Music

Here you can find songs I've composed, and some short snippets about their creation. Enjoy!

In the Eyes of a Child

This was the first song I composed for a game. Previous experience was writing poems and songs with no sheet music. The tunes were only for myself via memory. But this was obviously different.

First, I didn't have a program to work in at the time, and I didn't have a personal PC either. So I made this song in a free browser base step-sequencer. This limited what I could work with (only having a piano midi), but I believe that actually helped this song.

I was trying to go for a creepy version of a song a child with some experience would play on a piano. I believe I succeeded. I did so with a couple things used throughout the song.

I tried to keep the melody and harmony simple, with a slower tempo and avoiding any notes shorter then an eighth note. The strongest decision I believe was the tritones on the down beats; purposely being dissonant to create an uncomfortable feeling.

It's Alive

This was composed as level music for a game jam project that unfortunately never released. It was my first composition using Cakewalk via my own PC.

I experimented with instrumentation on this piece. Using a mix of synth instruments and a electric spark sample for a percussion. I tried to create a rising and lowering of tension throughout the piece by having a loop that gains instruments as it progresses. My favorite parts are the peak and valley being punctuated by solos from the lead.

I would probably try to add more complexity if I were to rewrite this now, but for a looping track created in a short time span, I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Heaven's Rain

Unlike previous songs, all songs for Hogen, the project Heaven's Rain is from, were designed to dynamically update in game with the progress of the match, progressively getting more intense with each one.

This was my first attempt. I tried to get the feel of a rising storm. Starting with a drip before building to sprinkle to drizzle to to rain to downpour. I feel like it successfully gets that feeling across if a bit mixed at times.

But mainly I learned a lot from this. I learned to be careful with the amount of instruments you use and the length of sections don't actually need to be that long. Mistakes made in this song vastly helped me compose the following two.

Death's Game

This song was used for both the tutorial and the menu track to get full mileage out of it. While the other tracks represent their respective factions, Death's Game is about Death and Hogen itself.

The "Dies irae" is weaved and modified throughout the song acting as a leitmotif for Death. Most of the song uses simple melodies that get layered on top of to build tension and intensity.

The exceptions being the solos in the middle and end. Building on alternating arpeggios and classic call and response to breakup what would otherwise be repetetive.

Hell's Aria

As the last song I composed for Hogen, it is in my opinion, the best one. I tried to go for a unique sound compared to the other pieces, having a violin for the lead.

The faction it's based on is a nation under occupation, so I tried to capture not only a dire, tragic tone to the music, but one that builds to an emotion of anger, desperation, and determination.

There's actually two violins in this song. One is the lead for most of the song while the other acts a baseline the lead sometimes melds into. The violins play one beat off of each other so they syncopate with each other. Additionally, early in the song, the violin plays on the second beat to leave room for the chords.