Beck Contributes Exclusive Tracks to Sound Shapes

Sound Shapes, the highly unique upcoming platformer from Queasy Games, will now feature three full-length, unreleased tracks from Beck.

Beck’s songs will comprise a new campaign known as “Cities.” The three tracks, Cities, Touch the People, and Spiral Staircase, will be three distinctive levels containing completely original artwork by Toronto’s Pyramid Attack Studios.

Jonathan Mak, the developer, seemed excited in an interview with USA Today about this collaboration with Beck.

“What’s awesome about the Beck levels is that they look and sound like music videos, but you’re actually playing it instead of watching it,” Mak said.

Once Beck submitted his tracks to Mak and Queasy games, they broke down the songs to each individual component. These components will be attached to specific gameplay elements when the tracks are rebuilt.

“For example, maybe that Kalimba sound is a radio transmission tower, or that bass line is and ominous missile moving to the beat, the shaker could be the flames of a fire,” Mak said.

The musical campaigns are not the only reason for the breakdown and integration of each aspect of each song. Once a campaign is conquered, the player can use the sound objects to create their own interactive tracks.

“It opens up all sorts of possibilities and you start to think ‘what if I use that bass line from Beck with that sweet pad from deadmau5 and that nice clean acoustic drum kit from Jim Guthrie,’” Mak said. “Playing with these combinations brings out all sorts of musical possibilities and it’s just pretty darn fun.”