With just two weeks left until the Early Access launch of Fortified Space, I've decided to release the original soundtrack for you all to enjoy in the meantime. It will be held at a 40% discount until the game releases, ensuring that if you do decide to buy the soundtrack now, it will truly be at the lowest price offered. It's low enough now that it will beat any bundle deals I may add it to in the future.
I've been thinking long and hard about how to talk about music in a platform designed for games. Why do people buy game soundtracks at all? I thought back to my personal experiences being moved by music in a game. I think if I were to put it in words, it would have been because gaming moments themselves can be so emotional that the music essentially cements it in memory. We feel a lot when playing games, even if we don't notice it. We can feel triumph, frustration, calm, solitude, excitement. These are very real emotions, made even stronger by the fact that what we experience in games is often uniquely different from what we experience in real life.
I think I'll talk next about how I made this soundtrack.
I just sat in front of my game and started playing music as it came into my head. No planning, no writing. I don't know if that's how you're supposed to do it, but that's just how I did it. I came into possession of a MIDI controller, the little keyboard looking thing, and I just started playing whatever came to mind. I played a lot of piano when I was younger, and I was even briefly in a pop punk cover band (that's a story for another day), so those experiences carried me as I created. After I got something done, I'd keep adding to it, again, off the cuff. What you hear in the game is essentially my stream of consciousness in musical form. It can never be played live again, because I didn't actually compose. That's it. Each song only truly existed once in this universe, before being captured into this little game's soundtrack. I essentially freestyled the whole thing.
For every song, I tried to communicate a sense of calm, even in the more exciting combat-oriented tracks. A sense of being a sailor in the night. One might even call it...Nightsail...
You'll probably read all this, then listen to the soundtrack, and think, "I mean, it's okay." Yes. It's probably not a life-changing piece of work. But it was a fantastically unique experience to make, and I thought you would appreciate the story. Well, I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed crafting it. I heard it's great for listening to while studying, working, or otherwise relaxing.
For about the price of a McDonald's Sprite, enjoy the pensive piano, expansive violin, warm guitar, and other instruments as they paint a picture of cozy space travel and intense ground combat.
Good hunting!
