MAGFest attendees may have bathed in the percussive bliss of Rekcahdam in the past while backing up numerous performers but this year he finally has his own show. Friday night he’ll be making his main stage debut at 7pm as the second chiptune performance of the evening. But before you go, Know Your MAG.
Rekcahdam, otherwise known as Roger Hicks, was introduced to music at an early age thanks to his father’s love of jazz music and his church’s need for a drummer. By high school he was programming, composing lyrics and producing his own music. It’s a combination of passions and skills that have continued to weave together as he has worked as composer, designer and programmer on several projects.
One of the earliest was Celestial Mechanica, an action/puzzle/adventure game created with Paul Veer where he served as programmer, composer and sound designer. Shortly after he coded his own web-based, 8-bit music sequencer called Pulse Boy. He then spearheaded the 25 Year Legend project, a collaboration of indie game composers inspired by The Legend of Zelda featuring Disasterpeace, Hyperduck Soundworks, Laura Shigihara, C418 and so many more.
After composing soundtracks for Seedling, Devil’s Dare and more, programming for Lume iOS and Famaze, and serving as session drummer on Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe, he’s undertaking his biggest challenge yet. Not only is he designing, coding and composing the original game, Band Saga, he’s basically starring in it.
The ambitious 2D music/action roguelike looks even more infectious than its closest contemporary, Crypt of the Necrodancer. Beyond bopping along to the beats, everything in Band Saga generates musical elements allowing players to compose their own unique song as they play and even augment its instrumentation. After a successful Kickstarter campaign Band Saga was picked up for publishing by Playism last September and is currently in development.
Between all that he’s still found the time to make it to MAGFest and put on a show with visuals provided by ohhinaifu. There’s still time to pick up tickets and attend so head over to the MAGFest registration page to get in.
