Before he created Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, and Quake, John Romero released Dangerous Dave, a series of platformers for the Apple II and MS-DOS computers. One game in that series, Dangerous Dave in the Deserted Pirate’s Hideout, is now available for iOS, featuring both the original version and a remastered edition. The updated version includes an original soundtrack by Dren McDonald, a prolific video game composer who also provided the score for Gathering Sky, featured on IndieSider #28.

In this interview, Dren discusses how he invented the “chipbilly” genre for Dangerous Dave; the artificial constraints he placed on himself to create the soundtrack; the technology and skills a composer needs to work in the gaming industry; and his future collaborations with the Romero family.

Watch the video above, or download the audio edition from Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Full disclosure: I backed the Kickstarter for String Arcade and received a free download code for the Dangerous Dave soundtrack.