Closer the Distance
Original Music & Additional Sound Design
The Sound Palette
Closer the Distance is a slice-of-life sim that tells a deeply emotional story about family and friends in the face of a tragedy. As the characters in the game have strong connections to each other and see themselves as being linked by a kind of thread, it made sense for me to base the soundtrack mainly on stringed instruments. Fortunately, as the son of a guitar teacher, I had good access and a larger selection to choose from, like electric and acoustic guitars, but also a 12-string and a mandolin.
Adaptive Music
The music for the game's tutorial is already very adaptive, meaning the music responds directly to the players actions. In the main game, the music tracks are linear, but there's a playlist system in the background that changes the tracks that are being played and their probability depending on the player's overall progress.Especially on the earlier tracks of the game, where the feeling of hopelessness prevails, I experimented with how long a chord can ring out, before you can’t bear the silence anymore. Later tracks sound a bit more positive with slightly driving guitar patterns and melodies.As night falls, all acoustic music is replaced by electronic synthesizer versions, to emphasize the special mood and meaning that night has in the game.
Original Songs
Certain moments in the game get special attention with singer songwriter tracks, written and performed by Rory Charles. It was an interesting and great experience working with Rory. We ended up having five original tracks with vocals which really add to the feel of the game and might be a nice surprise for some players. To bring the tracks more in line with the rest of the soundtrack, I added some slight ambient guitars and basses. All in all I think we created a beautiful soundtrack for the game and especially the story behind it.