Path of the Warrior is a hit ‘em up VR game that is styled around arcade games from 30 years ago. This game isn’t your typical VR game either. Rather than shying away from contact in VR and opting for gameplay that is centered around guns and arrows, the developers of this game, Twisted Pixel Games, took it upon themselves to make a game with real and fun human interaction.
“For the music inspiration, the composer Aaron Brown and I looked through hundreds of different songs from the late ’80s and early ’90s eras of music,” says Project Director of Audio James Barker. “We ended up settling on this synthy, dark wave style from the early ’90s, which fit very well with the game.”
From the opening scene in the game, you are met with a theme song that’ll be stuck in your head for what feels like weeks. This was a high priority to those who made this game and the people who hold music close in their heart.
“Director Josh Bear and I had been talking about doing something for it from pretty much the start,” Barker recalls. “When we finally had the time to work on it, he wrote some lyrics and came into the office and recorded a scratch vocal track, with the basic melody that he was hearing in his head. Aaron Brown and I sat down and sketched out a rough framework for the music, and he took all that back to the studio and laid out a final version of the song. We hired two singers and one guitarist to record on top of that. From there, Aaron got everything mixed together, and voila.”
Although the style may seem too prominent to some, Barker needed to find a style mixed with music that kept the player grounded throughout the game. He wanted the fighting for the players to be fun yet hard.
“It took some time to figure it out, but I essentially went as realistic as possible for combat, foley, physics, and ambience,” says Barker. “Doing this left room to go more cartoony for the big moments, like the hot spots and hostage rescues. This approach allowed those moments to stand out better, as they are less frequently heard.”
“This was a lot of fun, because it is a complete departure from all the other Twisted Pixel games I’ve worked on,” he says. “It was nice to explore a more cartoony element, with a bit of retro nostalgia thrown in there. I had a blast blending modern sounds with old school 8- and 16-bit sounds to create something that is really enjoyable.”
If you found this music in the game to be joyful, you aren’t alone. That was the goal of this game, and they did a fantastic job. For more VR news and gaming community updates, make sure to check back at VRGear.com.
