Many gamers have been familiar with her music for over a decade, including the soundtrack to Minecraft, Chicory: A Colorful Tale and the BAFTA-nominated Celeste. She is also currently composing the music for the follow-up games to those titles, Wishes Unlimited’s Beastieball and Extremely OK Games’ (cancelled) Earthblade.
As of now, “ANOTHEREAL” has not announced an official release date. Lena Raine mentioned in the interview that she is currently developing in a “one-person development” way, with the goal ofComplete the PC version first, and then, depending on the situation, we will seek funding or publishing partners to consider whether to port it to the host platform. In other words, this is a personal project that is still under development and has not yet reached a definite timeline.
But you know what? Raine isn’t just a songwriter—she’s published books, released solo albums, and is even a programmer. Recently, she even announced the development of her first personal game project “ANOTHEREAL”. This is a hybrid game that combines shooting game (shmup) and role-playing elements (very Undertale). For this creator who always refuses to follow the rules, it is simply natural.
Nintendo Life had an exclusive interview with Lena at PAX West 2024, where she had an in-depth chat about her new game, past experiences, and her vision for future dream projects.
Q: Not to put pressure on you, but I am going to read the names of some famous game composers and tell you what they have in common: Russell Brower, Nobuo Uematsu, Koji Kondo, Yoko Shimomura, David Wise, Austin Wintory… none of them has ever made their own game. So let’s start here – why would you want to develop a game yourself?
Lena Raine: Actually, my entry into the game industry was a bit like entering game design by accident.
I graduated from college with a music degree in 2006, and at the time I really wanted to be a game composer. But at the time, no one was looking for my style of music. What I do is not epic Hollywood style music, nor is it what AAA developers would use. So I thought, “Okay, I’m going to get a job and move out of my parents’ house.” So I started working as a game tester. I did certification testing at Nintendo for two and a half years, then went to Warner Bros. Games and eventually ArenaNet, the company that was developing Guild Wars 2.
I also worked as a tester at the beginning. About six months later, the company opened a design position, and I thought: “Since I’m already testing games with these tools, let’s see if I can do some design.” So I started designing tasks and events in the game engine after get off work, and became familiar with the tools. Gradually, I fell in love with this, and eventually I successfully switched to a designer position.
I was responsible for the development of a prototype game, designing the system from scratch and building the entire process using scripting tools. Later, the prototype project was terminated, and I was transferred to the official “Guild Wars 2” team as a full-time game designer.
So I actually worked as a game designer for six years before I became a famous composer. I still wrote music in my free time to keep my passion going, but I also became very interested in game design because I was devoting almost as much time to game design as I was to composing music.
Now, after many years of composing music, I have rekindled my passion for design. I thought to myself: “Now that I have enough resources and enough friends, I should be able to try to make a game of my own!” I can also learn programming, develop new skills, and realize this dream–after all, this is what I have always wanted to do.
In “ANOTHEREAL”, Astra always feels that her life has come to an end. When she suddenly received a text message from her sister whom she had not contacted for many years, and wanted to reconnect emotionally, she stepped out of the room that had been closed for many years and entered the world that she had escaped for a long time, just to “exist” again. During the journey, she will meet new partners, explore the changes in the world together, and learn what true survival and resistance are. This journey will be witnessed by you – will you choose to accompany Astra on this journey and uncover the truth? Or should we just stop thinking and let everything go with the wind?
Q: So you’ve always had this idea?
Lena Raine: That’s right!
Q: So, did you become a composer somewhat “accidentally”?
Lena Raine: No, I’ve been a composer since I was a kid, I’ve always written music, that’s for sure. It’s just that I didn’t have the opportunity to enter this field early on. Later, I finally got my wish to become a full-time composer. Although this was my original goal, I began to feel that something was missing – “I really want to do game design again.” Making my own games was the way I could realize both dreams at the same time.
Q: But “ANOTHEREAL” also seems to be a narrative-driven game, full of emotional beats? Maybe, maybe not. Can you talk about what you want players to feel when playing?
Lena Raine: I really like to use game design as a metaphor, allowing it to be connected with the emotions of the characters, thereby affecting the overall feeling of the game.
That’s something I learned from “Celeste.” Although I did not participate in the game design of “Celeste”, when I participated in the music production, I learned that the design itself can carry the narrative mood without requiring too much dialogue─although, my game actually has a lot of dialogue (laughs). But the point is to make every emotional beat echo the game.
“ANOTHEREAL” is an emotional story that deliberately creates a mysterious atmosphere from the beginning. Many games will choose to let the protagonist lose his memory and re-explore the world, which is indeed a convenient entry point for new players. My design is somewhat similar, but not the same – the protagonist Astra does not have amnesia, but she has a “wrong understanding” of the world, and as she re-enters the world, she gradually discovers the truth.
She is a person who has been closed off to herself for a long time, staying alone in her room for many years. It was not until one day that she received an invitation from her sister – one of the few close people in her life – that she decided: “Maybe, it’s time to come out.” From here on, players will discover that the world is not as normal as it appears.
Q: You mentioned that sound design has a huge impact on games. I’m actually not very familiar with the relationship between music and design in the works you participated in such as “Celeste”, “Chicory”, and “Harmony: The Fall of Reverie”, but you give people the impression that soundtracks often become part of the game design, and are even intertwined with each other. How does it feel now that you no longer have a “client”?
Lena Raine: It feels like constantly changing hats. Now I am basically entrusting myself with it, and I have to deal with every aspect of the game in depth. When I finish a certain part, I will change my identity and look at it: “Is this enough? What more sound effects need to be added? How much dynamic music should be added?” I often have to put on my producer hat and ask myself: “What is the minimum music required to make this scene possible?”
Question: Going back to the beginning of the interview, if Koji Kondo came out today and said, “I’m going to make my own game,” everyone would have high expectations for the music. Do you also feel pressured by your own score?
Lena Raine: There must be pressure. No matter what I do, I hope that I can surpass my last work. Each game has its own needs. For example, the style of “Beastieball” is completely different from the “Chicory” I made before. “Chicory” is a very delicate work using physical instruments, while “Beastieball” is a rougher style based on Super Nintendo music sources.
Especially since this is a game I made myself, everyone must be exposed to this game because of my music, not because of my writing or game design. So there was definitely pressure on me to make it come out as something completely different musically.
“Beastieball” is an independent game produced by Wishes Unlimited, the development team of “Chicory: A Colorful Tale”, that combines sports and role-playing (RPG) elements. It focuses on turn-based volleyball battles + team-building narrative adventures. Lena Raine provides the score, continuing her long-standing relationship with developer Greg Lobanov, and no official release date has been announced yet.
Q: I heard you and Greg (developer of Chicory and Beastieball) were on a volleyball team together?
Lena Raine: Yes, we are members of an amateur volleyball team.
Q: Did actually playing volleyball influence the way you wrote the music for “Beastieball”?
Lena Raine: Understanding volleyball really made me more comfortable with the soundtrack of “Beastieball”, especially the unique rhythm of volleyball culture, game atmosphere, and professional scenes. Some interesting things have unknowingly entered the music. For example, many people only know through the Olympics that every point scored in a volleyball match has a specific sound effect, and sometimes even an exclusive track.
For example, there is an action called “Monster Block”. If someone succeeds in dunking, the venue will play an extremely cheesy sound effect – like: “Monster block, monster block, monster, monster!” When I heard it, I wanted to say, who wrote this? It’s so noisy, but I love it.
We even had some of that in Beastieball. There is a character called Sports King, who is a minor villain in the game. In his theme song, we played an adapted version of “Here Comes the Boom!” into “Here Comes the Sports King!”
Q: Kind of like Jock Jams.
Lena Raine: That’s right! It’s that intentionally funny sound collage style. If you know SilvaGunner, it’s a YouTube channel that uploads so-called “high-quality gaming music” that is actually a lot of spoof remixes.
I didn’t know this channel when I first saw them. At that time, they uploaded a “rip” of “Celeste”. I was still angry and thought, “I uploaded it myself, why are you stealing my music?” As a result, people tagged me on Twitter and said, “You don’t know? You don’t know?” I found out after hearing it – it turned out that they are a comedy remix group, and then I became a fan.
Since then, I have begun to put this spirit of humor into my works, especially in a style like “Beastieball” that has a bit of satire on sports business culture.
Question: I know that “ANOTHEREAL” has not been announced to be on the console platform yet…
Lena Raine: Yes, I am only one person, so the current goal is to complete the PC version first and make the game complete. Who knows what the future of the console market will be like? I have some connections, and maybe I can get funding to port the game there later.
Now I publish it myself. If a publishing partner comes along in the future, maybe they can help with localization, porting and other resources needed for the host. In short, I will continue to work hard to expose this game as much as possible, and maybe new opportunities will arise.
Q: All of this has been a journey for you, too. Let’s end with this question – ten years from now if everyone calls you a “world-class game creator”, will you still accept music commissions? Or will he become a poet laureate?
Lena Raine (laughing): Oh my gosh (laughing) I still love collaborating with friends, and I’m still helping Greg make game music, and I’m also helping EXOK make “Earthblade.” They are people very close to me, and as long as they are still making games and I have time, I want to continue working together.
I also worked on some of Deltarune. Even if I am not the main composer, I am still willing to assist my friends in their creations.
But I also want to focus more on game design and tell my story.
“Chicory: A Colorful Tale” is a hand-painted adventure game. Players will play as a puppy and take over the paintbrush to restore a world that has lost color. The game combines graffiti puzzle solving and gentle narrative to explore creative anxiety and self-worth. It is known as the “picture book version of Zelda” and is scored by Lena Raine.
Q: Then let’s wish our dreams come true! So, who is your ideal partner?
Lena Raine: This question is so difficult (laughing)
Q: You have made “Minecraft”, can it be bigger?
Lena Raine: If you look at the number of players, it’s really hard to be bigger. Minecraft is the limit. But if someone asked me to do the soundtrack for “Zelda” today, do you think I would refuse? Of course not. I really like Nintendo series, and I also like Square Enix’s “Final Fantasy” and “Xeno” series.
It would be great to collaborate with other composers and be part of a series that I love. It’s just…will they really need me? Is there really room for me to join?
In short, I believe there are many possibilities in the future.