Neon Prime Inspired Composition - City as Vivid as Neon

So I got access to Deadlock a while ago, and it wasn't too long after getting to grips with the game that I started digging into it's unreleased content.
As it turns out, we know quite a lot about Deadlock's unreleased content.

I was initially just interested in finding out what the normally inaccessible Heroes were, but it didn't take long after that for me to start searching the internet to see what else had been found, and subsequently stumble down the rabbit hole of "Wait, we actually know what Neon Prime looked like?"

And so I came across several uploads showcasing gameplay of Deadlock from when it was called Neon Prime and had an entirely different artstyle.
The best of these uploads was the one linked in the credits by Lamarrite, which compiles all of the footage we have - all taken from leftover tutorial videos recorded during that period of development - accompanied by music thought to have potentially have been used for the title screen of the game at that point.

All this is to say, as much as I appreciate the artstyle and setting Deadlock has ultimately ended up adopting, upon seeing this footage and hearing this music I instantly fell in love with the aesthetic Neon Prime had.
Neon signs everwhere, huge dystopian skyscrapers, airships and robots and drones, pulsing lights and arcade-like credits, billboards screaming advertisements in an alien language with bizarre designs reminiscent of existing brands, yet clearly designed for an entirely different culture and civilisation...

As many have pointed out, Neon Prime's artstyle admittedly looks cluttered, and if the game then was anything like Deadlock is now, probably got in the way of the core of the game - a game with an extremely high skill ceiling, complex mechanics, and fast-paced combat with abilities that have flashy effects where you are encouraged to think on your feet.
Putting it like that, it's really not a huge surprise that they decided to move away from this artstyle to something less vibrant and significantly easier to parse visually when it comes to moment to moment gameplay.

But, for some reason, the artstyle Neon Prime had really resonates with me, more than I would have ever expected. What can be seen in the tutorial footage (a still of which can be seen as the background to this video) just makes me feel... cozy, yet also intrigued. There's almost an air of unexplainable mystery to it, not only in the sense of things feeling 'alien', but also like there's more hiding beneath the surface - more to that world than this city, and much more to that city than we are meant to see.

It's artificial, on the surface everything looks like it works perfectly.
But the second you dive any deeper... you find Fracture.

All that is to say, I think Neon Prime's artstyle hit upon the exact blend and execution of these ideas for me, and I wish we could see more.
Even though we likely never will, unless Valve tease anything else from that era of development.

So, I composed this in an attempt to re-capture some of the feelings this artstyle gave me, largely inspired by (with some quotes of) the potential main menu song mentioned earlier, which I already feel fits it pretty perfectly. But given how much I've written I hope it's evident how much I like it, and so I felt I had to try make something of my own.

I hope you like it!

=== CREDITS ===
Software Used: FL Studio 2024
Video made with FL Studio ZGameEditor Visualizer plugin

Effect author credits:
SplinePeaks - David Hoskins Adapted from https://www.shadertoy.com/view/MsXGDj
HUD 3D - Rado1
TextTrueType - Ville
Youlean Drop Shadow - Youlean

Deadlock (formerly known as Neon Prime) and it's assets and media are property of Valve Software.

The background of this video is taken from leftover tutorial videos found in Deadlock's files, showing gameplay from the Neon Prime iteration of it's development, which was set in a futuristic neon-lit city.
This setting serves largely as the inspiration for this composition.

This song is also largely inspired by music leftover in the game's files, which is speculated to have been the main menu theme for the Neon Prime iteration of Deadlock. However, the composer and source of this music is currently unknown. All credit for that music and any quotes of it's melodies found within my own original composition go to it's original composer.

Both the tutorial footage, and that song, can be found in this video by ‪@lamarrite‬:    • Valve's Neon Prime - All Tutorial Videos  

You can wishlist Deadlock here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/14...

Video edited with Davinci Resolve

=== OTHER MUSIC ===
▶️Original Compositions: https://bit.ly/3sJ8kYy
▶️Undertale/Deltarune Remixes: https://bit.ly/3BiAYDp
▶️Valve Remixes: https://bit.ly/3LvaiUD
▶️Nintendo Remixes: https://bit.ly/3uMBOXN

=== SOCIALS ===
Twitter:   / jim_wakelin  
Website: https://jwakelinmusic.net/