Seasons of Stories

My game Stories of Seasons, would be 4 different stories following 4 major seasons. The goal of the narrative was to offer 4 distinct stories of different individuals. Spring was the sensation of arriving to a new place/new home. I was inspired by Genshin Impact's city of Monstadt, the city of wind. The tracks follow in the order of, introduction to the ost a "wake up" sort of feeling (It's not really a standalone piece but I separated it just incase "New Beginnings"), leading into "The Wind City," a reveal into a beautiful city brimming with life. "Neutral Solace" would be one of many ambient themes. The goal was to soothe the player in a relaxed state, and allow a breather from everything else that is happening. Last song of spring, "Rite of Passage" (Yes this is a reference to the name Rite of Spring by Stravinsky) is to add intensity using woodwinds and brass. 

Where Spring is about new starts, Summer is about old friends, memories, and places. The player would playback through memories instead of "doing it live." It's inspired after Final Fantasy XV with Noctis and his three friends Gladio, Ignis, and Prompto with a dash of summer fun and troubles. The track is titled "A Memory of Evenings" it is an ambient track, although it's a busier one with drums and counterpoint guitar. 

--- Instrumentation ---

Dear godz the instrumentation for Spring is ridiculous, there is picolo, flute, clarinet, english horn, french horn, piano, harp, guitar, violines to double basses, and a choir... It's a lot, but because of this it took way longer than it should have more on this later.

Summer is guitars and drums, although I also planned on using electric guitars.

---Inspirations---

I was inspired by Genshin Impact's music composed by Yu Peng Chen, Studio Ghibli by Joe Hiashi (Legend of Ashitaka specifically).  Jeremiah Castelo's "Experimental Mix of Five", and John Williams. 

---What could have been---

There was A LOT of cut content. I originally thought it would come out to 12 minutes, on further reflection it would have been well over 20 mins of music. Even some of the tracks now, I will revise in the future. And get them to full capacity so they can truly shine. The goal was 4 tracks for each season one main theme, combat theme, ambient, and something special.

Fall was going to be about Old age and tradition, exploring a culture's take on certain things, and how through age we begin to see things differently sometimes becoming the wiser and sometimes not. The fall was planned to be more introspective and reflective like a story being told over time, rather than active game participation. One of the songs was going to feature lyrics and an indie approach to the music. The scene I envisioned for this is falling leaves, specifically from Ghost of Tsushima. I remember seeing the reveal and the duel in the beautiful scenery which has stuck with me since. Guitars, seventh chords, and just stepping to the 7th and 4th to convey that half-step dissonance which I like for nostalgia. 

Winter was to explore death and violence, struggling against a force that one eventually loses to. This would have been through the idea of raids from Vikings. I think I wanted it to be one group raiding another more peaceful group. I started learning Icelandic pronunciations and there would be throat singing. This genre was heavily inspired by the new experimental folk music groups of Heilung, Danheim, and others. Instrumentation would have been drums, strings, choir, and throat singing as well as ancient poetry (this idea was inspired by "Duel of the Fates" and its use of ancient poetry). 

--- What did I learn ---

Plan. Scope. Efficiency.

However, the greatest lesson I think I learned is to wake up my ability to write music. I'm used to writing music for school under time crunches and lost the ability to connect to my music and to write with intention.  I have since started focusing on this and trying to leave survival mode, so I really appreciate the help of Eetu, Danny, and SanctussyntH for helping me through my panic mode and helping me realize life doesn't revolve around deadlines. Deadlines are important tho, just not at the cost of one's health. 

---Picture---

Photo by Louis from Pexels