Composer of the Month: Toby Fox
Toby Fox has achieved renown and critical acclaim despite working on a relatively limited number of projects when compared with previous months artists. Most of his works are composed digitally, with heavy emphasis on acoustic guitar and synth timbres as well as wave and lead pads that exist only on his chosen software. This removes Fox from the live orchestra setting many film or media composers are known for, but also allows him to work solo on many projects: scoring entire games in isolation and with no consultation. This again sets him apart from contemporaries such as Hans Zimmer with James Newton Howard and the like. Thus, while previous weeks have discussed the relevance of training and background in building a composer’s skillset, this article will concern the question: how many works does someone in the field have to produce to be considered “successful”?
Born October 11th, 1991, in Manchester, New Hampshire, to Robert Fox, a financial planner, and Barbara Fox, a retired paraprofessional, Toby Fox got his start in the gaming industry early by working on Romhacks (hacking an older game to update the graphics, dialogue, levels, gameplay or other variables). Thus, from a young age he was accustomed to working in a self-contained fashion, altering all aspects of the game without external help: something which undoubtedly aided him later in his career when he began to draw, compose for, write, and code his own games.
Most of his coding experience stemmed from using RPG2000 with his brothers in high school, and it is surprising that his later studies at North-eastern University addressed Environmental science, rather than subjects related to his later career, such as games development or music composition, suggesting that, like Danny Elfman, a lack of professional training posed no substantial obstacle in the industry.
If you are already familiar with the name “Toby Fox”, you are also no doubt familiar with his hugely successful game duology: “Undertale” and “Deltarune”, the former receiving a BAFTA Games Award for Best Music & Sound Design in 2016 and nominations for a British Academy Game Award, three Game Awards and D.I.C.E. Awards. In 2018, Fox was even chosen to be Games Forbes 30 under 30 for his work on “Undertale”. Released in 2015, the turn-based RPG was coded, written, and composed entirely by Fox, with the only external help being from long-time friend Temmie Chang’s artwork (who appears in cameo in the form of the “Temmie” characters in the Temmie Village, underground.
The game follows the journey of “Frisk”, a child who fell from the human world into the underground and must escape with the help of friends such as “Sans”, “Toriel” and “Alphys”, whilst also avoiding capture by characters such as “Undyne”, a Mer guardswoman. After its release, the game quickly gathered a cult following and enjoyed a thriving online culture – reflected in the hundreds of playthrough videos, fan theories and even re-orchestrations of tracks such as the jazz cover of “Megalovania” by artist “insaneintherain” on Spotify. Despite the game’s success, Fox himself felt that the game was “niche” and deserved an “8/10” score. Notable songs from the score include “Megalovania”, “Battle Against a True Hero”, “Undertale” and “Home”, with the first going on to become incredibly famous with younger fans due to its association with the, now infamous, character of “Sans”.
What sets the game apart musically from others in the medium is that the player will never hear all the tracks in one playthrough: the narrative of the game is decided by a series of choices the character makes in how they play, such as whether they “kill” or “spare” their opponents. “Megalovania”, for instance, will only play on a genocide run, where the player has chosen to kill every opponent and must face the consequences of their actions in the form of an additional boss fight with Sans. Character themes are singularly recognisable in the game, with Fox going the extra mile to compose multiple for the different scenarios in which they may be met – “Battle against a true hero” matches Undyne’s role as soldier perfectly, due to the contrast in its repetitive and tense, high-pitched piano leitmotif and the accompanying full, “bassy” chords, which later morph into a fast-paced rhythmic ostinato underneath the same tense melody but on a synth string pad. Due to the looping structure of video game compositions, Fox also uses layering incredibly effectively: as the song develops, leading notes are introduced which then culminate in the introduction of a new leitmotif on a retro-style synth setting, turning the texture of the piece polyphonic (multiple melodies competing) and perfectly establishing the battle setting in which it is used. Elsewhere in the game, more relaxed background tracks provide a sense of relief from the tense battle orchestrations, such as “Uwa!! So temperate” and “Snowdin town”. What makes Fox truly a master of video game composition though, is his continuous development of thematic material. The game’s most recognisable leitmotif is first heard in the opening track “Once upon a time”, which accompanies the first cut scene and provides the game’s background. It is then heard in full on acoustic guitar in the track “Home”, where it accompanies a highly emotive scene in Toriel’s home, when the player wakes up in the “New home”, the soothing arpeggio melodies establishing both the domestic setting and a tone of nostalgia. Next, it is repeated in full on a “music box” setting, before finally surfacing again in the title “Undertale”, when the player learns of the fate of Toriel’s son. The originally delicate melody is made more heart-breaking with the introduction of a high-pitched flute line, doubled by strings, and syncopated drum beat scattered with military-like snare triplets. The game boasts an astounding 101 and one tracks, with some unplayed easter eggs in the Spotify album release, and it is this which allows Fox to achieve such a unique way of narrating story through music.
In 2018, the sequel game, “Deltarune” released its first chapter for free under the guise of a survey and enjoyed immediate success among fans. Not long after, on September 17th, 2021, the second chapter followed, boasting yet another album of music. Fox also released this for free, explaining “the world has been really tough for everybody recently” due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the release of the second chapter, there has been limited news on the promised third and fourth chapters (of seven), to be released together with no confirmed date yet. Fox has previously cited disabling chronic wrist and hand pain as contributing to the delay of Deltarune chapter 2, and as he creates the entirely game almost entirely independently, lengthened production schedules are more than understandable. Tracks of note in the sequel series include: “School” (an excellent example of setting music), “The legend” (reminiscent of some of the first game’s leitmotifs on soft synth tones), “Lancer” (unusual in its jazz and blues style roots), “A CYBER’S WORLD?” (a stunning demonstration of Fox’s skill in looping layers), BIG SHOT (an iconic boss theme featuring vocal samples unusual for Fox’s work), and “Don’t Forget” (one of the first lyrical vocal tracks to feature in the series).
While other composers often work in multimedia environments – with each scoring for film, TV and occasionally video games too, it is highly unusual if even unheard of for their careers to expand beyond the music sphere.To have achieved excellence in games design, development, writing and art as well as composition is not to be taken lightly in the case of Fox. For instance, the famous Naughty Dog game “The Last of Us II” was developed by an astounding 2,100 people. While, due to its indie nature, “Undertale” and its sequel would not have required quite the same scale of work it is still incredible that such a project was carried out by one man almost entirely alone (with the exception of artwork by Temmie Chang).
“Undertale” and its sequel, however, are far from Fox’s only video game scores. In 2008, while still in high school, his first release was for the self-coded "EarthBound Halloween Hack", a Halloween themed romhack of the 1994 SNES game EarthBound. While the score is very charming, tracks such as “twoson” theme demonstrate a much more rudimentary compositional style. That said, adding the soundtrack in was very difficult given the complexities of avoiding corrupting the files, and the infamous track “Megalovania” later seen as Sans’ alternate character theme in “Undertale”, did make its first appearance in this game. Later, in 2016, Fox worked on his first score for a game he didn’t himself code: the fantasy-romance visual novel “Rose of Winter” made by “Pillow Fight”, the “Fanfare” of which featured in the Deltarune chapter 1 album, unusual in how it branched out into traditional large orchestra styles of composition with the theme predominantly on brass. Games to follow included: “Hiveswap” (a “Homestuck” video game released in 2017), its sequel in 2020, “Escaped Chasm” (a narrative game by “Undertale” visual artist Temmie Chang), Game Freak’s 2019 RPG “Little Town Hero” and “Dweller’s Empty Path” (sequel to “Escaped Chasm) in 2020, although none achieved the levels of success boasted by “Undertale”.
However, during this time, he began to be noticed by major game company “Nintendo” and was asked to write several themes for the latest generation in the Pokémon series “Pokémon Sword and Shield”. “Battle! (Battle tower)” is instantly recognisable as his work due to its complex polyphony and fanfare-like synth ostinato, as well as moments of monophony (single line texture) where synth and strings double in an ascending melody anticipating the introduction of a tense percussive section. In 2022, “Pokémon Scarlet and Violet” released, and his collaboration with the company increased – with him scoring the tracks for “Battle! zero lab”, “Academy Ace Tournament” and “Tera Raid Battles”. Following a meeting with “Supersmash Bros” creator Masahiro Sakuraia at his home (where he and Fox played the game to reportedly similar levels of expertise), the character of “Sans” was added as downloadable costume in “Supersmash Bros Ultimate”, along with a new re-orchestration by fox of his “Megalovania” theme. Thus, while his work outside of “Undertale” has been limited, his international reputation continues to thrive – suggesting that singularity in style of composition can replace the influence of vast discographies when it comes to compositional financial success.
As well as video games, it is worth considering Fox’s work for other mediums. Whilst he became famousoffofthe back of “Undertale”,his career success can be argued to have started with the 2009-2016 web comic “Homestuck”, which he began composing in his senior year of high school. Despite hisyoung age, the opening track of volume 1 “Showtime (piano refrain)” isa highly talentedcomposition featuring highly emotive legato melodies, slowly morphing into less gentle, dramatic cluster chords. The next track “Harlequin” exemplifies his iconic synth palette, although his polyphony is less developed than in later works.All in all, volumes 1-10 of the comic boast an impressive 314 tracks, all of which can be found for free on the website “Bandcamp”. In 2018, he was guest composer on Hana Itoki’s album “PRAY” and her next album “skies forever blue” in 2022,demonstratinghis first venture into the world of vocal albums. The first track “The Greatest Living Show” is a beautiful track that can only be described as an experience rather than a song – as it morphs from lyrical piano compositions to tense strings, and then onto synth and cymbal call and response at the climax. His other non-game works have included the 2023 TV series “Pokémon Horizons” and contributions to the “Profound Waste of Time” magazine, as well as tracks for movies such as Steven Universe: The Movie and The Angry Birds Movie 2.
In conclusion, there is perhaps no better choice than Toby Fox to demonstrate how, if achieved poignantly enough within one score, an artist’s identifiable “sound” does not need a plethora of works to be established. Given the dominant demographic of older voices in the film and game composition industry, it is refreshing to see an example of young success, and the inspirational drive it takes to achieve that success in an industry that is perhaps becoming increasingly exclusive.
Edited by David Williamson
Nox Conroy writes the column: Composer of the Month. They are a first year English with Creative Writing student