Last Wednesday, Mutazione took home the Independent Games Festival award for Excellence in Audio. As one of the most prestigious awards ceremonies for indie games, the team at Akupara was humbled and honored to have been a part of Mutazione’s win that night. Given the nature of the award, the lion’s share of the credit has to be laid at the feet of composer Alessandro Coronas and developer Douglas Wilson. Alessandro for his fantastic soundtrack spanning over four hours; Douglas for his involved audio engine that helped breathe life into the game’s endearing cast and the garden’s generative music. This week, we wanted to highlight some of the best blogs, playlists and podcasts that highlight the background of Mutazione’s award.

In an enlightening podcast with Kate Remington for her ongoing series – Music Respawn – Alessandro spoke at length about his influences, how he found the low-fi sound of the island, and where the musical inspirations underlying Mutazione’s soundtrack came from.

For those interested in listening directly to Alessandro’s influences, he recently created a playlist of music that inspired Mutazione’s soundtrack on Spotify. From Bikini Kill’s punk energy to Brad Mehldau’s jazz piano, the ensemble cast of characters were served well by Alessando’s inspirations!

The writer and narrative designer behind Mutazione, Hannah Nicklin, also covered the ins and outs of the musical gardens in her Playstation blog. The innovative mechanics underlying the player’s ability to plant musical gardens, where each plant adds its own unique instrument to the song, has been one of the unique draws to the game for fans and critics alike.

Hannah also talks about the profound influences and ambitions of the game’s musical gardens in her Road to IGF interview with Gamasutra. While her focus was always the narrative of Mutazione, the audio engine behind the musical gardens was there from the start.

And, finally, you can read the Akupara blog on Mutazione’s soundtrack! With access to the four hours of music beforehand, the Akupara team flooded their playlists with Alessandro’s chill music.

Thank you to all the fans of the game for the support and encouragement you offered Mutazione! If you haven’t already, you can follow Akupara Games on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Discord! We’re tremendously honored to see this special gem take home the award and hope to bring more award-winning games and soundtracks to you soon!