Despite a growing number of games placing women at the center of their stories, Black female protagonists remain a rarity in the industry. That’s something Kingston, Jamaica-based indie developer Glen Henry hopes to help change with Duppy Detective Tashia, the latest project from his studio, Spritewrench Studios (Sunken Stones).

Set for release in 2026, the mystery adventure follows Tashia, a young woman whose pursuit of a pickpocket leads her into a hidden marketplace inhabited by Duppies – spirits and ghosts drawn from Afro-Caribbean folklore. There, she discovers that the beloved spider-God Bredda Anasi has been murdered. To find her way home, Tashia must unravel the mystery, gather clues and uncover the secrets behind the market’s residents and their untimely deaths.

Helping bring the game’s supernatural noir atmosphere to life is award-winning composer Chase Bethea. Drawing inspiration from Caribbean culture, folklore and detective fiction, Bethea crafted a score that blends cinematic mystery with what he describes as a distinctly Caribbean noir sound. Below, Deadline speaks with Bethea about creating the music of Duppy Detective Tashia and helping define a genre all his own.

DEADLINE: How did you fall into composing for video games? 

CHASE BETHEA: The short version is that I bought a book. I put my work online into a game forum. I got a couple interests from some people that were interested in working with me. Then I heard back from one developer that they were really interested in. So, I wrote an extra piece of music, like a demo or something to show my interests. And then I actually booked a gig, and it was my first game without any mentorship, apprenticeship or anything like that.

BETHEA: I went to Moorpark College and Cal State Northridge. That book I was talking about, I read it at my last music theory college class at Moorpark. So, I told myself I was going to work in the industry before I graduate. And by the time I transferred to university, I was already nominated for an award in the industry. 

BETHEA: The game I was nominated for Best Artist of the Year in 2016, was I Can’t Escape: Darkness. It was a sequel to a very popular flash game that Markiplier played called I Can’t Escape. It’s a very low poly pixel game, where you… if people are familiar with the Windows 95 screensaver, where you have to go through the maze, it was typically based off of that. I scored the sequel and it’s the first time I was mentioned on IGN and the trailers. I ended up being nominated for an award for Best Original Soundtrack for that and Best Artist of the Year. 

DEADLINE: How did you find out about Duppy Detective Tashia?

BETHEA: So, this is my fourth or fifth game I’m working on with the developer. The developer’s name is Spritewrench, and the founder’s name is Glen Henry. He is a developer from Jamaica.

My background from my mom’s side is Bajan, they come from Barbados. Our first game we worked on was Questlike: Pocket, and then we did On the Peril of Parrots, which won Best Original Soundtrack. Then we did Sunken Stones, and now we’ve done Duppy Detective Tashia. So, it’s my working relationship with that developer that has got me on the project thus far.

DEADLINE: What themes did you both talk about to create the soundtrack?

BETHEA: So, the first initial meeting was actually about creating music for the trailer. And Glen said to me, he said, “I want it spooky. I want it mysterious, but I also want it cinematic.” And then I thought, oh, OK, but it also has to have [an island flavor]. It’s from a place in Jamaica, not necessarily Kingston or any other place, but you can feel that island feel. So, it needs to also have that undertone as well. So, I thought, well, does that really exist?

And I couldn’t think of any media or anything that I’ve come across, or any of my travels and speaking to folks, that ever existed. So, I created the cinematic form [from a genre I already knew] Noir sound. Then I had to create what really was the feeling of an island sound which is [typically] rhythm and bassline. And so, I did that with the trailer, but when it came to making the game, I realized I didn’t want to play bass on the keyboard. Pianist was the second instrument I took up, and I thought I needed to feel that connection I used to have with piano. I don’t have a piano anymore. So, I think I needed a connection to the instrument to get this feeling.

So, I went to the Guitar Center here in the States and went to look for a bass. The bass that I first picked up, I actually wrote the bassline in the store because I had made a drum track. I put it on loop, pulled up my phone, and had headphones on Bluetooth. And that’s the actual bassline that is in the game called “Halfway Market.” But when I left, I didn’t buy the bass. So, I thought, I need that bass. That’s the connection I was looking for. But then, the bass was gone. [Laughs]. Then I went online and bought the exact same one. 

I pioneered in this field called Caribbean Noir, because in game music, that doesn’t exist at all. Cinematic, spooky, noirs [like this with an island fusion] doesn’t exist. 

DEADLINE: What was the challenge of creating the soundtrack that you were so happy to break through? 

BETHEA: The last track I wrote is called “A Chance and A Choice.” And what this track is supposed to represent in the game is Tashia getting closer to solving the mystery that she needs to resolve with the clues in terms of what happened with the murder. And the piece was very difficult because I no longer had this muse that I used to have, and I didn’t know how to write the piece. But I had these chords I had recorded on the piano, and I referred back to the chords. Then I remember building the track around those chords.  It’s very mellow. It’s mostly somber, but it’s pensive. And that was exactly the mood that I was feeling at the time. So, it comes through in the piece, but I’m always thinking that it should service the game.

As I’m writing this piece, it’s only five or six chords. It’s not really much. And then this undertone track comes in. It’s very smooth and very relaxed. And the challenging part of it was to see if, even though my mood was in a different setting, it was going to relate into the game. And it actually does, depending on where Glen had put it, because I was actually playing through the game today and thinking, oh wow, that came out pretty well.

So, to think that something that was written two years ago, in the mindset that I had—which I had no idea was going to land the way it did—actually fit very well.

DEADLINE: What should game devs know about you should they hire you for their next project? What would you like to say?

BETHEA: I think, as a game designer and not just as a video game composer, I own over 800 physical-copy games, and I’ve been playing games for most of my life. I think about a dynamic feeling that goes with the game, not just in a loop form, but things that tie to the mechanics. I also offer a different set of mentality through the game development process in terms of even marketing and promotion. I really am someone who believes I am part of the team, not just someone as a contractor. And in addition to that, the people that I’ve worked with over the years, the ones that I’m still working with, they value that, and they know that very well.

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