Finalist Alejandro Cuevas - Indie Game Music Contest Fall 2025 , Seasons of Solitude by Ninjarithm

Описание: My entry for the Indie Game Music Contest Fall 2025.
The game is being developed by Ninjarithm

Play the free demo here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3312670...

In my entry for Seasons of Solitude I thought of a style and instrumentation that would give a very organic sense of nature, while portraying the introspective quality that the Developer envisioned. For this reason I leaned on real sounding instruments I could get my hands on like: Cello, Tiple (guitar), Quena (Flute) and Piano. My thought process was that I could use this instruments like solo players that through long melodic lines would give me the feeling of loneliness and the solitary struggle of the Main Character. I think this was successful since the long phrases and pauses give this sense of calm and anguish as the music moves from open beautiful sounding chords to bitter sweet dissonance.


In the Menu Music I tried something different. Personally I thought this menu screen evoked drama and action since there seems to be confrontation between the Main Character and the Mammoth. But thinking about the developer’s perspective of what this game is about, I thought it was more appropriate to tell a story through the Menu Music. The story I saw most fitting was the idea of hope. This game is about the struggle to survive and the idea that the main character will make it through all the Elders Trials. So I wanted to convey the idea of hope that the character should hold on to and what keeps him going in this story of solitary struggle.


I composed separate music tracks for the first and second Chapters of the Demo. Chapter 1 is very short but we can observe new elements I implemented in the audio different to music.
SFX notifications for all the text boxes like: Cannot Move There, Time’s Toll Grows, etc… These notifications are all percussive and a little musical so that they shine through the Chapter’s music without being a distraction.

I also did Audio Ducking to the music while the player is on the inventory to add a little layer of interactivity with the inventory screen.

Also I edited some Ambience effects that change depending on the Tile the player is standing on. The Forest AMB plays while the player is on a green tile, Creek AMB plays when a player is on a green tile with water, and Dry AMB plays while a player is on a orange/yellow tile. This Ambience effects are muted on special moments like the Cutscene or the Choosing Gift moment. The Death AMB only plays when the player is in the last stage of death.

The Victory Music cross-fades with the level music and leaps over with the percussion hit. This music is especially soothing as it contrasts with the level music.

We continue with Chapter 2. The Ancient Echo Stinger has the task of bringing attention to the player while he is standing on the Tile of the Ancient Echo. When the player clicks the Tile we cross-fade to the cutscene. The Cutscene Music has a more spiritual and strange mood. This music relies more on synths and has different harmonic movement in order to achieve this change in vibe.


Finally in the slow death of the player we can hear the different Layers made for the Chapter 2 Music. There are 2 stages of death. The first Layer should give a sense of pressure and discomfort as new dissonances are added and some instruments sound more distant. The Second Layer should give a sense of despair and complete anguish as the same Chapter 2 Music sounds much darker and distorted.


Lastly we have the Game Over Music, which ends in a heart wrenching dissonance and fades away to nothing.



Bandcamp: https://alejandrocuevas.bandcamp.com/
Instagram: @alecuevassan