There are plenty of dance-based games out there – with the likes of Just Dance 2017 and Just Dance 2018 having already moonwalked their way onto Switch – but the classic art of breakdancing is yet to have its proper time in the virtual spotlight. Well, one little indie is about to change all that, and with style, too. Welcome, to the world of Floor Kids.
With its eye-catching hand-drawn graphics by award-winning animator (and former bboy) JonJon set to an original soundtrack by world-renowned scratch DJ/producer Kid Koala, Floor Kids is set to make a big entrance on Switch. The duo have worked closely before with the Floor Kids, with them appearing in a number of short animations as well as being incorporated into some of Kid Koala’s live performances. So it seems a perfect fit to bring the hip-hop beats and that instantly recognisable art style together into a game that rewards creativity, originality and sick dance floor moves.
With Floor Kids out now in North America and due very soon in Europe, we sat down with JonJon and Kid Koala to talk musical influences, working on Switch and tips for any prospective bboys or bgirls out there…
Floor Kids’ soundtrack is phenomenal, and it’s such a huge part of the experience — can you tell us about the musical influences that went into it?
Kid Koala: Thank you for the kind words. I’m glad you enjoyed the music! I’ve been doing more film soundtrack and scoring work in recent years, so I kind of applied that “score to picture” mentality to Floor Kids. JonJon’s art style is very raw and scratchy, so I just tried to make music that would fit the visual world that he created. I pretty much used everything in my studio and tried to make tracks that had the energy of the bboy/bgirl events that I’ve deejayed at over the years. I have a vinyl cutting machine in my studio, so often I would play the instruments and then cut them on to vinyl to re-scratch them back into the track. That way you get that turntable push/pull and record dust into the mix, which I love. I got to use equipment from every era because I’m a bit of a gear geek. Jon drew a venue that’s an old school video arcade, so I brought out the Commodore SID chip, 4 bit, 8 bit, synths for that. By the time the player gets to the Peace Summit, I wanted the music to feel like some insane “Final Boss Battle”. I laughed a lot making those tracks also (sometimes maniacally) because the chorus sections are ridiculously difficult. During the menu music and story cut scenes, I made more mid-tempo tracks just give a little break from the uptempo battle tracks.
How did the gameplay structure in Floor Kids inform your compositions?
Kid Koala: From deejaying at break events, I had a sense of how long dancers usually spent on the mat during a cipher. That’s how we set up the duration of one round. Normally you would just loop the break on 2 turntables and the dancers would go at it. Each round has 2 “verse” sections, where the player is free to create their own dance routines. Then we added mini rhythm games in the “chorus” sections so you can hit stabs with the musicians (one of my favorite pastimes from playing with bands) before you go back to freestyle mode.
Lots of your musical work has involved either virtuality or multimodality, from Gorillaz and Deltron 3030 to film, fashion shows, and puppets with Vinyl Vaudeville — how are those projects similar (or different) to composing music for a video game? Are there any specific challenges or freedoms that come with making music for games?
Kid Koala: Games are very much a LIVE thing, so during the battles the point was to make tracks that would push the energy forward, and hopefully inspire the dancer/player to get in the moment and rock out. I had to imagine these tracks actually playing at break events. Or at least some motivational music for you to quickly clean your house! For the story cut scenes, it was more about finding the right tones to match that particular moment in the story. In the menu music, it was about making tracks to give a little down time time or breathing room so you could explore the map, check the Breakdeck or get ready for the next round. At any rate, it’s all in the name of making some rad fun happen!
Doing the sound design and foley for the game was a new experience for me. It’s like creating audio sprinkles for a sonic ice cream sundae. I tried to create a set of sounds that would be fun, cut through the mix, fit the feeling of each move, and hopefully not get stale even if that sound was triggered hundreds of times in a round. My favorite moments in the game are the Strobe State Power Moves, Raquettes Super Worm, and Saboya’s Top Rock spins. We also made scanning through the Breakdeck cards a sort of scratch virtual instrument. I think I originally made over 300 slices of scratch sounds that would trigger randomly as you scrolled through the break deck. I’m not sure how many slices the coders ended up implementing, but you can have fun making your own scratch solo just by clicking, scanning through the cards with the left stick and L&R buttons. That was something that just happened in the studio when we realized each card needed a sound and there was over a hundred different move cards. There were a lot of aha! moments where something the game engine required gave us an opportunity to do something a little bit creative.
One of the things that’s really impressed us about Floor Kids’ animations is the transitions between different moves. Since players are able to essentially string moves together however they like, how did you deal with those possibilities as an animator?
JonJon: The animator in me was like “oh noes.” The bboy in me was like “hells yeaah”.
Do you play rhythm games? What are a few of your favourites?
Kid Koala: No, but sometimes I’ll try to play Super Mario Bros. using the dance mat.
JonJon: I played Beat Sneak Bandit when we started developing for the game, but other than that I am definitely not the guy who sings rap at the local karaoke spot on Wednesday nights.
Do you feel any influence from video games (or video game music) on your other creative projects?
Kid Koala: Tetris, and it’s music, causes me low level anxiety, but I love it!
JonJon: My favorite games from childhood are NBA Jam, Star Fox, Star Fox 64, Mario Bros., Mario Kart, Tetris, NHL 94 and Street Fighter although I really suck at every single one of them. When I got older I played Tony Hawk and Bboy for PS2. One time I got addicted to Plants Vs Zombies. I’ve never played Super Time Force but I love watching it. I played a lot of Dr. Mario while working on Floor Kids on an NES emulator.
Kid Koala: I’ve been playing Castlevania since I was a kid. I didn’t score Floor Kids as a side scroller soundtrack, but I’m sure that music is in my DNA by now.
With both of you based in Montreal, are there elements of Floor Kids that reflect the Montreal break scene?
Kid Koala: I believe the Metro venue is my metro station. But I think they would kick us out if you started a dance cipher on the platform like that.
What do you hope players will experience as they play Floor Kids?
Kid Koala: Pure, uninhibited (funky) joy.
JonJon: Living vicariously through these characters to do the moves they could never hit. (If you can hit these moves in real life, whyyyy are you playing this gaaaaame? LOL)
If players get inspired by Floor Kids and want to take part in real life — either b-boying/b-girling or DJing — what’s the best way to jump in?
Kid Koala: For the starter DJs out there, I would suggest picking up one of these portable scratch turntables they’re making these days. It’s an inexpensive way to get scratching right away to see if it’s a craft for you. These new portables are light, have a built in fader or switch and can even be powered with batteries, so you can scratch at your next picnic! AND they have headphone outs so you don’t annoy your parents, siblings, neighbors.
We’d like to thank Kid Koala and JonJon for their time. Floor Kids is available to download from the Switch eShop in North America now.