Original Music!

When we set out to make this project, we wanted to build this project completely from the ground up; models, game mechanics, engine coding – and of course the music. While I’ve penned a few tuenso n the guitar, and all of us had dabbled with Apples “Garage Band”, none of us were capable of producing the right kind of music for the game. To this end, I approached my old school pal, and musician extraordinaire Chris Birkett.

Chris (who works under the title “Enceladus Productions” http://www.youtube.com/EnceladusProductions) is in his 3rd Year at High Wycombe University, studying soundtrack production. Knowing him as a fierce bassist and guitarist, I asked him if he’d be able to assist on the project, and luckily for us, he was more than happy to help us.

Working with Chris, we knocked up a cue sheet of sound effects needed for the game (which he provided). We also used the following pieces (among others) as inspiration for an original piece of music that was atmospheric, minimalist yet still highly evocative; conjuring notes of fear, melancholy, romance and lost grandeur in equal measures:

The game Thief: Deadly Shadows was a big inspiration for our game inits use of lighting, atmosphere, tension and a focus on stealth rather than combat. It’s music was also highly effective in setting the tone, and enriching the settings you foudn yourself in; Thief DS was a game I personally invested a lot of time into, and I believe the music was a key to that immersion.

“Polymorphia” by Avant-Garde composer Krzysztof Penderecki, was a piece I had heard several years ago. His eerie, minimalist approach yielded music that was genuinely frightening, and highly evocative (indeed, six of his pieces including Polymorphia were included in the soundtrack of famous horror film “The Shining”).

After discussing the sound we wanted, we agreed on a piece that would be menacing, but not overtly frightening, incorporating the melancholy notes of music form the Baroque, Classical and Romantic Musical Eras. A few weeks before deadline, Chris delivered his masterpiece, which he affectionately labeled “A Spooky Waltz” (and it does indeed match a Waltz’s tempo and structure. Believe me, I’ve tried it).

Art Director

Artwork by Rob Mayo

Artwork by Rob Mayo

The role of Art Director in any visual media is very important. The Art Director is responsible for designing the look and feel of a film (or in this case, game) and conducting relevant research to ensure that all contextual details of the film match the screenplay. Having completed Film Art and Production at the Arts University College at Bournemouth, I had a reasonable amount of experience either as Art Director, or working with very talented Art Directors in my teams. However, unlike in Film, the concept of Auteur Theory (roughly speaking: where the Art Directors vision is the primary driving force behind a film, instead of a collaborative vision of the writer and producer) could not apply here, in an educational group effort where every opinion had to count.

As a consumer, I like old things. Granted, I love sci fi and futuristic visuals as much as the next geek, but for this project I really wanted to instill a sense of old world grandeur, twisted and deformed into a majestic menace. When writing the narrative for the game, the structure remained the same, but the contextual details changed several times until we settled on latter-revolutionary France.

Choosing the correct period in an Historically themed game is essential. Looking at the trend of horror/psychological games, the vast majority of them are set in the victorian era; it’s visuals are distant enough from our own to be interesting, yet the societal values and conventions are similar enough to our own to be relatable – thanks to the work of prolific authors like Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson and George Elliot, the Victorian period is very well documented, meaning that developers and filmmakers have a rich supply of materiel with which to plunder for inspiration. This has led to countless film and television adaptations, successful for their portrayal and recreation of Victorian life as much as for their writing. Audiences enjoy stories, either in games or in films, that they believe in, and a key part of that is creating an immersive environment.

In the original pitch, the game was set in the Black Forest of southwestern Germany. However, we decided to move it from there owing to the fact that many games, including our inspiration/arch-nemesis “Amnesia: The Dark Descent” were set in dark, mountainous Prussian woodland. In retrospect, the game could have worked very successfully had we set it there, but we were, at the time, perhaps overly concerned with choosing an original location, and so we vetoed the location.

Then we thought of setting it in heartland Russia in the depths of the infamous Russian Winter, but our cultural knowledge of Russia was definitely lacking (you can only learn so much from watching Dr Zhivago and Anna Karenina over and over again). Also, unlike France and Germany, British and American audiences do not such a latent understanding of Russian culture; even out cultural stereotypes are extremely dated, or negative. I still believe the game could have worked extremely well there, and when we get a chance to remake the game, I’d personally love to see a run-down, post-revolution spooky russian mansion…

Some of the Writing of Babel

“Babel” Diary Page Monologues

 15th October 1829 

The mood in Paris is grim; as grim as I’ve ever seen it. On any other day I would have been devastated at being forced to resign my commission, but if it means I am released from my post at the city, I’ll gladly accept it. There is an ugly cast to the people that is all too reminiscent of those blood-soaked days of 1790. I have little desire to have my head chopped off, and being an “artisto” officer in a city of revolutionary sentiment is not wise. Caroline is thrilled, of course. We celebrated her 25th Birthday only a week ago, but she’s already anxious to leave. To see her distressed so, unsettles me; she always loved the vitality of the city in the days of Napoleon, but now she fears it. And so do I.

 29th October 1829

 We arrived this evening at the House in the mountains. The Estate hasn’t been inhabited for nearly 30 years, but it seems remarkably unchanged by time but I’ve sent for additional servants to open up the house. I confess I am still unnerved by it’s dark spaces and quiet menace – ever since I was a child, I have disliked this house with an intensity that surprises me. But one can’t live in the past; this house is all that I have left to my name, and I am now, whether I like it or not, it’s master.

 1^st November 1829

 Unlike many of my contemporaries, at least I’m not short of work to occupy myself with. Ever since I designed a sighted musket for the Imperial Guards’ Voltigeurs, I have received four commissions from an collection of gunsmiths and military requisition officers. They pay well, and allow me to continue my study of clockwork automation. Retirement…is not as bad as I had feared it would be.

 12th November 1829

 We found it quite by accident. Grantaire, my new head of household, was cleaning the clock in the Library when he discovered a secret entrance-way hidden in the walls. In a recessed alcove, there is a ladder, which leads up to the most bizarre space, somewhere between a carpenter’s workshop a machine-smiths laboratory. I’ve sworn Grantaire to secrecy – it shall make the perfect little hiding place where I can work on my designs in peace. And if what they say about another Revolution is true, then having a hiding place may prove to be unexpectedly useful.

 1st December 1829

 If I had known what life in the countryside would be like, I would have resigned my commission years ago. The life of a country aristocrat suits Caroline well, though I suspect the glow that she gives off isn’t just the mountain air. The staff adore her, and even the villagers seem to have overcome their distrust of the nobility, and have warmed to her kind heart. Were that they would do the same for me. I admit to feeling a pang of guilt; here I am enjoying a life of privilege while France teeters on the brink of Revolution yet again. I hear that Paris is in turmoil; there is talk of uprising, men and women parade the streets wearing Red, White and Blue in open defiance of our King, Charles the 10th. We should be safe here until the embers of revolution burn out.

 28th May 1830

 A girl! A beautiful baby girl! By heaven, I never thought I could be so happy. Caroline is exhausted, but well. We have decided upon the name Madeleine. She has her mother’s eyes.

 3rd September 1830 

The townsfolk say it was brought into the valley by people fleeing the turmoil in the cities. The entire town has been struck down by a terrible illness, almost as virulent as the infections I saw run rampant through the Grande Armee. Thankfully, most of the staff have remained immune, but Caroline has not been so lucky. Her little sojourns into the town must have exposed her to the flu, for she is now suffering a high fever, and what is worse, so is Madeleine. The local doctor is clearly overwhelmed, so I have sent for a Monsieur Villeneuve, a physician who served my family back in the Paris. But if rumor is to be believed, the Capital is in open revolt, so he may be some time in coming, if he is able to at all.

 1^ST October 1830. 

Madeleine passed died last night, and our world is cold and gray. Poor Caroline has been hit far harder than I; her grief-wracked sobs fill the house, and break what is left of my heart. Her condition grows worse with each passing day. Villeneuve was unable to attend, and the doctors he sent in his stead have no answer; one says warmer climes, the other recommends a medicinal tea made form ingredients unobtainable on the continent. There must be an alternative I have overlooked, some remedy. Anything. There is a gypsy camp in the woods in the valley, they may know of some cure-all. As a god fearing man, I have already refused to stoop to common witchcraft, and I do not intend to do so, but time is not on my side.