Laren. - OST Composing Jam #7

Laren is a soundtrack for an imaginary game based on the themes provided in OST Composing Jam #7.

Music by NeatNeet
Cover Art by Loeber Animations

"I'm stuck in my own dream...with something else." - Laren Fields

Laren's concept is an action horror game with low-poly graphics and a partially-fixed top-down perspective camera. (With the option to play with modern or tank control since tank control is quite mid-)

The story is about a woman named Laren stuck in her lucid dream under the influence of an Eldritch entity. With no concept of time and what's happening to her physical body, Laren must survive and navigate a cryptic dream world that was realized using her subconsciousness. Will Laren be able to regain control of her world? Or will she succumb to its cruelty?

Venture deep, reveal the truth, and fight your way back to reality.

During the process, I was heavily inspired by games like Alisa, SIGNALIS, Early Resident Evils, and Crow Country.

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1.) Blessed Beginning:

    A song for the cutscene riiight at the start of a New Game! Starts calm and nice but then suddenly the world around Laren becomes twisted, slowly devolving into a nightmarish hellscape. The walls talk...and the ceiling intently watches... When the song ends, the player gets to play right away. A nod to the good ol' trick of "Throwing Players in the middle of something with no explanation".

2.) A Chill Track to find Keys, Medallions, Crank Handles, and Solve Puzzles to:

    The name says it all! Although most puzzle scenarios only require atmospheric sound with minimal music. Since this is more of an "action" horror, this plays for some puzzles that are solved inside safe spaces. To cut down on the tension and get the player occasionally jamming. In addition, the song name can be longer to include Rubies, Gears, Humanoid Busts, Golden Eggs, 3 Differently-Colored Plants...

3.) Theme of Laren:
    How can a main character not have a theme? Laren's theme conveys feelings of uneasiness but still has the sobriety and determination to continue her journey and make it through. I personally also see the mood fitting to a "self-sacrificial" ending of the game similar to the DEEP SLEEP Trilogy where Laren chooses to be stuck in her dream forever, trapping herself along with the entity so that it may not harm others ever again.

4.) Save Room:

    Action/Survival Horror staple! Certain games in the genre still want the Save Room to not feel comfortable, SIGNALIS's Save Room theme is a good example of that. However, I want the Save Room here to represent a small fragment of Laren's dream world that she still has control over, making it a safe space for her to plan and for players to relax.

5.) Reprieve:

    Played at the section where Laren is discovering the true nature of the entity and the cause of all the events happening to her. Conveying that the truth is dark and uncomfortable. That sometimes, the universe isn't kind, choices are illusions, and you're nothing but a speck of dust inside the macro weavings of something incomprehensible. (That got dark real quick there.)

6.) obligatory shooting minigame:

    Laren is also a fanatic of the survival horror genre. Thus, her subconsciousness created a good chunk of locations like they were designed by George Trevor. A case display made with glass that Laren conveniently can't break contains a powerful weapon. She must shoot some wooden standees to unlock it.

7.) Nobody hears you pray:

    Bossfight music for Laren's final showdown with the entity. HEAVILY inspired by SIGNALIS. Making use of metallic percussions and lack of melodies until the final phase. A stark contrast to previous songs to show the weight of the situation.

8.) Goodbye Laren:

    A bittersweet credit theme. A happy ending? For folks like us? Wrong dreams, wrong people.

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Thank you so much for dropping by and listening to my music. Once again, huge kudos to Lone Rabbit for hosting this amazing jam.

Laren: "In my restless dreams, I see that town-"

We can't say that, Laren.