Arkady Saulski: Mr. Adam, the last time we talked was in 2018, when you composed the music for the strategy game Ancestors Legacy. Today we meet again to promote the strategy, and not just any strategy. It is a sequel to the cult game Clash . Perhaps this is a trivial question, but when you were asked to compose music for this project, what was your first thought?
Adam Skorupa: I was (and still am) excited! It’s such a sentimental journey back to 1998, when I was composing music for the game Clash while taking my first steps as a composer. Now I got the opportunity to compose music for this game practically from scratch, this time having twenty-two years of experience, which is some preparation (laughs).
A. Saulski: Soundtrack from the Clash is a cult for many people and accounted for slightly counting 50 percent of the manufacturing climate. Dark, bizarre, stuffy, with unsettling notes, surprising sounds (the cat meowing in the Grass Explore track !) … I owe a lot to you and this music, writing my books with the Clash soundtrack in the background. Please tell me about those works. What was your biggest inspiration? Was this hidden darkness planned… or is it a coincidence?
A. Skorupa: Maybe it will disappoint you … but I simply composed as much as I could, the way it sounded in my soul and as much as the tools I used for my work allowed. I cannot say what inspired me then and how it influenced the content of the music. I just wanted to write beautiful music that I hoped would fit the game. I wanted to prove to myself that as a self-taught person, a person with absolutely no education and no musical background, I can compose something that can be listened to with interest.
In retrospect, I hear that in many places this willingness to demonstrate composing skills prevailed over the role that the musician was actually to play in the game. Sometimes less is better…. Music should help to perceive the atmosphere of the game, and not dominate and capture the player’s attention. On the other hand, mine was often too dominant, and even I have the impression that it was often simply off-topic … All the more I am glad that I could compose music for Clash II , avoiding mistakes made in childhood (laughs).
A. Saulski: Are the songs available today on YouTube all the ones you composed then? And please let us know about the last mysterious Unnamed that was not included in the game. Did you reject this piece? There was not enough space for it? Please lighten the situation as it is one of Clash’s greatest secrets to this day!
A. Skorupa: I would like to say something clever…., But honestly, I just don’t remember (smile). I would guess that the piece did exist in the game and was played while exploring one of the boards?
In my current output I have over 4,000 songs (although I have stopped counting altogether), so – oh – if I could only remember the history and purpose of each of them (laughs).
