In November we became Kickstarter backers for The Brotherhood’s isometric science-fiction adventure Stasis and scored an interview with developer Chris Bischoff. We’ve now received a press release containing more information about the game’s the soundtrack.
Listen to the music of Stasis
07 August 2014 – for immediate release
Johannesburg, South Africa – It was announced that 2D isometric, adventure game, Stasis brought Fallout, Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera composer Mark Morgan on board to compose the score. A teaser of that score has just been released.
Listen to it here:
From the onset, Mark Morgan and game developer Christopher Bischoff shared the vision for the sound of Stasis. The character’s personal story would be told through the haunting score – a strong melody base around a lullaby. Mark has taken this concept and created a beautiful melody that will be used as a foundation for the score.
“The score’s aim is to accentuate John’s emotions of hope, fear and terror which are the central themes of Stasis,” comments Christopher.
Q&A with Mark Morgan
The main lullaby is a strong piece of music as a melody – something I know that was difficult to pin down. When creating ‘Dream Of Us’ (the main lullaby tune), what were the inspirations for the piece?
“To me, it was about John singing a lullaby to his daughter so I envisioned what that would be like and went for a simple melody that could be sung by itself.”
Is it difficult to create the emotional aspects from this melody? Do you draw from previous experiences? Or is it a process of trying different keys and instruments and seeing what fits?
“I think it’s a combination of both. The goal is to have a melody that can speak to you differently depending on the vibe. I believe that it all indirectly comes from your existence and experiences as a human being, rather than finding that emotion though the music. Certain orchestration portrays a certain emotion. Both Chris and I decided that for the more emotional pieces, cello, violin and piano would be the solo voices for the sound of Stasis. Then it’s just a matter of fitting the puzzle together.”
While John’s external journey is being told visually, his internal journey is being told through the score. Are you still using the visuals as inspiration or does it help to focus just on the story elements?
“I think for John’s internal journey, musically I am focused on the story elements but I’m always aware of the visuals so not to lose sight of where he is. The visuals directly or indirectly have a huge influence on the musical palette.”
Is working on Stasis any different to the other game projects that you have worked on, and if so how?
“As of late, most of the games I’m involved in are in some way story driven, but in the case of Stasis, the story is so important and the music plays a huge role in telling that story. Sometimes I have found when it’s just about gameplay, musically it’s hard to feel that you’re immersed in the moment. It becomes about broad stokes as opposed to written for the moment.”
Addendum
You can still pledge here and the first chapter of Stasis is available as a free Alpha demo for PC and Mac here. More information is available on the Stasis website.
About The Brotherhood
Brothers Christopher and Nicolas Bischoff have started The Brotherhood to make the games that they want to play. Chris and Nic are partners in a successful 3D design company that has been in operation for the last decade and they hope to carry that success over to their new game studio.
