Press play on Charles Bardin's A Musical Story, and you might find
yourself traveling back in time.
"It's all about the freedom of '70s music," says Bardin, the French
composer/developer who created the Apple Design Award-winning game
along with Alexandre Rey, Valentin Ducloux, and Maxime Constantinian.
"We were inspired by the sense that, back then, anything could
happen."
That '70s game: A Musical Story's outfits and hairstyles were inspired
by the "freedom" of the decade.
Those initial notes of inspiration led to the harmonious mix of music,
narrative, art, and novel gameplay present in A Musical Story . The
rhythm game explores the primal, powerful connection between music and
memory, following the protagonist as he reflects on moments from his
past. It's easy to spot the spirit of the '70s in the story's
dreamlike visuals: There are vintage guitars, fashion, and hairstyles
aplenty, painted vividly in neon-splashed excess and washed-out color.
There are scenes that defy comprehension (at one point, cackling
cartoon birds make an appearance). And there's a lot of great music.
While A Musical Story was Bardin's first time designing a game, he's
had a lot of experience with the genre. After studying at the
Conservatoire de Musique de Lyon, he spent more than a decade creating
(and covering) music for games. "In one game, you can mix everything.
You can have electronic music with Japanese instruments and African
drums," he says. "I love changing things up like that."
Listen to the soundtrack to 'A Musical Story'
In 2014, he launched a YouTube series called After Bit, in which he
and his longtime friend and collaborator Ducloux interviewed prominent
video game music composers about their craft and catalogs. Just three
years later, the two began exploring a different partnership — the
as-yet-untitled project that would become A Musical Story.
As longtime fans of rhythm games, the team knew their strengths — but
wanted to explore a project that put more emphasis on the music
itself. "In most rhythm games, the notes come down on the screen and
you play them when they arrive," Bardin says. "I love that, but it's
also something you can play without any sound. I wanted [to create] a
game that really relied on listening."
Meet the band: From left, art director Alexandre Ray, developer Maxime
Constantinian, composer Valentin Ducloux, and developer and composer
Charles Bardin.
With that in mind, the team began prototyping scenes where the player
would play short sequences of music using an intuitive two-button
system. The simplified controls helped players focus on the music,
rather than placement of their hands or physical patterns they needed
to remember.
These explorations also helped define the core narrative of the game
for Bardin and the team: What if its mechanics could play into the
story? "We thought: Let's dive into a character who's trying to
remember something," he says.
Rhythm games aren't traditionally known for their storytelling prowess
— there aren't many places to insert dialogue and exposition outside
of song lyrics, and it's all too easy to tune those out when trying to
accomplish a tricky combo. Instead, A Musical Story uses visuals,
musical motifs, and the occasional vocal moment to express an
important moment or pivotal scene.
I wanted a game that really relied on listening.
Charles Bardin For example, early on in the game, you play a song
called Her, in which the protagonist "goes to a pub, sees a girl
playing music, and instantly falls in love with her," says Bardin. "It
begins with just a Rhodes piano and some bass and drums, but as you
move closer to the stage, you hear more and more of the music. When
you get close enough, you discover her face and her voice."
That voice belongs to singer Priscilla Cucciniello, and the scene
marks the only time vocals appear in the game itself (though they
reappear in the credits). "We wanted this moment to be powerful,"
Bardin says. "This is the voice of the most important character in the
game."
Listen to 'Her' from the soundtrack to 'A Musical Story'
Each scene has its own distinct combination of music and visuals to
move the story forward, but one interface element remains consistent:
the circular bubbles you play to create the song in each scene. During
their initial story explorations, Bardin was reminded of a French
phrase — "bulles de memoire," or memory bubbles. "I always found that
term really charming," he shares. It resonated with the rest of the
team as well, and its visual representation became a core part of both
gameplay mechanics and the overall feel of the game.
Will it go 'round in circles: Tap the bubbles in time with the music.
As with the interface, mechanics, story, and visuals, the songs
required a bit of a rethink on the traditional structures of a rhythm
game. "Musical games tend to rely on electronic or techno music, where
the beat is very clear," Bardin says. "We wanted to prove that we
could do it with more organic music — something that wasn't quite so
thump-thump-thump-thump."
Bardin and team spent a good bit of time shuffling through genres. "We
wrote something like seven stories for the game," says Bardin. "We had
one version that was more modern, a classical version with more piano,
and one that felt a bit more like (the French duo) Air."
In the end, Bardin simply went back to his own record collection,
drawing inspiration from '70s heavy hitters like Pink Floyd, Led
Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix, as well as the endlessly inventive sound
of Radiohead.
The game's soundtrack is inspired by some of Bardin's favorite bands:
Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and Radiohead.
To bring that vibe to the game, he recorded everything but drums on
analog instruments: a Fender Rhodes keyboard, Hammond organ, and
guitars with big, crunchy sounds. The songs were assembled in Wwise;
the rest of the game was built in Unity.
While the music of A Musical Story is designed to tell its story best
in concert with the visuals and gameplay, when played back-to-back,
the 26 songs form an hour-long concept album. "If you listen straight
through, it never stops," he says. "It's one big piece."
Listen to the soundtrack to 'A Musical Story'
But though it was conceived as a whole, the soundtrack has moments
that stand out for Bardin and provide the backdrop to especially
meaningful moments, like Her . It's the only song in the game to
feature vocals — albeit vocals in an invented language, mixing
together French, Spanish, English, and Esperanto.
Even if the lyrics are obfuscated, they're still important. "[They]
mean something," Bardin smiles, "though I'd never tell what. But if
you take the time to understand the story, and what happens when you
listen to the voice at the end of the game, you'll get it." For the
record, we didn't get the answer from him either. But we're pretty
sure it's something that would be meaningful in any decade.
Learn More About A Musical Story
Download A Musical Story on the App Store
Behind the Design is a weekly series that explores design practices
and philosophies from each of the 12 winners of the 2022 Apple Design
Awards. In each story, we go behind the screens with the developers
and designers of these award-winning apps and games to discover how
they brought their remarkable creations to life.
Read the entire 2022 Behind the Design series
