Art by @kawaakar._

The following information can be seen here: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVKzVwkVc=/?share_link_id=834567836145

This is my first composition ever since I started learning piano and VST a month ago. I tried my best to have something even though this was probably the worst week ever for me to try something like this :).

Please, do comment on things you would have done differently. I'm still learning! Thank you so much!

Song: https://soundcloud.com/kevin-fernandes-878873752/tsuya-main-theme

Postmortem: https://indiekev.itch.io/tsuya-ost-jam-07/devlog/771078/tsuya-postmortem

Tsuya

Premises

I love this image of the little girl holding a womanly figure hand in a see of bubbles and draw fish and algae.

As I was reading the jam submission guidelines, I saw that the overall submission should be at least 3 minute long with at least 1 song, but can also be broken apart in multiple songs.

I can already imagine key shots for a short film scenario or a FMV/Intro, but because this is for an OST for a game, I'm thinking more what kind of game it is (details later).

This is also a good opportunity to learn to do somewhat of a "spotting" session in a way as I don't have much experience in that, but also a good opportunity to create my first composition ever with a strong theme.

I also want to strongly tie in the OST to the image and text as they are really evocative for me!

Impermanence

Examining the picture, we can see a little girl in a yukata smiling while holding the hand of what seems like a maternal figure (mom, grandma?), so immediately the theme in Japan (a country I would love to visit for its cultural richness and vistas).

I had some thoughts about the text theme "inside my world", and thought that maybe the bubble-shaped lady could be in the imaginative and boundless world of creativity of this kid.

But even if there is a lot of happiness with the girl smiling from ear to ear and the cute, drawn fish, bubbles, and algae, to me it's still reads as something quite tragic.

Bubbles are by essence, one of the flimsiest physical events that I can think of.

When formed they can seemingly pop randomly and almost immediately, and in the mind of a child, they just cease to exist.

They are the beautiful, but ephemeral, the physical manifestation of impermanence.

In a way, they are a good image for life itself, a fragile and provisional state of existence that we are all bound to.

This picture paints, for me, the beautiful imaginative world of a little girl who is, in a way, connecting one last time with a recently deceased mother/grandmother.

Tsuya

A Japanese wake is called tsuya which means "passing the night".

I think having this be the starting event of this story would fit well both themes.

Saddened by the loss of her mother, the little girl tries to paint a colorful world with her mother on it but as she falls asleep, she gets transported into this dreamy world of her drawings, but now tainted by darkness.

But her mother (bubble lady) will show her the way to save her world, give her the strength to face her new life without her, and for one last time, show just how much she loved her.

Music

I wanted the song to start with some pretty chords that could evoke sadness and melancholy but most importantly, I wanted to introduce some kind of « lullaby » that I could use on other tracks. I didn’t have time to the another track however so that will be for a next time mostly!

Otherwise I want to really « sell » happiness, sadness, melancholy. Like a yearning for times past.

There are really 3 moments in the song where we explore different parts of the little girl grieving, drawing, remembering good times… the next track was supposed to be « A New World » where I would introduce the lullaby again as a leitmotif and introduce the drawing world of the little girl.

I wanted to finish the piece again with the lullaby but with a slightly different ending!

Design Considerations

I picture this game as being some kind of puzzle platformer à la Celeste. 

 I know platformers are kind of overdone, but I think the theme of the little girl facing dreamlike manifestations of darkness and void, plus the fact that she has to learn to face the obstacles in front of her makes sense thematically to go for that type of game. I was thinking even of having her be a bubble so that any mistake pops her and she comes back again at the start of the screen in a way.

 I'm not sure how legible that could be but bubbles definitely would be a big part of puzzles and agility tests.

 I would also like to have challenges and landmarks be manifestations of objects, sceneries and moments she had with her mom in a way, both good and bad (like the time she got pinched by a crab could have some kind of "boss" crab to go through in her journey. I want to make sure that there is no direct violence in the game, it's more a case of using what's available on screen and bubbles to figure out scenarios where she can either escape or trap the enemy.