Fantastic Escape doesn't have a typical game development origin story. It's the first game from Australian rookie studio Beethoven & Dinosaur, conceived by Johnny Galvatron, one of the founders and lead guitarists of The Galvatrons. As a result, this music-themed game elegantly intertwines top-notch background music with gameplay.
Fantastic Escape represents a journey of growth that will take players on a multi-dimensional adventure. It features a 2.5D psychedelic art style, which Forbes called "the most beautiful indie game of 2021." What's even more amazing is that its core development team has fewer than 10 developers. Although the game is the work of a small studio, it was nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Music, and Best Debut Game at The Game Awards.
We spoke to Galatron to learn how Beethoven & Dinosaur achieved these remarkable achievements. The creative director shared the inspiration behind the game, how he transformed from rock musician to indie developer, and detailed the significance of receiving the Unreal Dev Grant.
Fantastic Escape is the first game from Beethoven & Dinosaur, can you tell us about your studio?
Johnny Galvatron, Creative Director of Beethoven & Dinosaur: In the beginning, I was just planning to make a simple iPad app similar to Sword and Witchcraft, but it was a little out of control. I started delving into Unreal Engine and made a simple demo video that showed the early concepts of Fantastic Escape. I sent this video to Epic and asked roughly if it met the funding requirements of their grant program. They immediately funded me so I was able to get into the video game industry. As I grew more deep into game development, our ideas grew bigger and bigger, and we ended up launching a project on Kickstarter and getting a publishing contract through this pitch. The annapurna Interactive guy flew to Melbourne, tried out our demo at pax and offered us a contract the next day.
Can you talk about the inspiration behind Fantastic Escape?
Galvatron: Around the age of 20, I signed a record contract and then toured the world for a few years, which got me tired. Touring between towns in this part of Australia with a tepid rock band was not the life I wanted. I look forward to seeing some whimsical, new and strange things, a realm of uninhibitedness. So I quit the band and made a game of rock scenes that I imagined in my brain when I was 17. I'm an avid fan of glam rock and really enjoy the mediums of peripheral artists, such as video, fashion, and storytelling. All of this has had a huge impact on the game.
Image courtesy of Beethoven & Dinosaur
From touring rock musicians to video game developers, can you elaborate on this shift?
Galvatron: The two areas are very similar, it's just that as a developer, I can stay home and not tour. For me, that's the biggest attraction. I love cocoon life. Also, after entering the video game field, I had actual income. The producer has a budget. People get paid regularly and in a timely manner. The rock industry is accurately defined as "23 hours waiting". When it comes to independent development, the opposite is true.
Fantastic Escape has beautiful, extraordinary 2.5D visuals. How did the team achieve this dynamic look for the game?
Galvatron: The game blends sets and characters that are relatively close to 2D in the 3D world, just like the sets in a theater. Using Unreal Engine's Material Editor, we can make 2D objects glow, reflect, flicker, or even flood in the wind. Coupled with our clever sculpting of 2D Actors, these 2D objects can blend smoother into the 3D world and have a more picture book-like aesthetic. Our beautiful illustrations were created by Ardin Beckwith, who is very low-key on the internet as if they didn't exist. He can only be found in the real world.
The world in Fantastic Escape is magically switched from the ordinary town of Colorado to a surreal galaxy. Can you talk about how you designed this game world?
Galvatron: The album cover art of avant-garde rock bands like Yes, Rush, and Hawkwind has inspired me a lot. And the huge and decadent rock scene of the '80s. I then twisted the various frequented places in rock shows into quirky alien styles, such as backstage, radio shows, recording studios, and agent offices.
The studio has praised Unreal Engine's post-processing effects. Does the team have any favorite features?
Galvatron: Floodlight!
The soundtrack of Fantastic Escape is just as good as the visuals. Can you talk about the composition and arrangement methods in the game?
Galvatron: In this game, I co-produced the soundtrack with my lifelong music collaborator Josh Abrahams. I've spent a lot of time in his studio over the years and finally been able to pay him, which is great. He's also a crazy genius. He loves Devo as much as I do and is like-minded. Speaking of composing, it's a challenge, as players can always pull out their holographic guitar and start playing quickly. This means not only making sure that the game always blends in with the background music, but also considering whether it coordinates with all the triggers in the sound design. Therefore, in all the scenes provided, we had to weave every sound, every melody, every explosion and the roar of the monster into the same tune, seamlessly blending them together. Although it was difficult, the final effect also surprised me.
Players can pull out their guitars and play them quickly at almost any time, can you talk in more detail about how you can make sure they sound good when combining dynamic guitar solos with background music?
Galvatron: It's very hard. We recorded hours of Wild Stallion shot by guitarist Eden Altman. The trickiest thing is not to blend the sound of the speed play with the soundtrack, but to have the guitar cut in or out seamlessly and sound unnatural. You can't just fade out the guitar sounds, it sounds weird. So whenever the player stops the speedball, we play a short tweaked harmony. This is very effective because if the player quickly triggers the guitar again, a small harmony can be created between the end of the previous phrase and the beginning of the next. Your brain will also try to understand the articulation between two melodies, and you'll want to recognize a pattern, like Dark Side of the Rainbow.
As a new small indie studio, can you share your feelings about working with well-known voice actors like Lena Headey, Jason Schwartzman, Mark Strong, and Carl Weathers?
Galvatron: Not the slightest bit of unpleasantness. Every actor I work with is very dedicated and easy-going and has done their best for the game. All were super professional and gracious and I will always remember this experience. It's like hanging out with Jason Schwartzman and it's so cool to talk about Bowie and Bob Dylan.
The studio has said that for the gameplay of Fantastic Escape, they want to highlight the performance rather than the accuracy. This ultimately provides a simple and satisfying platform for the game. Can you talk about your attitude when creating the design loop of your game?
Galvatron: There are a lot of music games that I like, but to me they're more of a skill-based game than playing music. Smells like Teen Spirit isn't that hard, but if you have a megaphone behind you and someone playing a drum behind you, it feels like it's going to heaven. I want to try to convey that extreme feeling of dynamic change, the feeling that you're in control of an instrument and know what to play, rather than waiting to play the notes that fly towards you on the screen. The various parts of the gameplay are interconnected, and once you adjust it, the narrative, gameplay, music, lighting, and sound design are all coordinated, and at that moment you will gain control over the universe.
Fantastic Escape was critically acclaimed for its pace and fluidity. How do you get to grips with this aspect of game design?
Galvatron: I think we took a musical approach when designing the game rhythm, and even the level itself. Rhythms similar to the main song, chorus, main song, chorus, guitar solo. I think that's one of the reasons the game's smooth pace. And, because it's something we've played a hundred thousand times, we've removed some of the boring parts.
Why is Unreal Engine a good fit for this game?
Galvatron: Because at the time I didn't know what I was going to do, and it looked fantastic, out of the box. It's also ahead of its competitors in terms of ease of use, allowing traditional artists and musicians to work effectively in the engine, and artists from many other fields have joined us.
You mentioned earlier that you started learning Unreal Engine through a YouTube tutorial. How did you feel when you first started using this engine?
Galvatron: First, even people who know very little about programming can quickly set up and run a scene and prototype visual and auditory concepts. There are many things to learn, but making games is a real fun and adventure for me, and I'm also passionate about learning them when there are new tools and new features.
Can you talk about what receiving Unreal Developer Grants means to you?
Galvatron: It makes a lot of sense! I'm bankrupt. My jeans were so torn that I couldn't even get into the bar. To be honest, it kicked off my entire career. Epic has always been our supporter and has always helped us out of our predicament. I owe them a lot.
Thank you for taking the time to be interviewed. Where can people learn more about Fantastic Escape?
Galvatron: The game has been released through Steam, Xbox Game Pass, and the Windows Store. I'm sure there must be some trailers on the internet. There are also some pictures of the 2010s I kept with emotional rock bangs dancing rock dances, but please don't look at them.