Haven

The original soundtrack of Haven will be fully composed by French electronic musician Danger. With one foot in the world of music and the other in computer graphics and gaming, Danger is returning to the spotlight with his work for Haven after his first album 太鼓 and Origins. The first single “4:42 Still Free” is available and you can listen to it for free on YouTube or on other platforms like FanLink.

Emeric Thoa (Haven Creative Director): Musician, designer, gamer, video maker, visual artist… You have a very eclectic profile as an artist. Where does this come from?

Danger: I never wanted to choose between music and images. I grew up listening to music in movies and video games and watching music videos. Music and visual arts are just manipulations of waves, and their basic vocabulary is practically the same: wavelength, frequency, amplitude, whether it’s a color or a musical note. My music is enriched by what I learn through the images.

With all the media that we consume daily, I take advantage of everything I can to express what I feel, and I’d hate to be stuck doing just one thing. Writing the soundtrack to a video game is a great chance to expand this spectrum.

Emeric Thoa: Your music is usually quite dark, but Haven is a “feel-good” game. What was it like to step away from your preferred tone a little bit?

Danger: It’s true that I do like a mysterious, nocturnal atmosphere. If I take an overall look at my work, I realize that I’m more generally drawn to all the feelings that stem from childhood and adolescence. I’m still pretty connected to that part of me.

I feel like people tend to romanticize the emotional world of kids: it’s this wonderful world, a time of innocence where everything is just joy and “simple” happy feelings. That’s not what I remember: for me, childhood is a world where everything is new, everything is strange, where things are undefined, a world made up of irrational fears. It’s a world that’s weird, intuitive and chaotic, where everything is built on sensations. Hayao Miyazaki’s work offers a very nuanced representation of this particular vision of childhood, and his work was an important reference for me as I worked on this soundtrack.

While so far I’ve been more interested in exploring the nightmare zone in my music, the Haven soundtrack gave me the chance to explore other, brighter aspects of childhood.

Emeric Thoa: Even though the music from Furi and Haven are quite different, do you think there is some kind of link, a shared DNA between these two games and soundtracks?

Danger: Furi is a more warlike game, in one-player mode only, with a very retro/synthwave musical vibe. The music had to be really “tough,” “hard,” yet “knightly,” with an underlying idea of rupture. Haven is a game that leaves much more space for exploring the environment and the relationships between the characters.

Very early on, I felt that the most important emotion was the idea of a connection that the player has to weave little by little between all the various parts.

The music for Haven had to express this connection: something that’s built up little by little, that becomes increasingly solid, encompassing, reassuring, bewitching, while never denying its underlying fragility.

The design and conception of the two games are also linked through their Franco-Japanese identity, and my work in general shares these influences as well. I was heavily influenced by the Franco-Japanese animation series from the 80s, like “Ulysses 31” and “The Mysterious Cities of Gold,” two series with soundtracks that were really important to me, and I wanted to evoke memories of those childhood moments in Haven.

The two soundtracks are also connected through a feeling of adventure, a hero’s journey, and an epic quest. These emotions are also fundamental in my music, which really made things easier in general for our collaboration.

Haven and Furi also share the fact that they’re games that don’t focus on realistic graphics but rather a distinct visual approach with a very unique style and color palette. I was also careful to use a more restrained musical palette, and I hope it’s very recognizable without being a purely synthwave product.

Emeric Thoa: As videogame fans, we are curious to know if there is any iconic video game you would like to compose music for?

Danger: I’d love to do more soundtrack compositions in the future. There’s a bright future for cross-over projects between video games and music, in the same way that in movies there are often director and composer partners who work together. I think the video gaming world could benefit greatly from this (Fincher and Trent Reznor for example, or Miyazaki and Joe Hisaishi).

Video games are in their golden age, where even AAA’s are trying out some weird things. There’s still a lot to be done in soundtracks. Personally, I don’t consider any movie or video game to be a “cult classic” if it doesn’t have an incredible soundtrack.

For now, I imagine my music more in the world of independent video games, which allows for projects that are a little rougher around the edges, but on the other hand I’d love to imagine my music being used in a game like Final Fantasy, a game from Hideo Kojima or Fumito Ueda.

To learn more about Danger, you can check his website.

Haven is coming to PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox and PlayStation in 2020. More info here: https://www.thegamebakers.com/haven/

Haven – Back from the shows

It was a blast to show Haven at Gamescom, PAX West and Tokyo Game Show. We had a playable demo, featuring the beginning of the game. It was great to meet with some of you there, but for those of you who didn’t get the chance to play, here’s a 5 mn extract from the demo. Have a look of the best moments from the demo.

Thank you to everyone that came to play the game and shared their impressions. Haven has received a few accolades and awards during the shows:

• GameSpot’s 37 coolest games from PAX
• Rock Paper Shotgun Gamescom’s best of the rest: the coolest indies round up
• Selection for Kinda Funny Games showcase at PAX West
• The Best Nintendo Switch Games Of PAX West 2019 from Nintendo Life
• 10 titres marquants de la Gamescom Le Monde
• Winner Best Indie Game of PAX West – Marooner’s Work
• Guest’s Runner Up during The MIX Seattle 2019
• Nominee Best Indie Game of Tokyo Game Show – Famitsu
• Nominee Best Indie Game of Tokyo Game Show – Dengeki

Here’s a few of quotes from the previews and coverage about the game:

• “Boasting a gorgeous art style, a world steeped in mystery and intrigue, and a premise so affecting it’s surprising to consider how fresh it is, Haven is an RPG like none before it.” Gamespot
• “In the demo I played, the little touches went a long way. (…) Soaring, tumbling, and freewheeling through a not-quite-endless diamond sky felt good. It was exhilarating, but also chill“. Kotaku
• “Haven‘s combat is a system that has a lot of potential to be pretty cool, and I can’t wait to see what more it offers. Combine that with some great writing, awesome music, and a nice visual style, and Haven is ticking all the boxes.” Tech Raptor
• “Haven quite masterfully encapsulates the warm feel of being in love, of having to rely on and be relied on by another person. (…) Haven is an odd step forward, but one that works with such a stirring beauty to both its presentation and gameplay.” Goomba Stomp
• “We really love what Haven is going for. A co-op, narrative RPG with sassy, fully voiced characters is something we think would get a lot of love out of your two Joy-Cons.“ Nintendo Life 

Pictures from our stands on the different shows (top left our booth at PAX West on Indie Mega Booth, top right Gamescom, bottom left Haven at The Mix during PAX, bottom right Haven at Tokyo Game Show):

Haven – Wallpapers

When showing the game we had an amazing reception for … our loading screens! They made players smile and comment. We designed the loadings screens around the idea of Yu and Kay’s “First times”: the first times they kissed, made love, fought, or found themselves in those very simple yet special moments when you’re with someone you love and loves you back.
There was a lot of demand for them as posters, stickers… So we’ve gathered some of those artworks as wallpapers to make your desktop smile!
Go here to download the wallpapers in high resolution.

Haven – Goodies

For the shows we also produced some of Haven first goodies: posters, stickers, cards. Mylène even got herself some prototype Haven tee-shirts. You also might remember that we developed some nice goodies for Furi: tee-shirts, vinyl, posters, artbook… you can refresh your memory here: http://thegamebakers.com/merch.
We’d love to hear your thoughts about the must have goodies you’d like to see for Haven. Don’t hesitate to get in touch or join our Discord server to share your thoughts.

The Red String Clubs

We fell in love with Deconstructeam‘s game The Red Strings Club. We loved the game so much we made a lovely Switch version. If you like a good cyberpunk story that will move you and make you think, or have always wanted to be a bar tender: the game is for you.
Give it a try!  Here on Switch, or here on Steam

Playtesters wanted!

If you are in France, Montpellier, and would like to participate in Haven’s playtests, you’re in luck as we are looking for new players. The playtest sessions last about 2 hours and will take place until the end of the year. You’re welcome even if you are not a French speaker.
Apply directly by writing to playtest@thegamebakers.com.
More info here: https://www.thegamebakers.com/participez-aux-playtests-de-haven-cet-ete/

Thank you

We’ve been amazed by the fan arts from this community and we received the first fan art for Haven! We can’t share them all, but thank you to all of you who made some art inspired by one of our games. You are so talented!

Yu by Katsuvy (ordered by Mantra)

Rider by A-Ryno // Rider by xShibito

Gender bending Rider Nikoneda‏ @Game_B

To discuss further, or to give us feedback, head to our Discord server.