Hello, and welcome to this weeks dev diary!

Today I will briefly explain about my ideas for a short music composition, that I will likely use as the BGM (background music) for the first teaser for the Horror title, despite the RTS title being the priority currently. I have thought about the musical aspect of both of the games every now and then, recording several tunes by humming to my phone. Several months earlier though, since both of my titles have some common elements by their mythological roots (and some interleaving story backgrounds), I thought that what if I could use something that already exists as a basis for my music, in order to have a simpler first try at composing songs? For this purpose, royalty free songs that are not copyrighted are a perfect fit - Folk songs.

Tunes From The Past

Since the setting for both of the games spans far into to the unknown and thus very uncertain history, it is only fitting to have something connect them into something that is historic and resides in the real world. Thus, using historical data, or in this case, a folk song with a story, enriches the background story of the games (as long as the message fits). For this purpose, a certain folk song comes to mind - Tuonne Taakse Metsämaan - a tale about longing for a loved one, who was left far behind the woodlands, behind an arduous journey. This combined with elements from this song - Kun Mun Kultani Tulisi - which is also a song about love so deep, that no matter how bad of a condition the one you love would be, you would still come close to them ; take their hand into yours, even if there were a snake on it, kiss their lips even if the death it self was in the way, wrap your arms behind their neck even if the spirit of death resides there and lay down besides them, even if the ground besides them were full of blood. Note: "them" being a gender neutral synonym for a person.

Now then, this won't depict the core of the story of either of the games by it self, but is a part of it - like every great legend, there is also love involved or a lack thereof. This setting and feeling is more than perfect for a background music of a horror game, no matter if it is or isn't in the actual story in it's actual original form, as these kind of feelings can be represented also in a very creepy manner - turning something beautiful into twisted mirror image of what it actually is.

I haven't yet decided the final set of instruments for the music, but one is a certainty - Kantele is a must, as a historical link to the game's story. I can't play any instruments my self, but I do have some grasp on editing and making music from sample files.

Conclusion

This only leaves the software side to consider and I have found a promising free software, called Reaper, which might be a great fit for my needs, without having any money to spare on a more advanced tool. The Kantele Instrumental sounds are from a free distribution of Ajatar Kantele sample pack by Matti Strahlendorff, which is unfortunately no longer available anywhere that I know of.

This is it for today and I thank you for tuning in. See you on the next one!

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