Choose Cthulhu Files soundtrack

In a game like Choose Cthulhu Files, it is necessary to create the right atmosphere to ensure that the player has a greater immersion in the events that occur in the game. Being a mainly narrative game in which reading is the main source of immersion in the story, it is very important to seek support in other senses to generate sensations in the player.

In any audiovisual medium, the soundtrack is a key element to convey emotional messages to the player.

In this article, we will explain the most relevant aspects that we have taken into account for the initial development of the game's soundtrack and what we have based our work on.

Imagining the music

When you first encounter the creation of a soundtrack for something that is being generated at the same time as the music, all you have left is imagination. Imagine in your head the scenes, the characters, see through the eyes of those who design and write.

At first, I only had the story and its adaptation. That is, the only support I had was to read and think about the sensations the reading evoked in me, as well as to analyze what was being tried to convey in order to bring all that information to the music itself.

With this initial information, I started to work by identifying the different "leitmotifs" that I would need, which characters were truly relevant to the story, important locations, etc.

Little by little, as the team was defining the visual style of the game, characters and definitions of their temperament, objectives in the story, etc., I used that information to refine some of the details of the themes.

Mathematics as a creative agent

Once I had a clear idea of how the characters and scenes were going to be and imagined the music and its characteristics for each moment, it was time to create it.

I decided to take a creative approach through the mathematics of music, which defines what sounds evoke sadness, joy, drama, etc. and from that mathematical basis, generate "equations" that would allow me to create the music for what I had previously imagined.

Listening and correcting

Using the appropriate tools, I went directly to the composition stage, iterating over each theme again and again, listening and correcting the melodies for each character or motifs for the different scenes. In short, adding elements and eliminating those that did not work to convey what was needed in each theme.

This process was also carried out once the main themes were created, and the rest of the team added their comments and different opinions to make slight adjustments in the music that ended up defining the final themes.

Editing and exporting

Finally, it remains to convert that music into quality sound to use it in the game. The scores are passed through an audio editing program that converts the notes of the score into real sounds. This phase also requires some adjustments, as certain sounds may be heard too loud compared to others, and effects can be added to make the sound more suitable for the situation, such as adding reverberations, filters, etc.

The resulting audio files are introduced into the game and evaluated if they match the scenes, and if necessary, they are readjusted afterwards.

Variations

Once the main themes are ready, variations of them with different intensities will have to be created. The same theme in the same scene may need an increase in intensity due to something unsettling happening, so they have to be given different instrumental arrangements, changes in tempo, in the type of instruments that sound, and a myriad of adjustments that can be made.

My personal experience

Having been part of the creation of this game, with such a rich, complete, and interesting narrative thread, has made the creation of this soundtrack a personal challenge. Trying to reflect personalities as complex, changing, twists in the plot and its characters, has meant having to put at the service of the image all the compositional resources that may exist. Simply an experience that has made me grow so much that I would repeat it eternally.