Why Mixtape Had To Be A Coming Of Age Story, According To Johnny Galvatron& Woody Woodward [Exclusive]

by

Mixtape aims to capture the feeling of classic John Hughes movies, blending nostalgia with both joy and sadness, all set to a great soundtrack. The game, which takes place in the 1990s, tells the story of three friends on their way to a high school graduation party. It uses simple gameplay and clever dialogue to fully immerse players in the characters’ emotional journey. The music really enhances the feeling of growing up, playing with familiar themes in a vibrant and heartfelt way.

The critically acclaimed game Mixtape is now available on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. Many reviewers praise it as a beautiful and artistic experience. From the creators of 2021’s The Aftful Escape, Beethoven & Dinosaur have made a charming game that feels genuinely heartfelt and clever. In a recent interview with ComicBook, Game Director Johnny Galvatron and Producer Woody Woodward discussed the inspirations behind Mixtape, explaining why they chose to focus on teenage stories and characters.

CB’s Mixtape really focuses on that bittersweet feeling of finishing high school. As the people making the film, what specifically drew you to telling a story about growing up?

Johnny Galvatron believes the game’s inspiration began with the music, specifically his all-time favorite song, Devo’s “That’s Good.” They designed the game to feel like a mixtape, and he notes that music often feels most impactful during the late high school years.

There’s something special about the songs you love when you’re young – they really shape who you are and how you see the world. It’s a pure and innocent time when art feels deeply personal. It all began with thinking about a soundtrack, and then I started imagining who that music would impact the most. That’s when a character, Stacey Rockford, came to life, and I couldn’t ignore her voice.

When you’re in your late teens, you’re still figuring out who you are. Your personality hasn’t fully formed yet, and you’re mostly a combination of the things you enjoy. Everything feels incredibly important – every choice, every song – because you don’t have the everyday pressures of adulthood. Back then, you really judged people by their taste in music, and your interests defined your whole world. It’s a really unique and memorable time to discover things and be yourself.

Below, we continue our conversation with Johnny Galvatron and Woody Woodward, diving into what makes a great mixtape, how video games and music stack up as art forms, and the emotional depth of the story in Mixtape.

As a huge fan of both music and games, I’ve always thought making music felt a lot like developing a game – it’s definitely a team effort! I’m really curious, having seen what you’ve done in both worlds, how does working on a project like MixTape feel compared to being in a band? What’s the biggest difference in how you collaborate and create?

Johnny Galvatron explained that a British symphony conductor once described a pianist needing to constantly prove their skill over the instrument they play. He felt writing music was like that – a daily challenge to maintain control. But he sees video game development as completely different. It’s a true team effort, especially on smaller, independent teams where everyone is a leader in their area and wears many hats.

The development process is very open, with everyone contributing their ideas and working together. That’s a big reason why game creation feels more collaborative than making movies or music. Filmmaking is often done quickly, on location, with limited time. Game development, however, is a much longer, more flexible process. Levels can be refined over years, with constant input and changes from the whole team. It’s amazing to explore the game and see the contributions of each person – I can tell what Harry designed and what Arden created. Just walking through the levels and seeing everyone’s work is truly inspiring.

What do you find compelling about games as a way to tell stories and evoke feelings, and how did these ideas shape the development of Mixtape?

It’s crucial to fully utilize everything the game medium offers. We like to think of it as having different tools at your disposal – cinematic techniques, music, and, uniquely, gameplay mechanics. Many games excel at presenting challenges and obstacles, but how do you convey emotions through gameplay? For example, a simple mechanic, like moving a character backward, can powerfully communicate feelings like regret or betrayal. We’re most interested in how gameplay can directly express a character’s emotional state to the player.

As a gamer, what really gets me hooked is when a game manages to pull at my emotions. It’s not just about cool graphics or fun gameplay, it’s when the music, the story, and everything just clicks. We’re talking a perfect build-up, where everything – the visuals, the sound, how the game feels to control – all comes together at a peak moment. Like, when everything hits just right, that’s what the developers are striving for, and honestly, when they nail it, it’s amazing.

How do you approach constructing a playlist for a character instead of just making one yourself?

I didn’t really plan the setlist. I just chose songs that resonated with me personally – songs that were important to my development as a musician. I created a playlist of my favorite 80s and 90s hits, with one more recent song thrown in, and we played through those. Rather than focusing on a specific part of the game, we wanted to showcase a broad range of music from different eras.

We worked with very detailed, short segments called vertical slices. Horizontal slices were rough drafts of the entire game, laid out from beginning to end. These drafts included storyboards or simple notes outlining scenes, like ‘They play baseball.’ We’d assemble these pieces and then rearrange them to see what story emerged. This led to a process of adjusting the flow – adding, removing, and reordering segments – until we had a solid structure we could build upon.

What surprised you the most about Mixtape during the course of development?

As a gamer, I’ve found it’s funny how much planning can go into a game, but then you actually play it and immediately know what doesn’t work. If you’re really paying attention, the game itself will tell you what needs fixing. Usually, I start with a cool idea, but the story quickly takes on a life of its own and shows me where it wants to go. The game almost starts telling me what it needs! Honestly, one of the biggest challenges for us was getting the pacing right, but I think we nailed it.

This game isn’t a traditional, linear experience; it’s more like a mixtape, constantly moving between different songs and areas. A major challenge in development was creating a smooth flow between these transitions – seamlessly taking players from central hubs into songs and back again. We didn’t fully consider this during the initial design, but realized the game is fundamentally about how things are arranged. Getting those transitions just right – almost like musical or operatic movements – was crucial.

I’m really proud of how we crafted the music for this project. We spent a lot of time experimenting with different songs and scenes, constantly asking ourselves if it felt right, much like making a mixtape. The order of the songs dramatically changed the overall feeling, so getting it just right was crucial. And when we finally did, it was incredible.

Mixtape is now available on Xbox Series S/X, PS5, Switch 2, and PC.

Read More

2026-05-07 23:11