Post Void devs on how to make a gaming playlist
YCJY Games talk about how they made a playlist while creating their game, and how the two inspired each other
How do you make the perfect video gaming playlist?
This is the question I had in mind when reaching out to developer YCJY Games. Based in Sweden and consisting of Christopher Andreasson and Josef Martinovsky, YCJY has released a number of games with a big focus on music. Their game Post Void took a new approach to incorporating music that I haven’t seen in any other games.
Post Void is a surreal action roguelike shooter released in 2020 by YCJY Games. The game describes itself as “a hypnotic scramble of early first-person shooter design that values speed above all else.”
The emphasis on speed is felt as soon as players boot up the game. The player character brandishes a weapon in their right hand, and an idol (which looks a lot like a severed head) in their left. Constantly draining liquid in the idol represents the player’s life — if you run out, it’s game over. To refill it, players must kill enemies or find the oasis at the end of each level, fully filling the idol and advancing them to the next stage.
There is not a lot of room for error — players slowing down or getting turned around in the game’s maze-like corridors for even just a few seconds can result in a game over. There is no slow-and-steady approach to Post Void, just an all-out race to the finish.
The game’s soundtrack amplifies the frantic feeling of the game. Consisting of only one track composed by Karl Flodin and YCJY, it seems to be a perfect fit for the chaotic experience of the game — it’s hard to imagine a track that would be a better fit.
But the YCJY team actually had an entire playlist of songs they’d listen to while making and playing Post Void — including some songs that inspired parts of the game’s official soundtrack. You can listen to the “Official Unofficial Post Void Soundtrack” here.
YCJY wanted to include the playlist in the game, but knew there was no way for them to feasibly do it. They came up with a new idea: leave the playlist on Spotify, and tell players about it in the game. YCJY included a secret achievement pointing players to their unofficial soundtrack. I won’t spoil the method to unlock it here, but it’s hidden in a way that makes it easier to find when players choose to listen to their own music while playing.
It’s a novel idea I haven't seen in any games before or since. I sent some questions to YCJY about how they came up with the idea in the first place, to which Martinovsky was able to provide some insight.
Leet Beat: You seem to have a thing for making games that exist alongside music. No Transmission and Keep Walking EP both prominently feature music that exists outside of the games. Where did the ideas for those games come from?
Josef Martinovsky, YCJY Games: I think the idea came from Hotline Miami and of course movies, but also from the fact that we, Christopher and I, became friends by playing in a band together. We bonded a lot through music. No Transmission was really just because I thought we needed something and it's a cool song. But Keep Driving will hopefully have a lot of great music kind of like the Keep Walking EP.
How did the idea of the Post Void “Official Unofficial” playlist come around? At what point during the creation of Post Void did the “Official Unofficial” playlist take shape?
JM: It started as an inspiration playlist. I made one for Sea Salt, but it didn't really become a good playlist — but the Post Void playlist turned into something that I would listen to while playing the game. So then it kind of became the music I'd listen to while playtesting. I don't remember exactly when, but pretty early. The whole dev time for Post Void was 20 weeks, but I'd say the playlist started somewhere in the first five weeks.
What was the process of making the playlist like? Did you add to the playlist little by little, or sit down and make the whole thing all at once?
JM: Little by little. The first songs were Serafina and Ksana, and then some other rock songs. Christopher said he listened to SlashDotDash while playing so I added that the next day.
What makes a song a good candidate for the Post Void “Official Unofficial” playlist?
JM: Hmm . . . kind of hard to say. But if we find it good while playing the game, then it fits.
Did you ever add a song to the playlist, before deciding to remove it later?
JM: I have! But I honestly don't remember which now. Sorry.
The official, in-game soundtrack really matches the fast and frantic gameplay of Post Void. Can you share a little bit about the process of creating the soundtrack? Did you have a certain idea of what you wanted it to sound like?
JM: It was really fun making the soundtrack/song. We went to our friends studio, Karl Flodin, in Stockholm, and just hunkered down and played around with a bunch of things. I kind of knew I wanted something like Serafina and Ou Va Le Monde. I had a riff and Karl fixed a really nice drum track and some synths. Then Christopher played the synth solos when he came back to the studio. Karl mixed it and I think rerecorded my guitar playing. Karl and I knew we had something really good because it was hard not to get up and dance around in the studio.
There's a music video for the Post Void soundtrack! Can you talk a little bit about what went into creating it?
JM: At one point we decided to make LPs (or singles, I guess) and to promote that I thought it'd be fun to make a music video. I told Christopher to wear a suit and meet me in a fancy hotel by the central station. Then we just kind of ran around and filmed each other. Oh! I also had a crystal with me, that my girlfriend gave me. It makes a cool optical defragmenting effect. Then I just sat up all night editing and that was the video. It's very lo-fi but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
The way the “Official Unofficial” playlist was hidden in the game makes it fun to uncover. Did you plan on sharing the playlist with players all along, or was that an idea that came later in development?
JM: I had the idea sometime when we made the steam page and we were working on achievements. I think I wanted to share the playlist with people in some way. We knew people would turn off the in-game music at one point, and this seemed like a fun way to give them some more music.
Is there anything else about Post Void and its soundtracks you’d like to share?
JM: There is some more Post Void music related stuff coming this year!
Does your next project involve music at all?
JM: Oh yeah!! It's a road trip game, so we're looking to get a lot of great smaller bands that embody the feeling we're going for.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about your next project?
JM: People can follow us on Twitter and Steam for any info once we share a bit more. We've been working on it for almost 4 years now. Kind of crazy.
I've also been getting a really sick unofficial playlist set up the past year or two now (ok just checked... since 2021).
Further Reading
Y/CJ/Y GAMES: JOSEF MARTINOVSKY TALKS ABOUT POST VOID, AND THE ROAD TO KEEP DRIVING, by Ian Marvin on the DreadXP blog. (Archive link)
Other thoughts
One of my favorite gaming memories is when a friend and I played the Splinter Cell: Conviction co-op missions with The Black Keys’ “El Camino” on repeat. I haven’t played Splinter Cell in years, but whenever I hear “Gold On The Ceiling” I can’t help but think about infiltrating top-secret facilities.
Hotline Miami changed how I thought of music and games. It’s one of those games that is impossible to mention without talking about the soundtrack. It really made me think about how music can complement and elevate the games we play, and it made me look at video game soundtracks in a new way. (Recommended reading: Hotline Miami and the Rise of Techno in Ultra-Violent Video Games, archive link)
I love to make playlists. I have upwards of 300 on my Spotify profile. It started as a way to catalogue whatever I was listening to at a certain time. Coming from the iTunes era, the thought of a curated library being replaced with an ephemeral streaming catalogue was appalling. The playlists became my new library.
Really, I just love to make lists. I started making playlists for everything. I made a playlist that I’d listen to while playing Titanfall 2. It’s a game that really lended itself well to music — the fast-paced movement coupled with a banger can put you in a gnarly flow state. I always liked to imagine that my pilot was cranking some tunes in his helmet while zipping around, and maybe he custom installed some killer speakers in his Titan. Best of all, I was listening on my Skullcandy Crusher Evos, which had a slider to adjust the bass. Each step of my Titan resulted in a reverberating boom — it was the best experience you could have gaming in a college dorm.