Hi thanks for taking the time to take such an interest in the game :) I’m glad you enjoyed it so much! To answer your questions:
- I made the first version of the game in ~3 weeks for Music Game Jam, that was in October 2018. But that was a really different version to now, you can see what it was like in this video. I’ve been working on it on and off over the past ~2 years. I do it in my free time so the amount of time I get to work on it changes a lot. I’m working to make a ~15/20 level version of the game at the moment, and I’ve got around ~10 levels finished so far.
- The inspiration for the game is a little difficult to explain. I specifically wanted to take part in that Music Game Jam, so I started thinking of music game ideas. I like point and click games and I liked the visual aesthetic and atmosphere of lo-fi hip hop channels. So I tried combining those things. There’s more to it than that but that’s the simplified version.
- The music I listen to is pretty varied, but the genres I probably come back to the most are probably extreme metal (black metal, death metal, doom metal) and grime. But I do listen to lots of other stuff too. I tend not to like a lot of pop music that much, I tend to prefer stuff that’s a bit more raw and unpolished. I mostly listen to music when I’m working, usually longer atmospheric music to help me concentrate. I suppose what I like most in music is the atmosphere and feeling it creates, and I try to do that for the music in the game.
- I’m not 100% sure what you meant here. But when I make songs I usually start with the image of the level and then try and create music that matches it. I create a small loop and start adding instruments and musical ideas over the top of it. I usually start with the drums or a melody. I wrote this reply once to explain how I make the music in more detail. Because I’m limited to 4 notes per instrument and the loops are short it helps to keep me focused and finish it.
Hope that answers your questions~