Andrew Aversa is more commonly known by his pseudonym, Zircon. He made his name with OverClocked Remix and theFinal FantasyVI tribute album Balance and Ruin. Now he’s done something completely different; designed his own dungeon-crawling game: Tangledeep. So, let’s take a look.
From composer to designer: Tangledeep, by Zircon
He recently discussed how he went from composer to designer in an interview with PC Gamer. As Zircon, he is one of the most prolific videogame remixers and professional game-focused composers in the industry.
“In 2002 a friend introduced me to Music Maker 2000 Deluxe. I had taken piano lessons as a kid and liked it, but once I could make music on a computer I got really into it. Being able to adjust knobs and sliders to create different sounds—I couldn’t get enough of it.” - Andrew Aversa
Andrew Aversa started remixing videogame music in his spare time after high school. After only two years, he’d had first original remix accepted byOverClocked Remix, a community game music site which was started in 1999. There’s now over 3000 songs on the site.
Zircon the composer
Over the next few years, Aversa went to college to study music. His pseudonym ‘Zircon’ became one of the most well-known names on OverClocked Remix.
“It was my home online. It’s where I met a lot of friends that I still have today; it’s where I met my wife [vocalist and composer Jillian Aversa]. It can’t be overstated how much OCR affected me. It was the outlet for my music for years.” - Andrew Aversa
His videogame music was so popular that it led to a successful career as a composer and audio designer. For example Aversa’s music is featured on the following game soundtracks:Soul Calibur V, ReCore, Crypt of the NecroDancer,Fantasy Strike, and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remake. He’s also made original albums that were licensed by television shows such as Chopped and Heroes.
Time for a change, so what next?
In 2016, at only 28 years old, Andrew Aversa had been making video game music for over a decade and he started to feel fatigued by it.
“I had done a lot with music, probably over 200 tracks, and doing sounds and virtual instruments. It started to feel, not that I was bored but not as much challenge and fulfilment. I had gotten into a routine. It wasn’t as meaningful to keep doing it every day.” - Andrew Aversa
He sought a new challenge, so he asked for the help of his friend, indie game developer Jim Shepard (developer of Dungeonmans).
“I asked Jim if he could show me some basic stuff in Unity. I’d no experience—I had taken exactly one computer programming course back in high school. He showed me how to put a sprite on a screen. I said, ‘OK, this is pretty cool.'” - Andrew Aversa
Impact Gameworks is founded
He founded a one-man game development studio namedImpact Gameworks. The studio’s name was a nod to his Impact Soundworks music studio. In 2016, he asked a friend from Overclocked Remix - Andrew Luers - if he could produce some pixel art for him.
“We used a royalty arrangement. At that point I didn’t even know if this game was going to ever be finished.” - Andrew Aversa
Andrew Luers was so enamoured with the project that he ended up doing all the character art for the game. Aversa hired a character artist, who he paid for himself out of pocket. Their first game,Tangledeep,was heavily influenced by a lot of classic games.
“Once we started getting original art into the game that’s when the memories of the games I grew up playing—Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Lufia—began flooding back. I decided to take this nebulous code and engine and make a game that looks like that, and mix in elements of the dungeon crawlers I’ve been enjoying over the years like the Diablo series and Shiren the Wanderer."- Andrew Aversa
By 2017, Andrew Aversa decided to switch to full-time game development. He launched aKickstartercampaign to fundTangledeep’sdevelopment. Partly down to Zircon now being a familiar name, the funding campaign was a success. He set himself a deadline of December 2017 to finish developing the game and met that target.
On Tangledeep
Tangledeep’sart and music are both nearly identical to the SNES RPGs that inspired Aversa. The combat’s a touch deeper though; a mixture of tactical, grid-based dungeons and a Diablo-like loot-grab. There’s also added tension thanks to a roguelike permadeath system. There’s 12 jobs (classes) to choose from, which can be freely mixed together. So there’s a fair amount of character customisation on offer.
Tangledeepis out now and is available viaSteam. ANintendo Switchport is also scheduled to be released a few months from now, so console gamers won’t be entirely left out. So, what comes next? Will Andrew Aversa return to composing full-time?
“I don’t think I’ll ever go back to being a full-time composer making music for others. I’ve really enjoyed doing this, and now I can’t see myself not doing it. When I started this project it was just a fun hobby. Diving into it was the best decision. You see a lot of people, whether musicians, artists, or writers, not sure if they can get into making music, or albums, or novels. My philosophy is rather than spending time planning and thinking about it—just dive into it, even if you don’t have the best tools. I certainly didn’t have the best music tools when I started making music. And now that I have the experience doing Tangledeep, doing the next game should so much easier!”
So, do you want more indie-related news? If so, you could readSoulbright, as seen through the eyes of a developer. Alternatively, you could readDecay of Logos Preview - The Lovechild of Dark Souls & Legend of Zelda.
