Encouragingly, this experiment in digital storytelling received significant critical acclaim and was a commercial success as well.ĭear Esther also launched the game music career of composer Jessica Curry. Curry’s body of work before Dear Esther included arts installations, film soundtracks and cross-media projects. A co-founder of Dear Esther’s developer The Chinese Room, Curry was closely involved in the game’s creation from its inception. Her aim was for the music “to add an emotional dimension” to the game. That was a crucial task, given that Dear Esther‘s challenge-free gameplay doesn’t reward the player with a sense of odds overcome, but instead must satisfy gamers by delivering a memorable experience.Īnd that’s something that the Dear Esther soundtrack most definitely achieves, if through somewhat unexpected means. Listen to the nine-minute “Always (Hebridean Mix”) to witness the stunning effects that Curry’s approach yields.Ĭurry is content to move Dear Esther along at an often glacial pace, working only with a few instruments – string quartet, two pianos, a female vocalist and sound effects – to create minimalist, sometimes nearly ambient classical music that seeks to make its mark through haunting, often dissonant textures. The piece consists almost entirely of otherworldly, elusive string chords. But these lingering notes manage to create a spellbinding, fascinating aural landscape that catapults listeners – as long as pay close attention – into Dear Esther‘s dream-like world with remarkable ease. Some soprano lines add a sense of spirituality, but certainly not redemption. This ambivalence, this refusal to deliver emotional resolution becomes the Dear Esther soundtrack’s defining and most intriguing characteristic. This is an interesting project because the game is coded in assembly (rather than a high level langauge) and includes a copy-protection scheme.The piano parts on “Twenty One” and “The Bones of Jakobson” subtly clash both harmonically and rhythmically. Tools for decoding files used by Time Bandit (1988). Of note, I reconstructed a missing file necessary to play the game in CGA, documented some unused features, and provided a basic workflow for designing custom levels. Tools for decoding files used by Dungeon Explorer (1990). I used these utilities to decode the image and map files which I then put into albums I've provided links below. Tools for decoding files used by Vampyr: The Talisman of Invocation. I've formatted some video game scripts into eBooks for easier reading. You can find samples on my Instagram.Ī post shared by Michael Hitchens eBooks I'm interested in landscape and wildlife photography. My lastest album is embedded below: Table Scraps by Michael Hitchens Photography I produce electronic music and self-publish on Bandcamp. Suggested attribution format (click to expand): Transcription by Michael Hitchens () Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License įor a higher resolution Video file, reach out using the email address at the top of the page. Technologies: Assembly, C++, Devilution, WindowsĪll transcriptions (Video, PDF, and MIDI) are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Includes a secondary project to decompile the executable. A mod of the Diablo Pre-release Demo to fix crashes and make it more playable.
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