Description
This is the soundtrack to the game Palace of Dreams, an imaginary PS1 puzzle exploration game. Think Resident Evil with a bit less stress and horror, and more of a weird psychedelic atmosphere. As opposed to some PS1 games that use sequenced music, this would be a CD based soundtrack.

The theme of the jam I chose is One Summer Night - the first thing that came to mind for me was those horrible, hot, sweaty nights where you just can't get to sleep and how you end up a bit delirious. The idea for the game came from that.

I thought it would be cool to have a Resident Evil style game set in a building with a sort of Middle Eastern/Egyptian style of architecture (leading on from the One Summer Night theme). Lots of domes, high arched ceilings, creepy wall art etc. The game is set in a huge palace with this style, with areas that need to be unlocked throughout the course of the game. It is populated by enigmatic NPCs (like Dark Souls ones, they are sometimes a bit off-putting but very memorable). There are enemies in some areas that can be killed using simple melee combat, but the focus is really on exploration and atmosphere.



TRACKS:

1. Palace of Dreams (Title Screen) - You can see my title screen idea on the cover art for this submission, and I thought it needed something simple and stripped back, so I made this. The piano is the Addictive Keys Studio Grand from XLN Audio which I got for free (I think from my Novation keyboard), and I really like the sound of it.

2. Summer Night - To open the game, you are trying to get to sleep but are struggling because it's so hot! This was the first song I made after I thought of the idea for the game. That noise is meant to be a fan on full blast next to the bed, because I wanted the listener to be immersed. The strings here mark the first appearance of the Native Instruments Symphony Series which I recently got for about £90 in a sale (they are meant to be £899 in total!). They are really, really good, and I use them all over this soundtrack.

3. Enter the Palace - You suddenly realise that you must have fallen asleep because you find yourself in your bed but in a different, strangely decorated room with sand all over the floor! This song plays as you begin to explore the rooms and quickly branching hallways around you. Most of the instruments here are from this website which I can't remember how I found and is full of loads of really cool sounds.

4. Vast Hall - Suddenly you stumble into a huge hall with grand architecture and this piece starts playing! This is a sort of hub for the palace, lots of areas intersect here. You can hear the free Percussion instrument from Spitfire Audio here, another favourite of mine.

5. Domed Glasshouse - As you keep exploring you end up in a giant domed greenhouse, full of strange and wonderful plants. You can see lots of swirling fog and colour through the glass. Fun fact, I improvised the piano part at the end first try with some minor tweaks to fix a few timing mistakes!

6. Passageways - This song plays in tight passageways found throughout the palace. I'm actually really happy with this one! I added the voice sample the day after making the rest of the track and miraculously it was at the right pitch already.

7. Dreaming Merchant - A recurring NPC that sells goods throughout the palace, similar to the merchants in Elden Ring. I thought it would be cool if they were playing this song diegetically on a handpan (which is what the excellent instrument I used here by Quilcom is meant to emulate).

8. Rooftop View of the Dream Fields - After exploring for a while you find yourself on the roof of the palace, with a view across the infinite fields of dreams. The weird wind noise here is just your bog standard noise with some automated filters on it, put through a saturator to distort it.

9. Ancient Foundations - The NPCs hint at a way of returning to your world, which can be found deep below the palace. This song plays as you descend into the palace's foundations. I'm also very happy with this one, it's a bit out of my comfort zone with all of the dissonance but I am always trying to push myself.

10. Ancient Foundations (Near the Heart) - Deep underground you begin to hear what sounds like a huge heart! This must be the key to escaping this world.

11. Palace Heart - As you stand before the palace's very heart you feel its pulse radiate through your entire being.

12. Dawn Chorus - You close your eyes and plead with the palace to return to your own world. Its intentions are incomprehensible, but the heartbeat seems to quicken. You can feel your body being shredded into a million pieces as the sound envelops your soul...! Then you find yourself back in your bedroom drenched in sweat, the birds outside singing their dawn chorus as if to herald your return to reality. THE END! (Now for some information! The really loud part has a reversed, stretched and pitched up snippet of Summer Night, and the second part is just the title theme with some extra instrumentation).

Message from the artist
Hope you like it! I really enjoyed this jam :)

Theme

How does it fit the theme?
Explained in the description

Link(s) of the submission on streaming services
https://soundcloud.com/samdgoff/sets/palace-of-dreams

Number of tracks
12

Genre

Soundtrack use permission

Yes (CC BY-NC)

Any non-commercial project