Description
The game I wrote this soundtrack for is called "Whispers in the Breeze", a puzzle game where the main character is following the spirit of their ancestor who is a family member that recently passed. That ancestor wants to show them the tales of the life they had lived, and so the player must solve puzzles throughout the game to find out what happens next. Ultimately, it is a game that is meant to help the player find peace with a loved ones passing.

All tracks were written using Cubase. The main theme track was the first I wrote, representing the story and emotional timeline of what the player is meant to feel. The shopkeeper theme is more of a cheeky nod to my grandfather. He loved to sell antiques and curios, always calling them his "High Quality Crap". Since this theoretical game is about working through his passing, I thought it was a funny and cute track to do. The puzzle theme is meant to serve as the background for when the player is completing puzzles.

Much of how I composed these tracks started with picturing the gameplay, and adapting the main theme into that kind of track. The main theme was written while sitting at my piano and just allowing the emotion in mind to do the walking on the keyboard. This was later adapted to use strings and support from the brass the bring out the emotional weight. The puzzle and shopkeeper themes were written solely in Cubase with no real noodling around the studio, a lot of what came to be for those 2 tracks was just singing the theme and picturing the gameplay, from there I could feel what would be right as far as instrumentation and articulations for getting the mood right. The shopkeeper music is just meant to be fun and lighthearted while you're looking at their inventory debating what to buy, so I went with the pizzicato strings and kalimba. The puzzle theme was funny enough, more puzzling to do. Trying to balance a sense of peace while also giving a vibe of concentration took some experimentation. I wanted a driving rhythm without feeling too adventurous, and some string pads that didn't do too much. I also flirted with the Lydian sound a bit at the beginning, letting it slip away coming back to the A section the give it less of an edge.

Theme

Picture theme

How does it fit the theme?
Looking at the picture, it reminded me a lot a melancholic and peaceful feeling. It resonated with me pretty heavily since a grandparent of mine passed earlier this year, so I decided that I would write music for a game that kind of surrounded around that feeling, heavily leaning more on the peaceful side.

Number of tracks
3

Genre

Soundtrack use permission

Yes (CC BY-NC)

Any non-commercial project