Let’s look at those factions and their dances. To fully capture that vibe, Pocketwatch, in conjunction with Wintory and Power Up Audio, wrote almost exclusively with instruments that are era-specific: fiddles, violins, and “an old, crummy organ, like the kind you’d find in a Russian Orthodox church in the countryside.” With that pallette as their base, every arrangement was then tailor fitted to the four factions you can pick to battle with in the game. And yes, you can basically hear the rodents rising up against acts of clergy conspiracy and the government sending off soldiers to fight in foreign wars. Schatz explains the game is inspired by Russian revolution, but starring tiny animals. Let’s analyze this by starting with the themes of the soundtrack, all of which hit you over the head right from bootup: chanting, rising up, and total conflict. We tried to make the music interact with those two angles of the game." Themes “We approached the soundtrack from two angles: one was the theme of the game, and the other was the mechanics of the game. Yet as that 1995 soundtrack is literally just an album of full length songs, how could a free flowing, frantically paced (and short) game effectively use that as its starting point? Its popular sequel, “Command & Conquer: Red Alert”, perhaps also exerts some influence here, with its heavy use of Russian, militaristic overtones. Some background on that influence: Command & Conquer is a RTS game from 1995 whose clout runs deep, among its many contributions to the genre including full-motion cutscenes, real-world themes, and yes, a bizarre and bombastic suite of music that runs the gamut between raucous rock and heavily sampled trip-hop. “And for me, the (RTS) soundtrack that stands out is the original ‘Command & Conquer’ soundtrack…we started there.” “When we started working on it, we started with the idea that (the Tooth and Tail soundtrack) was supposed to evoke the golden age of real time strategy”, says Schatz. It’s about dance and the tension of ballroom dancing.” “That’s really how the whole soundtrack came to be. A game of Tooth and Tail should only be about 10-15 minutes, with people chanting, “Go mice!” all throughout. If you’re wondering what a popcorn RTS is, it’s the result of Pocketwatch’s hard work to make RTS games - a genre known for its complexity and long gameplay lengths, akin to a game of Risk - into a more streamlined, quickly paced and captivating spectacle. It arrives hot off of Pocketwatch’s brand new video game titled “Tooth and Tail”, a game readily described by their team as a “popcorn RTS”. The above composition, arranged and written by the Grammy nominated composer Austin Wintory, scorer of such games as Journey and The Banner Saga, is titled “Archimedes’ Tango”. Okay, for everyone’s sake, let’s back up a bit here. It also grants your units some autonomy as they will respond to enemies they spot.Īlong with the single-player campaign adventure and multiplayer mode, there is an editor so you can also create your own battle maps.When you think of real-time strategy (RTS) games, you probably don’t think of increasing sexual tension ending in a metaphorical climax, but that’s because you aren’t Andy Schatz, CEO and Lead Designer of Pocketwatch Games. This simplifies the controls and adds greater risk to advance, as you need to put your commander at the front of your army to move them forward. You control your units with your commander rather than directly. This creates a war of attack and defence that can quickly swing either way. While doing this you are fighting with enemy forces in real time. Creating campfires allows you to expand your territory. The goal is to destroy the enemy's resources by building structures and creating units.Ĭreating warrens enables you to produce units. The game is set during a time of severe food shortages, resulting in the uprising of political parties with differing ideologies regarding the acquisition of food. You then use these units to build farms, lookouts and gather resources. Before each match, you choose a commander from four factions and six units from a pool of twenty. Tooth and Tail is a real-time strategy game about anthropomorphic animals.
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