Rare’s latest music updates reveal an untold XNA demo
Steve Burke talks about Viva Piñata and Jetpac Refuelled
This past summer, Kameo fans were treated to three appropriately-named tunes on Rare’s site called “Kameo Medleys”. They mostly contained songs unused in the game that we never heard before as well as songs we’ve heard from previous builds of the game. It was a splendid treat, and one that I personally hoped would continue in the form of new unreleased music. Looks like Loveday read my Scribes-desiring mind.
Rare’s latest site update focuses on three new MP3s in total: two belonging to Viva Piñata 1 and one belonging to Jetpac Refuelled. The first tune is titled the Romance Dance Medley, in which Steve Burke comments was “the music to 21 of the Romance Dances. Some were recorded in Prague with an orchestra, others using a music sequencer and samples. Each is in a completely different music style. In most cases, the music was written first and the characters then animated to the score.” If the concept sounds familiar to you, it’s because MundoRare offered an MP3 of the Romance Dance tunes last Valentine’s Day thanks to Ben “Aussie Ben” Kosmina.
Jetpac Refuelled & Viva Piñata unused tunes
rare.co.uk
- Viva Piñata - Romance Dance Medley
- Viva Piñata - Unused Tunes & Doodles
- Jetpac Refuelled - Alternate Themes
The more interesting of the two focuses on the days when VP was just called “Piñata” in the Xbox days with a tune titled “Unused Tunes and Doodles”. Burke explains that these experiments in music were “written very early in development to help get some audio up and running and set the mood, before I went back to focus on the Kameo music and sound effects.”
One of my very minor complaints regarding Jetpac Refuelled was the lack of music that was available, but the recent update proved me wrong in every single way. Titled “Jetpac Alternate Themes”, Burke states that the first half were just experiments in getting the game to fit the theme right (considering the original had no music), but “were a bit too busy-sounding for the game.” It kind of explains why the first half sounds like Grabbed by the Ghoulies in space, but the most interesting aspect of the update focuses on the second half. “From 7min 17sec to the end, a few tracks written in one day for a Microsoft XNA demo we worked on at Rare, a sort of Space Invaders game.”
Obviously the first time we’ve heard of this, with a feeling that it’s going to be the last. It’s nice to have Rare tell us about something that was never meant to be, even if we’ll never know if it was just planned to be a demo from start to finish or something more. Regardless, fans of these titles should have a ball listening to the sound of progress.
Somehow related news
- Amateur developers on the sights of Rare and Microsoft ()
- Trouble in Paradise’s demo “on the way” ()
- Burke’s life beyond the Enchanted Kingdom ()
- News ()
- Updates ()
