A Highland Song Q&A
It’s always so refreshing and inspiring to talk to someone who is clearly passionate about their work. But then, if I got to make a game with the music of my favorite artist, I would probably be pretty excited too. Recently, I sat down with Inkle Studios founders Jon Ingold and Joseph Humfrey to discuss their upcoming game A Highland Song, which was announced back in February. In a genre dominated primarily by the Bit.Trip Runner series, this rhythm platformer has both a unique look and sound, set in the Scottish Highlands and to the music of Talisk, a Scottish folkband helmed by the famed concertinist Mohsen Amini.
Since it’s not often you see a game of its kind accompanied by anything but pop music or chiptunes, I reached out for some insight as to why they chose this particular sound and setting. The conversation was an insightful look not only at the design philosophies of the studio but also at how their shared passion for one particular band coalesced into a vision for the game and the challenges of programming to a whopping 120 beats-per-minute. We also had a chat about designing for consequence, the difference between failure and aberration in narrative development, and the concept of “failing forwards”.
Game Developer: A Highland Song is very interesting to me because I don’t often see a 2D side-scrolling rhythm game. And I've never seen a rhythm game that uses Scottish folk music. I looked into the band Talisk after reading one of your recent Steam page updates; it sounds as though you are beyond excited to work with the band whose music inspired the game, as well as bandleader Mohsen Amini’s side project Fourth Moon. This is uncharted territory in terms of genre, but the beats per minute are there. Could you
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