Bryant Francis checks in with BAFTA-nominated French composer Olivier Deriviere to ask him about the work that went into the music for Compulsion Games’ South of Midnight


Olivier Deriviere


Music from the Deep South hasn’t been explored in video games very much—what’s unique about this genre, and what artists or songs were the primary influence for its implementation in South of Midnight? The biggest influence came from the creative director David Sears, who was born and raised in Mississippi. His guidance and inspiration were immense. For instance, the fact that we have songs in the game comes from his concept of “not having music” but rather something deeply rooted in the South. As a matter of fact songs have been central to the whole culture and it felt very exciting and intimidating to make some original songs for the game. As for approaching each style I would say that having a music lover as a dad really helped. His collection included tons of southern bands and artists. Is there anything unique about using this genre


36 | MCV/DEVELOP August/September 2025


of music in a video game? The children’s choir seems like a strong example, but I’m curious if there were any other unique challenges to keep the strength of the music front-and-center in general gameplay or player interactions. My main focus when I am writing music for


a game is the player’s experience as a whole. Of course music must be as good as it can be but there is also the other aspect, the interactive music now called Music Design. For all of my previous games I’ve pushed the boundaries of what can be done to offer a fresh experience to the gamers. South Of Midnight is no different and still very unique in the way we approached music. The game is strongly based on narrative and instead of having only illustrative (yet dynamic) music we went with songs. The issue was that you can’t have someone singing all along when you wander in the environment. We decided to have the full


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