With iconic DJ duo Daft Punk announcing their split, many fans are asking what could have been. One of those fans is Q Entertainment producer James Mielke, who went to Twitter to reflect on how the team almost managed to make a Lumines musical game with Daft Punk.
Originally introduced as “Daft Punk Lumines”, Mielke and Q Entertainment managed to give the project a green light by Ubisoft in 2010. By that time, Daft Punk had already become a household name in electronic music circles – and would only grow further with the release the soundtrack of Tron Legacy and the album Random Access Memories.
Mielke originally wrote about the genesis of the project in a 2012 Gamasutra post, describing how his journey to restart the Lumines franchise (originally a PSP release title) put him in touch with Daft Punk.
“What I wanted to do was put the player in the pyramid-shaped DJ booth of the Daft Punk that they traveled with and – like Daft Punk – stir up the crowd by performing great combos in Lumines,” wrote Mielke. “Everything in the game would be Daft Punkified, from the HUD, the soundtrack, to the audacious sound environment found in his 2007 live album Alive, to special effects, real-time lighting, jumping crowd in 3D, etc.”
Although I have already met Q Entertainment’s creative director, Tetsuya Mizuguchi (and are fans of Mizuguchi’s work on Rez), some obstacles prevented Daft Punk from committing to the project. According to Mielke, DJs did not want to use old music, had just finished production on Tron Legacy and were starting to work on Random Access Memories between the collaborations of Adidas and Star Wars. This forced Q Entertainment to move in a different direction with what eventually became the Lumines Electronic Symphony.
“[Daft Punk] they were big fans of Rez, so it basically gave us an “opportunity” to talk to them, “Mielkes told IGN.” Ubisoft was also very active in involving them and the conversation was definitely friendly. Their Daft Arts manager, Paul, informed us that, although they were big fans of Mizuguchi-san’s work, they didn’t want to take any nostalgic trips. Of course, if they wanted to, they certainly could have done it at that point. “
“But, after meeting Mizuguchi-san, they were very open to collaboration, as long as the moment worked for them and if the concept defied expectations. Unfortunately, Q Entertainment did not live long enough to see this come true. I am happy for doing this. I just had a conversation with them about a collaboration, even if by proxy. I could appreciate that at the time, and even more so now. When you’re as wanted as Daft Punk, why do anything when you Can you do the most amazing things instead? If I had known this in advance, I would have designed something much more crazy.
“I am hopeful that they will eventually meet again. I can already imagine how cool the teaser video would be. But considering how uncompromising they were in their career, I would not be surprised if they disappeared like the old rave group KLF once did. . “
For Mielke, Daft Punk’s impact on music and culture goes far, far beyond simply making some incredible tracks.
“Maybe they were chopping things up and just decided it wasn’t interesting anymore,” said Mielkes. “Deadmau5, Marshmello and even Squarepusher are all rocking helmets today. When everyone starts doing what you’ve been doing for decades, maybe it just isn’t cool anymore, and at the very least, Daft Punk has always been cool.”
Despite Daft Punk’s distinct lack of tracks, IGN gave Lumines Electronic Symphony a nine out of ten, calling it fun and addictive.
Daft Punk hasn’t totally missed the video game train, however. The duo provided 11 original mixes from their catalog for DJ Hero 2009.
Oh well. At least we will always have Derezzed.
Joseph Knoop is a writer / producer / human after all for IGN.