Afterlight Composition
Afterlight Composition Reflection
This is an insight into the process of composing for the videogame Afterlight, and asynchronous co-op puzzle game with a story revolving around loss, connection, and coming to terms with a lifes actions. I created several pieces of music for this game over the span of 4 months, and the game was featured as part of the Swinburne Booth at PAXAus, 2024. It was a fantastic experience, and I feel lucky to have met all the lovely members of the Afterlight team!
Afterlight Game
Initial Briefing and Sketches
After meeting with Robin and discussing the overall themes and mechanics of the game, I began working on some sketches, to help narrow down the direction. Initially there was the intention of having a musical theme for both the Dad and the Child (now known as Belle) of the game, and potentially even having discrete audio for each character, but due to the technical problems this would present and the general scope of the project, this didn’t come to pass.
Compositionally this meant that I needed to try and incorporate both the mature, rational sadness of the Dad, and a more naive sense of loss for Belle in the one piece.
The primary references I was given were Stella’s Departure from Spiritfarer (Max LL’s OST is one of my most listened game soundtracks, as a coincidence), and the title piece from We Were Here Together; a game I was not familiar with at the time, but have since played through with a close friend and now highly recommend it to everyone! Leon Van Der Stel’s approach for this franchise would become a great aid to me later in the project.
I reflected both these references closely in my 2 initial sketches for the team, and waited for them to mull over each and choose a direction; they opted for Sketch 1; my Spiritfarer approach. You can listen to those sketches here.
First Drafts and Feedback
Once the overall direction and musical identity had been worked out, the next challenge was to maintain this identity while adding more tracks for the levels. A unique challenge for Afterlight was its reliance on player communication, meaning that the soundtrack could not be too overt, or in-your-face. We Were Here Together served as a good reference for this, as it is similarly an asynchronous co-op puzzle game that relies heavily on communication. I took a leaf out of composer Leon Van Der Stel’s book and chose to have a primary melody (which actually stemmed from the initial sketch) played for the Menu Music, with in-game tracks being more subdued and ambient. In this way I could try to create a memorable melodic identity for the game, while staying ‘out of the way’ of the core gameplay.
My initial attempts at both the menu music and in-game music were knocked back as being too sad; treading the line between melancholy and sadness was proving tricky!
You can hear those initial attempts here.
Final Tracks
Menu Music
I’m quite happy with the final version of the Menu Music; I began with more magical chords, before a nursery-rhyme-esque melody representing Belle begins. Then, the original melody I had written for the very first sketch of Dad’s theme makes it in here too; however it’s been re-harmonised into a major key, which brightens it up and avoids it being overtly sad. As the narrative of the game does end with a positive note, with Belle and Dad reaching a sense of resolution and closure, the piece similarly resolves comfortably, avoiding a feeling of suspense or open-endedness.
Level Loop
Unused Level Loop
Thought I may as well drop this piece in here too; an unused track that was designed for a level that didn’t end up existing. I imagined this for the final ‘scene’ of the game, where Belle and Dad are coming to terms with their lives and what has happened. The piece was too driving and optimistic to be used for the current levels though, not suiting the slower pace of the gameplay, and so was left on the cutting room floor.
Technical bits and bobs
I’m always interested to know the tools that other musos use, so I thought I’d write a little list of the VST’s that helped me create this soundtrack.
DAW: Logic Pro
Piano: Moddart Pianoteq – this thing is amazing; it’s not a sampled piano, which has a few benefits – 1, it doesn’t take up anywhere near as much disk space. And 2, it doesn’t rely on velocity layers, so you don’t hear that ‘stepping’ thing as you increase/decrease velocity.
Synths: UAD PolyMax – UAD rarely misses, and this synth is no exception. Simple to dial in a great sound; I use it primarily for pads and basses.
Atmos: Spitfire LABS Tundra and London
Sparkly pianos: Spitfire Audio Oliver Patrice Weder – There’s a whole bunch of great affected piano sounds in here; I used the Aletsch Glacier, Ice Piano, and Endless Glaciers.