How Indian Ocean’s Nikhil Rao Created Videogame Music for ‘Detective Dotson’

A new videogame from Ahmedabad-based Masala Games called Detective Dotson takes inspiration from the likes of Bollywood as well as cult shows like C.I.D. with music by guitarist-composer Nikhil Rao and the game’s creator (and flutist) Shalin Shodhan.

Rao, who is part of fusion legends Indian Ocean, says it’s his first time “attempting to score a game.” He adds, “I was looking for this kind of challenge but didn’t want to bite more than I could chew. Shalin of course was overseeing the entire thing so I was reassured I’d have a soft landing. I asked the talented producer Sharad Joshi to help me out and it was great to jam with friends.”

Detective Dotson – coming soon to PC via Steam and Xbox – has an episodic-style story that unfolds over a richly stylized 2D-meets-3D rendition of modern-day India, developed using the game engine Unity. True to its influence from Bollywood, it remains lighthearted, with the protagonist being described as an aspiring actor who reluctantly takes on detective work.

Rao recounts that in terms of cues and creative direction from Shodhan to make music for the game, he didn’t load up his head with too many ideas during the pre-production stage. Rao adds, “Shalin and I are the same age and grew up in the same time and place – we have similar cultural references in India and globally. He had a very strong vision of what he wished to achieve with the game and the series so I just tried to listen to him carefully and pick on things he left unsaid.”

To have one’s music pieces match the rhythm of the game can be challenging at times and Rao describes it as “the biggest challenge” to think about the “tradeoff between music and visuals.” He adds, “We count music in beats and bars and visuals in frames and seconds. Oftentimes you have to compromise on one of the two. If you are lucky, serendipity happens and things fit nicely. Sometimes you have to let go of a few musical ideas for the overall health of the product.”

Rao has created a few versions of the main theme of Detective Dotson and says it was fun to keep arranging the same sonic motif in different styles to cater to each situation in the game. Encouraged into composing music for the visual medium by his bandmates in Indian Ocean, Rao says he wants this to the be the first of many more videogame scoring gigs and hopes more artists join the pool. “Indie musicians are falling over themselves to bag OTT projects, which is fine. But gaming is a growing industry in India and if musicians can be alert to the huge opportunity coming our way with more and more quality Indian games being made, I think sab ke ghar mein roti hoga aur struggle kam hoga (everyone will earn and struggle less).”

Watch a developer diary episode about the making of the ‘Detective Dotson’ music below.