Midsummer 1999

Thank you to everyone who rated this for the OST Composing Jam. I'm pleased to announce it placed #10 out of 196 in the Creativity category, and #41 overall!

HEY! LISTEN:

ABOUT THE ALBUM

Midsummer 1999 is a fictional horror RPG interpretation of Shakespeare's classic play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's got everything a horror game needs: a spooky forest, menacing magical creatures who like toying with their victims, and a love triangle for the ages. 

This is the soundtrack to that fictional game.

It's most composed of ambient soundscapes, though that genre is perhaps a little too restrictive when compared to what I've made here. You'll see what I mean when you listen to it...I'm not entirely sure what to call these tracks, but I'm sure there's a genre for them. All in all, the sound is a mix of orchestral, techno, hard rock, and SFX, which I'm pleased to say is a first for me. I had a lot of fun writing this music, and I hope you enjoy it!

I should also mention that you're probably going to see a bit more repetition in these tracks than would generally be considered "acceptable" in a piece, but that's intentional. The goal of this music would be to accentuate the gameplay, not distract from it, and close attention to detail can make or break a run through a horror game. In the interest of fairness, I'd ask that you please keep that in mind while listening, though I completely understand if you don't--it's completely up to you, either way. Have fun!

TRACKLIST

1. The Envious - 06m05s
   1. You're sitting down in front of your console, having pulled up Midsummer 1999 after having purchased it on a friend's recommendation, who described it as one of the best dating sims they'd ever played. The title screen shows an idyllic forest town that has fallen victim to the late 90's tourist economy, with run-down motels, strip malls, and gas stations on every block save for the "quaint" Main Street. Despite this, the people look happy; the camera focuses on four teens, two guys and two girls, as they exit a shop.
2. Call of the Wilderfey - 04m54s
   1. You press start, and you're thrust into the life of a girl who just graduated high school. Her parents are forcing her to pack up her room, something which she's avoided doing so far because she knows she'll have to put her treasured possessions in storage if she doesn't take it to college--and she can't take everything. She pulls out her old NES and plugs it into the TV in her room for one last go at that final level; she hasn't played video games in many years, and she knows she's not taking this with her. But then she hears something...
3. Forest of Dreams and Other Things - 05m07s
   1. The girl meets her boyfriend at the edge of town, planning to run away to his cabin in the woods where they can elope. Her parents don't approve of him because they have someone "better for her" in mind--the boy her best friend has a crush on. They venture into the woods, filled to the brim with excitement for what's to come, and completely unaware that they're being followed. They get so deep into the forest that the girl loses her sense of direction, and their handheld GPS isn't working anymore...but her boyfriend is confident that he remembers the way.
4. Enter Oberon - 03m30s
   1. "There, through that gap in the trees--do you see it?!" she cried, pointing at the grotesque creature before her. Tall, roughly in the shape of a man, with gangly arms much too long for its body; boney horns growing out of its forehead in the shape of a crown; long, pointed ears, and a flat, almost-gone nose; and all over it was covered in sweat, and oil, and things she couldn't even begin to imagine. It was giving orders to several smaller creatures of the same species, but, as was obvious from their reverent postures, were clearly not as important as it. "I think we can sneak by," he said.
5. Goblin of the Wood - 02m28s
   1. The creature bends reality to its will as it pursues them, its master watching from the netherworld. She stumbles over the root of an invisible tree, he tries to dodge a hanging branch but runs right into another one--and all around them, they hear the sound of the hunter circling its prey, not knowing whether they are still hallucinating. So they run; as far and as fast and as long as they can, they run. And yet it's still three paces ahead of them, keeping up without even trying. It was like a child playing with its food, and it had just about as much self-control as such a being.
6. In Titania's Embrace - 03m29s
   1. They find a "safe" haven in the form of a spectacular chateau pulled straight from the 1500s, one which none of the teens remembers having been in the forest before. As soon as they enter, it becomes apparent that they cannot trust their eyes: despite entering the house as a group, they are each alone. Exploration reveals a bedroom with each teen's crush standing docile in the corner, eyes glassy and unresponsive, with a note pinned to their chest: "Do with me as you please." You, the player, are caught in a moment of contemplation as the opportunity, the temptation, claws at you with the thought that it's just a game.
7. Offending Shadows - 04m20s
   1. It wasn't just a doll, and now the challenge is to escape a trap that's already been sprung. She hunts you relentlessly as the chateau morphs into a grisly dungeon, decorated to the brim with what appear to be human-like remains. There's no easy way out; each step, each room, each hallway has its own pitfalls which would be the death of an inattentive mind--and, judging by the freshly-impaled carcasses, they have. Not everyone's going to make it out of this one, and Titania is an expert at making her victims wish for their own entrapment.
8. Run Through Hell - 05m02s
   1. In the midst of her torment, she sees it--a single chance for survival. She makes a mad dash to get away from the Wilderfey, running like a bat out of hell towards the nearest hint of sunlight, stumbling but never falling as the edge of the forest draws ever closer. Oberon, Titania, and the Goblin appear and disappear all around her, haunting her with hallucinations of pursuit; or was it actually real? Both the Goblin and the Fey Queen were able to alter her reality at will, so who's to say what's actually going on here? And--at last...
9. The Final Girl is a Bride - 04m25s
   1. She wakes up to the sound of wedding bells at the local church, the events of the past day having been a midsummer night's dream. She strolls leisurely down main street, taking in the faces of her hometown friends, before arriving at the church's doorstep. The wedding taking place is her own--her boyfriend stands at the altar, looking a lot more put-together than the last time she saw him, and her father waits by the door to walk her down the isle. It is only then, on the precipice of happiness, that she truly wakes and comes to grasp with reality: the world is twisted, warped, unnatural, and the Wilderfey stare at her with hungry eyes from every nook and cranny. She feels a presence behind her, but she's too scared to turn around.
10. BONUS: When We Were Young
    1. Just realized that I still had this file as I was cleaning up my desktop and decided to upload it as a bonus track (and itch.io exclusive!) before deleting it. It's the chiptune I wrote for the first two sections of "Call of the Wilderfey", and while it's definitely not my best chiptune work--the transitions are sloppy, it's missing a drum track, and the instruments have the bare minimum amount of effort put into them--it still might be a fun song. Not including this in the total length of the album because I don't remember how long it is and I'm far too lazy to open it up and see.

Total length: 39m20s