic music.
It's well worth watching the full video, especially if you're into music (and double-especially if you're into game soundtrack creation). Deriviere and Eising have some fascinating insights regarding how Park Beyond's music is put together. The game itself is due out on June 15th, and it'll land on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S when it launches.
