In this post, I attempt to explain the process and creative intent when writing the first draft of the theme for the Cocoa Pod Collecting mini game in Modern Cocoa Farmer.
The narrative of this level is that you play a child slave whose objective is to the collect the fallen cocoa pods to make money and send it home. The setting for the level takes place in the Ivory Coast.
Whilst talking with David, certain words and phrases came to mind:
Thoughtful
(Almost) Tragic
Reflection of the harsh realities
Taking into account geographical and historical context, I wanted to juxtapose the irony of the situation. Chocolate as a product is a beautiful sweet treat. It’s a gesture of love on Valentine’s Day and gratitude on Mother’s Day. It’s also a known comfort food for cold winter nights and generally associated with the expression of kindness and human connection. Yet this product is also often built by the hands of child slaves and by families who have little choice of their lifestyle situations. Not to mention the aspect of huge multi-industrial corporation who takes advantage of the situation, we as a consumer rarely get to see what happens on the other side of the corporate lens.
I felt that this has a similar connection to the origins of Jazz. Like chocolate, Jazz is a beautiful and soulful expression of music yet has problematic origins. The features of Jazz that make it Jazz takes from the awful experiences and hardships of African-American slaves in the late 19th and early 20th century. For this theme, I wanted to have some Jazz elements as an acknowledgement to its origins. The Jazz chord progression is based on Bill Wither’s “Ain’t No Sunshine”. I felt its simple chord structure and melody mirrors the expression that I wanted to convey. The use of the piano is also a play on the term ‘ivory’ since the narrative takes place in the Ivory Coast and piano keys were made from ivory before it became illegal to do so. It’s again another juxtaposition where the piano instrument is an elegant and expressive instrument yet built on the deaths and cruelty of animals.
I purposely set the tempo and underlining percussion to mirror work songs. Work songs are mostly based around the steady rhythm of working in the fields and I felt this was a very important element to keep for the game’s narrative. The melody and other elements are written using instruments from West Africa. While the compositional structure has a more Westernised approach, I hope the sounds of the instruments can still ground the track (and narrative) in its original roots.
Jade Leamcharaskul ©
Written by Jade Leamcharaskul
http://wasabi-playground.com/