The ASTERAID project

This page is dedicated to the making of the game "Asteraid" and its music. The game can be downloaded from the Windows store.

The concept

This project started as our next assignment for the "Unity 5" presentation, the last of 2015. We needed to make a game with very simple gameplay but visually exciting as we wanted to draw begginers attention and show as much of the software's features as possible.
The idea of a space themed game dates back to the previous year's (2014) "Unity" presentation when the team needed an idea for a 3D game. However, due to time limitations the team settled to a short demo of a player-controlled spaceship. We just waited for a new chance to expand our idea further until the 2015 game development presentation was assigned to us, plus we had the new Star Wars movie coming out in the next weeks, so that was obviously our chance!

The creative process

There had to be a spaceship ofcourse. There had to be stars and colorful nebulas across the distance. But what would be the threat? The danger our glorious spaceship has to face. Other spaceships? Nah, we 've done that... plus we can't make the enemies smart enough to make the gameplay interesting, it would take too much time to make AI. We needed something stupid, possibly brainless, with no need of intelligense that can still be considered dangerous. What? no no no, not jellyfish... We need something that can be found in space and can be harmful to an otherwise peacefull wandering spaceship. Ofcourse, the answer is "asteroids"!!! They 're huge - you don't stand a chance against them - and they 're usually found strolling together like a large flock of spacesheep (heh, get it?). But then, what are we going to shoot at since we 'll be avoiding those asteroids? (the reason the name "asteraid" was chosen is considered obvious by now) We have to fulfill our need for highscore bragging, arcade style, just like the old times. How about smaller, crystal, color emmiting, fancy asteroids vulnerable to your high energy "pew" lazers that you can blow up and in return increase your score? That's right, you get rewarded for destroying something beautiful nature has created! Humanity in a nutshell.

Now it's the part where the above magically transform into visual objects on our screens.

After we got everything working as "intended", we felt like something was missing... There was plenty of stimuli for the eyes but our ears were left out of the party. Yes, it's realistic - no air in space means no sound too - but still, it's a game and it's the perfect chance to expose our inner artist to the world. And thus we took that risky step into the music-making process.

The music

A main theme was necessary (we couldn't make a game presentation with no sound) and it had to fit to the whole space-arcade style and give some sense of action - ambience wouldn't go well with the gameplay.
A combination of synths and sampled instruments along with the recording of crunchy guitar sounds (there had to be some) is the recipe for the "Stars Ahead" track and while the ingredients may not have been mixed well enough, it tastes good for a humble, rushed try.

...but that's not the end of the "Asteraid" project. It wasn't even called "asteraid" back then - it was supposed to be a demo for a tutorial, nothing special for anyone else except us. I got it's name just one moth later, when the game was set to be completed. During testing and further development an older indipendent track was thrown onto the table as an acompanying track for the game's menu. Yes, the game would get a proper menu like every game out there! However, it sounded more suitable as gameplay music and so the two tracks switched roles... and it worked better that way. Eventhough "Relentless" was an experimental track created independently, it has enough power and a dominant electronic element that flows well along with our arteroid fighter spaceship. Oh...right, it's longer in duration too...

Something extra: While brainstorming for 2014's 3D game presentation there was a sudden inspiration about the kind of music that would fit to the gameplay. We were talking about a song we liked and very quickly it became the basis for an electronic remix we just came up with (synths and space are like bread and butter, right?!). The remix called "Neon Diamond" - guess the song? - was completed shortly after but the team decided to make it part of the 2D game made for the same presentation. It's not part of "Asteraid" either but since these two projects are conceptually connected it feels right to leave it here!
Neon Diamond