[FOR HIRE] Home World - Music/Sound Design for Games [Retro, 8-Bit, Vaporwave]

Below is our write-up of the concept for Home World's self-titled release. We wrote this concept as a way to showcase our vision for this album. We believe that having a direction and a vision for this album allowed us to create a cohesive product, much like following the direction of a game designer will allow us to write a soundtrack for your game that seamlessly melds with the art design, mood, and themes of the game.

   •   Press Start – The opening of the album is a somber, yet hopeful etude. The piece is meant to evoke a sense of longing, yet belonging, in the player. Hints of the adventure yet to come should flood the mind of the listener, without overwhelming them. The calm nature of the piece is meant to show them that, in the end, the hero will succeed, but victory will not come without significant sacrifice.
   •   Foreverglade – The main character’s Home World is familiar, yet still intriguing after all this time. The soundscape envelopes the player, with organic audio pulling their mind in multiple directions. The simple melody begins rather slowly, grounding the listener in the comfort of a space so hospitable to them. Adventure awaits, but preparations must be made before the outset. Care must be taken not to overlook the intricacies of the inventory management system and leveling scheme. As the player finally sets out on their epic quest, the memory of their Home World keeps them warm during the cool evenings, even amongst the strange musings of the fauna around them. No matter how long the adventure takes, it is clear to the main character that they must always be pressing onward; always walking forward through the Foreverglade.
   •   Castle View – The first destination on the divine quest is the cliff-terrace overlooking a majestic valley; in the crease of the mountains lies the palace, long abandoned, but not forgotten by the few that remain here. Elders told of the light cast on the cliff by the binary stars, but few ever actually knew of the beauty perceived while basking in the Castle View. None alive could imagine the combination of strange colors reflecting from the broken bricks of the turrets, or of the odd noise made by the still waters laying unmoving in the moat of the Old King’s domicile.
   •   Temple – After meeting the first horde of enemies on this planet, the player is finally able to upgrade the skills of the Drifter, though his loadout was mighty up to this point. This is a safe space for the body of the Drifter, but the secrets told by the Priestess could wage war on his mind; Rest is not possible in this Church of Nature, for the unforgiving waters of the Ancient Gods flow through the aqueduct beyond it’s walls. The unrelenting, yet ever so faint sound of The Depths pull the player onward onto their journey.
   •   Skymirror – The Drifter’s Starship Theta is not the first model he’s flown. Many old flying machines littered the landscape of his Home World, overtaken by the natural processes of the trees and the vines. In his time, he was able to refurbish the engines of broken down spaceships for his own use, but never has he seen a starship in such pristine condition; surely this could not come from his Home World. The player is enticed to do battle with the great reflective beast hovering above the valley, if only for the pure joy of collecting the loot it may (or may not) drop. How lucky would the player be, if the last Engram of Uraniae required for their Light-Railgun upgrade is contained within that ship.
   •   Discover – Perhaps destroying the Skymirror is not the best approach in completing our quest? Perhaps commandeering the ship to meet the Drifter’s most urgent needs is possible? Upon making the Departure from the atmosphere, escaping the pull of the 10th Planet Urinae, the wondrous beauty of empty space is imparted to the player. Light travels uninhibited in this realm, and though the vacuum of space is quite deadly, the light that exists there is enriching to the imagination and to the spirit. The Drifter quite likes this new mode of transportation.
   •   Departure – Landing Skymirror was a greater task than the player ever imagined. Controlling a Class IX Starship is much more unwieldy than the Drifter’s Interceptor, even in the disrepair it had fallen into. The Landing Pad is nigh abandoned; only memories of the activities of eons ago still remain. Echoes of the mighty Starfleet still remain, but struggle is to be heard through the overgrown vegetation now reclaiming the once bustling Landing Pad.
   •   Ancient One – The ruin of this planet has become apparent. A force much older than the Expiteion Colony’s inhabitants has pulled their structures back into the ground. From stone, the Expiteions pulled their facilities from terra firma, and though they did prosper for a time, the Ancient One possesses a powerful restorative magic. For the next millennium, no civilized race will be able to lay roots on this planet. That is, until the Drifter is able to target the weakness of the Old Roots, and prove that technology will prevail over nature.
   •   The Depths – From a pit under the Ancient One, a noise resounds with a familiar pull. The player has never heard this sound before, yet it is strangely comforting. The pull of the sound is undeniably dangerous; does this feeling come from the danger yet to come, or the danger we already know? The Depths, no matter their origin, pull the player into their unknown doom.
   •   Dungeon – Still forming stalactites house a menagerie of blind species, hungry and willing to go to war for the sole purpose of consuming a freshly living meal. The Drifter, being the only freshly living organism below the surface, is sure that these parasitic hominids created the tempting sounds from the descent a moment before. Is this the cost of exploration? An excruciating death? Certainly not. Though the Drifter’s intentions were never to erase a colony of native organisms living in the Dungeon, he is filled with regret that he must obliterate the creatures in order to preserve his own life, and in turn, the glorious quest he must complete.
   •   Boss Battle – The light reflecting off the cave walls tells the story of freedom to come; the exit must be close. However, thus far the quest has not been so easy. True to form, the massive Hive King stands in the way of freedom, jealously harvesting the sunlight for himself to fuel his immense size. Now, with the rest of his patrons wiped from existence back in the Great Hall of the Dungeon, there is no guilt in finishing the job. If the player has made such progress, it is nothing more to them to complete the Boss Battle lying before them. As the King sucks down his very last breath, a wave of relief comes over the Drifter. Perhaps now, the fight for survival has come to an end, and his job may be completed.
   •   Aurora Cove – A young band of survivors has made a life for themselves in the harbor just beyond the mouth of the cave. Their resources are bountiful at Aurora Cove, as they were the only ones left to appease the powers of the Ancient One. The player can finally stock up on the med-kits they wasted while scurrying through the dungeon. The shopkeeper is ever willing to trade the wares to the Drifter at the fair price of three Orpal Seeds a piece; if only he knew where these seeds had been stored. The character is careful not to tell the inhabitants of Aurora Cove that their god in the Ancient One has died.
   •   Landing Pad – A familiar location to the player, now somehow bustling with the activities echoing through the Landing Pad before. How did the player come upon this facility, now restored to its glory before the Ancient One took the planet back? As the Drifter moves throughout the various sectors of the militaristic society, the sounds of each squadron become individually apparent to the listener. In this new era, which is somehow also old, our character wonders if he will ever make it back into his own timeline.
   •   Drifter – The true nature of the Drifter is revealed to the player. He has known love. He has known joy. He was not always an independent agent of change, flowing through each environment to pedal the wares of the New Conquest. This path seems to have chosen him, but what is not readily apparent will become known at the end of the story.
   •   Rest – A much-needed reprieve from constant resource mining and conquest presents itself in the rocky oasis of the comet that orbits Home World. Travelling here has always been easy, but the player did not always deserve Rest. Though this is place of peace, it is also a place of reflection. The deeds of the Drifter will rise up through the memory of the player; was this quest so dishonorable at the start? How could we have foreseen this outcome? Is the adventure still noble? Indeed it is, because the intentions were from a positive mindset.
   •   Triumph – Upon completion, the quest reveals the truth of the Drifter and his efforts. Blind faith in his superiors was never the moral of the story, but all could be reconciled in the end. A meaningless journey it was not, as the Triumph of the New Conquest will provide safety and resources to countless souls fleeing the only planet they’ve known. In continuation, must something be done to save the character’s Home World?