November 18, 2008

Behind the Music of Alone in the Dark: Inferno
by Alex Van Zelfden

At first glance, Alone in the Dark: Inferno might seem like a cliché.  Amnesiac protagonist single-handedly saving the world from evil? Check. But look a little closer and you'll see a game that, in fact, takes some exciting chances and doesn't seem afraid to try new things.

From the TV-inspired episodic story progression to the free use of fire as a major game mechanic, there are quite a few intriguing ideas to look forward to. Regardless of the game's originality, however, its rich atmosphere, show-stopping set-pieces, and original story by Sleepers author Lorenzo Carcaterra should be enough to get gamers' attention.

Interestingly, the game's musical score is already enjoying notoriety even before the game's release, thanks to a soundtrack that came out this summer. To get the whole story, we spoke to Paris-based composer Olivier Deriviere.

Oh, the Horror

Deriviere is no stranger to the survival horror genre, having written well-received scores for Obscure and Obscure: The Aftermath. Over the years he has also played all of the previous Alone in the Dark games, with the first naturally being his favorite. "It's really strange to become part of the franchise because it is like a dream become true," Deriviere says.

But despite being an extension of the game that started the genre back in the early 1990s, Deriviere challenges preconceived notions about the new game. "What may sound weird is that this new Alone in the Dark is not as much a survival horror game as you might think it is," he insists.

"Survival games are mostly turned to horror by shocking players with eerie ambiances, gore and horrible situations," he explains. "This game is very, very far from that. It's much more of an action-adventure game with some horror in it. The only point in common with survival horror games is the movie-like situations – but here it's a blockbuster movie!"

Listen to Edward Carnby

"That's why I really wanted to make this game. Having done Obscure 1 & 2, I didn't want to go on with survival horror games. Alone in the Dark is still about survival, but you should think of it as if you were John McClane in Die Hard surrounded by zombies instead of terrorists. The music is not that scary then. You're going to have some cues that can provoke fear, but for most of them it's just a blast better than a shock."

Solving the Mystery

Deriviere initially got involved with the project close to four years ago, first talking with Alone in the Dark publisher Atari in London, and then meeting with the game's director, David Nadal, at developer Eden Games upon returning to France. "David and I talked a lot about the music; its nature and role," says Deriviere. "I was very surprised by his involvement and concern for it. He wanted an orchestral score with a theme that could be sung and that was all. He let me come up with all my ideas and that's why it was so great: trust and freedom."

Overall, Deriviere describes the game's music as having a very 1980s Hollywood-style orchestral sound. But the most iconic part of the resulting score is the performance by the Grammy award-winning choir, The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices. Deriviere has admired the group since his childhood, and this project suddenly afforded the perfect opportunity to work with them.

"Every time I met with David, he always talked about a mystery hidden behind Central Park," Deriviere says. "I then understood I had to find a way to incarnate this mystery inside the instrumentation. Immediately I thought about Bulgarian voices because their sound and textures are very particular. Besides, as David wanted a theme that could be sung it was quite obvious to be the right choice. This addition of the Bulgarian choir causes the music to be very unique and fresh I hope."

Instead of trying to write counterfeit Bulgarian music, Deriviere instead used the choir almost like another instrument in his orchestra. However, the lyrics were still purposely written in Bulgarian. "I've been lucky to work with Bulgarian writer Irina Zhekova who helped me a lot with accentuations in Bulgarian," he says. "Then, by letting [the choir] sing in their natural born language, it permitted them to understand what they were singing."

Listen to Crying New York

"I think it is very important a singer knows the meaning of the lyrics. As you can see, the CD edition has all the lyrics in Bulgarian translated to English. I think people who get interested in reading them while they listen to the music will get the full dimension of the soundtrack. This music is not only a score, it extends the meaning of the game and goes far beyond. For instance 'Crying New York' is definitely a song talking about 9/11."

Paranormal Chronicler

The 24-person choir was recorded near the end of the year in 2006. In all, the group performed about 25 minutes out of the game's nearly five hours of music. Other than the live choir, the music is made up of high-quality sampled instruments which are often – especially when used in conjunction with the choral work – hard to tell from the real thing.

"Since I was kind of free to compose as much as I could, I started to compose as many cues as the game needed," says Deriviere. "Since the game is separated in two kinds of gameplay between very scripted sequences and total freedom in free roaming, David and I decided to focus on the scripted part because it was the side that needed the most score."

Consequently, the music tends to be fairly linear which gives it the chance to perfectly capture the gameplay events as they happen – thus accounting for the huge amount of music Deriviere needed to write. "The music follows every step the player takes, and for some sequences the music won't stop but follows everything that happens on screen," he says. "I think this is an old way of thinking about music for games, but I did it because Alone in the Dark needed it."

A Theme Party

There are a number of important themes in Alone in the Dark's score. Naturally, protagonist Edward Carnby's theme (Shto Li) is one of the most prominent, and it hints at his hazy memory and the incredible situations he faces. "Those were the first notes I wrote for the game," Deriviere says. "It's always hard to write a theme because you never know if it can really become an actual theme. Sometimes it works. This theme can be very heroic, dramatic or even romantic. Of course it has to appear at the right spot. Lyrics for him talk about his condition of being so far from reality, and his reality may be just a dream (Who Am I)."

Listen to Who am I

"The second character to me is New York. Unfortunately I couldn't expand this theme through the whole game but I think it's definitely one of the best characters of a lot of games and movies! The third theme is dedicated to a very deadly enemy – the one you don't want to face! I can't talk about it because the game is not out yet, but the way I wrote the cue is very close to what you're going to see on screen (The Fissure)."

As alluded to earlier, the official soundtrack was released by Milan Records on CD, as well as through digital distributors like iTunes on May 20th. After the enormous amount of time Deriviere spent working on the game's music, this came as something of an affirmation. To have such a prestigious Hollywood label, known for film score releases like Pan's Labyrinth and Letters from Iwo Jima, make Alone in the Dark their first video game soundtrack release was quite a coup.

Deriviere had actually talked to Milan back when he finished the music for Obscure II and they were very enthusiastic, but because of the game's obscurity, it didn't end up being the right project. "But when I came back with Alone in the Dark they were absolutely delighted and Atari was great to let us do it," he says. "I was very, very concerned about this release because I think videogame scores need to get out of the videogame industry. I mean, a lot of publishers do their own music publishing and it doesn't convince me. You have to get the people who really know about music to improve the overall quality."

Escape From New York

"This project was very ambitious. It was a great experience but a very hard one for everyone. This game is very special since it tries things and I hope it will succeed to convince gamers. As Phil Harrison said, games like this may disappear but I'm proud to say I was part of it!"

All in all, it's been a fascinating journey. Deriviere has since been commissioned to write a mass and an opera so he'll be keeping busy for a little while, but hopefully he will be able to return to games soon. And he'll no doubt see everything in a different light next time he's in New York, especially when visiting Central Park as he always does when in town. "I guess next time will be different and I think I know it so well now that I won't get lost anymore...and I know where zombies might be!" Deriviere laughs.

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