Esophaguys

Esophaguys is the first and only video game to feature the jew's harp in any significant manner.  Completely dedicated to the instrument, the game's soundtrack is composed exclusively of jew's harp music, with the instrument also serving as a gameplay mechanic and narrative hook.  Over 60 songs are featured in the game, ranging from traditional Austrian, Norwegian, American, Irish, Indian, Kyrgyz, and Yakutian, to experimental, multi-harp tracks.  From solos to accompaniment, story and gameplay, Esophaguys is an ode to the jew's harp.

Esophaguys won 1st place at Tokyo Game Show 2024 SOWN indie game contest, competing with 970 submissions, with Leo Tadagawa in attendance.

A few years ago, two disparate ideas began to find their way together.  I became infatuated with a certain little instrument while I was finishing a degree in game design college. It is my pleasure to finally share Esophaguys with you.

Over the past three years, I have been working with a team of four to create the video game entitled, Esophaguys.  Esophaguys is a co-op platformer for 1-4 players, where you take the role of old folks with the unusual ability to elongate their necks at will.  Stretch, bite, and swing together in co-op, compete in minigames for long-necked glory, and embark on a narrated story to reunite your lost kin.  Esophaguys is not only the first video game to feature the jew’s harp in any significant manner, but is also the first game dedicated to the instrument.  Being the focus of the sound, featured directly as a game mechanic, and starring as the core of the narrative, the jew’s harp is threaded into the fabric of the game’s design. 

One of my goals with this project is to increase the awareness of the jew’s harp as a musical instrument by highlighting its abilities in both traditional and experimental music, through melodic, rhythmic, and atmospheric playing, solo and with accompaniment.  The game’s soundtrack is composed entirely of jew’s harp music played by myself.  Beginning their journey, players are met with traditional wechselspiel Austrian style, accompanied with guitar.  Songs like O du lieber Augustine, Nickelsdorfer Schottisch, and Haxenschmeisser are an introduction for players.  The music book, Brumm-Eisen – Zwei Dutzend Stückl für die Maultrommel, was a great resource for learning these songs, with inspiration from Albin Paulus and Manfred Russmann.  Afterwards, songs such as Sandy River Belle, Boatman’s Dance, The Cuckoo, and Rye Whiskey from the American tradition with jew’s harp and banjo, greet players as they progress. These songs I learned and extrapolated through studying the recordings of Mike Seeger, Larry Hanks, and Obed Pickard.

 Throughout the middle of the game, Kyrgyz tunes, accompanied by kyl kiyak, include Tagyldyr Too, Top Jïlkï and others inspired by Nurlanbek Nyshanov and Kutmnaaly Sultanbekov.  South Indian Carnatic styled compositions featuring tanpura, tabla, ghatam, and mridangam are also prevalent here, though I took some creative liberty on the jew’s harp playing in these, creating a blend of traditional and contemporary.  Norwegian songs like Fiskaren, Fangjen, Vegårsheiingen, and Fanitullen inspired by Thov Wetterhus, Ånon Egeland, Siggurd Brokke, and Bjørgulv Straume along with Irish tunes like Sixpenny Money, Kitty Lie Over, and Sí Bheag, Sí Mhór inspired by John Wright, can also be heard.  Many of these songs are played with two simultaneous harps on the melody and have additional rhythm accompaniment.

As players near the end of the game, Yakutian style improv is accompanied with didgeridoo.  These tracks were inspired by the playing of Spiridon Shishigin and Ivan Alexeyev.  Additionally, intense compositions with simultaneous electric jew’s harps and up to four normal harps layered are featured.  There is bluesy work pairing electric jew’s harp and guitar as well as spacey lullabies with harps and steel tongue drums.  This nontraditional work makes up approximately a third of the soundtrack.  Wolf Janscha, Anton Bruhin, and Phon Bakx’s Mondharptrio Aubergine were great sources of inspiration here. Over 50 jew’s harps were used during this project, the makers of which are accredited in the game.

When designing audio for games, enhancing the gameplay experience via music is paramount.  Each of the aforementioned playing styles is catered to complement a specific moment of action - to pique a sense of curiosity, to soothe the player into relaxation, to promote a feeling of adventure, to create tenseness and apprehension, to insight competition or promote cooperation.  The music is tied to the gameplay through the layering of individual instruments and 3D positioning of audio tracks.  As players progress through a level, initially the accompanying instruments are heard.  Through the typical level’s progression do the jew’s harp layers fade in, completing the song.  

As the game’s primary mechanic is neck-based, the audio is centered around this concept.  The entirety of the game’s sound effects (characters, mechanics, environments) are created with over 4000+ mouth-originated sounds.  These self-imposed restrictions granted me refined focus, forcing me to explore all the nuances of my sound sources.

While the music is obviously jew’s harp focused, the instrument deepens its role as a core game mechanic.  Featured throughout the game are jew’s harp totems of different styles.  Finding and plucking the jew’s harp is the end goal of each level.  These totems also act as the transition into individual levels from the hubworld.  The hubworld, a common space where players are free to choose their path, features a meta-loop, a global game progression system.  The focal point of the meta-loop is a massive jew’s harp monument, modeled after a Folke Nesland instrument, that is rebuilt as players progress through the game.  As players successfully complete levels by plucking the individual harp totems, the massive harp statue reflects their progress.  These game mechanics are inextricably tied to the game’s story.

In the world of Esophaguys, the long-necked protagonists are outcasts, lost and forgotten over time in the far corners of the earth.  The jew’s harp was the ancient symbol which united the Esophaguys in the past, when their people flourished and were widely regarded.  These characters are synonymous with the instrument itself - odd and archaic, amusing and misunderstood, seemingly shallow with surprising depth.  Story mode leads players on a journey to forge a special harp, which has the power to bring together their scattered people.  The greater gameplay loop continues this narrative.  As players seek and activate each jew’s harp totem per level and rebuild the central harp monument, more Esophaguys are unlocked as playable characters.  The power of the jew’s harp to unite people is the central message.

The game recently won first place at Tokyo Game Show 2024’s indie game contest entitled, Sense of Wonder Night, competing with 970 entries.  Esophaguys is due to release worldwide on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X in Summer 2025 with an official soundtrack available for streaming.  By highlighting the wide breadth of the jew’s harp’s capabilities in an unexplored medium, I strive to inspire a new audience.