Today (with a bit of a delay), I am back with the fourth devlog for After the Wane. For this new entry, I wanted to talk to you about the game's music. Because let’s be honest, music has always been at the heart of the Nova-box experience. Who doesn't remember the sumptuous piano of Along the Edge or the magnificent title screen music of Seers Isle? It is therefore with immense joy that the studio continues its collaboration with Illustrason for its next title: After the Wane.
For this newsletter, I asked some questions to Camille and Julien, the two artists working somewhat in the shadows who bring your adventure to life. So, here we go!
Julien is on the left and Camille is on the right!
Antonio: Hi friends! To start, I’d like to ask you to tell us the story of Illustrason. Where did the idea of partnering up come from?
Camille: Hello Antonio. Well, it all started right after our studies in 2016. That’s when I met Julien, and we launched our first activities together as early as 2017. The real turning point for video games was when we met Geoffroy, just before the release of Seers Isle, to handle the sound side of things.
Since then, we’ve worked hand in hand with Nova-box, but also with many other indie developers on music and sound design. What we like is working with small teams where the human relationship is truly at the center of the project. We are mainly focused on video games, but we also develop entire soundscapes for podcasts and museums, and we even intervene in schools.
Julien: Hi Antonio. The most important thing is also our desire to work with real musicians. For us, it was important to make the music live through a whole panel of artists.
Antonio: And in the future? Where do you see yourselves?
Camille: Still with Nova-box, that’s for sure! We also want to try to diversify and discover new horizons, particularly toward interactive installations. But we remain, above all, very attached to video games.
Antonio: I’d like to look back at Seers Isle before discussing After the Wane... What a success for the Seers Isle OST! What is the secret behind that success?
Julien: The song was a huge success: it has beautiful lyrics and works very well, even outside of the game. For the rest, there is a large quantity of tracks, so there is something for everyone; there’s a lot of variety. Regarding the design, we started with very few elements at the beginning. We had tables with constraints, and we developed a true musical arsenal specific to each character. We called upon many professional musicians to get a very expressive result, with very little electronics.
Camille: It was our first project, so we wanted to go all out and set no limits for ourselves. If we had to put a price on it today, it would totally blow the budget of what should be done! We really dedicated a huge amount of time to this game.
Julien: And then, players get attached to certain characters. Since there is a dedicated musical theme per character, it works incredibly well because it reinforces that bond and attachment.
Antonio: How did you react when discovering this new project, After the Wane?
Julien: For a bit of background, I did dance in the past and I love it, so the theme immediately spoke to me. It was a very beautiful experience that I loved. On paper, the project was magnificent and I was really excited. Knowing the quality of Nicolas’s work (the Nova-box illustrator), we really couldn't wait to get started.
Camille: The fact that there are animated sequences brought something truly new; it was really cool. It inevitably adds technical constraints, and therefore a certain challenge, but for the narrative, it provides movement. It allows for an alternation between reading moments, which are more restful, and the animated sequences.
Antonio: The final sequence of the demo left a huge impression on players. How do you explain such an impact?
Julien: We decided that it had to be a striking scene. It’s the first meeting between Lena and Deborah, a very enigmatic scene, and we really wanted to create "a moment." You should know that every scene is built by hand, case by case. For the music at the very beginning of the audition, it is diegetic: the pianist plays solo and we were really inspired by the rhythm of the text. We then bring in the instruments little by little to make the whole thing more esoteric. And as an anecdote, in this scene, the strings play a motif in Morse code that contains hidden messages. We’ll let the community search for what they mean...
Antonio: The demo will be updated before the official release. What do you plan to change, and how?
Camille: We are working on two levels. First, production: for now, many elements are still at the mockup stage. We are going to redo a large part of them with real instruments to correct level discrepancies and replace placeholders. The strings, for example, will be entirely re-recorded. Next, there is the writing; we are giving ourselves the possibility to rethink the music for certain characters.
Julien: It’s true that for certain characters like Lena, Cendrine, or Deborah, we are set. But for Fernand and Samira, we are still searching. Arnaud’s theme might also still evolve. The demo is a real piece of research for us; we test ideas there and we really like reading player feedback to see what works.
Camille: It is sometimes frustrating not to present a perfect version, as it is not yet fully representative of everything we are going to achieve, but we really want to strive toward something of ultra-high quality. Afterwards, we also have to deal with the budgetary realities of such a project.
Antonio: How do you choose the instrumentation for a scene?
Julien: It really depends on the emotion and the context. For example, on End of Lines, we based it on the game's universe: we favored "nomadic" instruments that are easy to carry, whereas for moments in the camps, we wanted more fixed sounds. For After the Wane, it’s different. There is this ballet side, which is very demanding, so the piano imposed itself immediately. Strings were also essential for their expressiveness and their link to classical music. There was truly a specific approach for this project.
Antonio: And for the character of Arnaud, what direction would you like to take?
Camille: We are going with more modern instruments, like the synthesizer. This is an aspect Julien has worked on a lot.
Julien: The writing is rather oriented toward modern repetitive music, American-style. Something that evokes a certain "elite" side, but with a very cool touch.
Antonio: And for Deborah?
Julien: She is very enigmatic, so we use "drone" type instruments, percussion, and low notes held for a very long time. We are looking for something electronic that hits hard. These two instrument sets complement each other well: Deborah's theme is very linked to time, with this sort of regular clock punctuated by big "booms," while the percussion is very much linked to the world of classical dance.
Antonio: I think the players would really love an original song, a bit like in Seers Isle... Do you think that’s feasible?
Camille: It’s not excluded at all! We’ve already collaborated with Christelle Canot for the songs in Seers Isle and Across the Grooves. However, it has to be tied to something important in the narrative; the idea isn't to put a song in just for the sake of it, it has to make sense.
Julien: We are perhaps imagining a lyrical voice, an opera singer... It would fit really well with the universe and theme of the game.
Antonio: How does the creation of sound design work on a project like this?
Camille: In this style of visual novel, we aren't looking for pure realism. Even if the brain naturally needs to hear sounds, the approach is different here: the sound design must truly provide additional information. Rain, for example, is a very important element for us.
Julien: The idea is to give information that you don't necessarily read on screen. Footstep sounds aren't very interesting if they don't bring anything extra to the scene; sometimes, it’s even more interesting to let the player read quietly and let their imagination work. In this game, we mainly wanted the player to hear what Lena feels. The rain, for example, serves to set the tone of her emotions at a given moment.
Camille: It also helps convey sensations, define spaces, and clearly mark the narrative point of view.
Antonio: Personally, do you like sound design? And technically speaking, how do you go about it?
Camille: Personally, I love it,to the point where I don't really like delegating this part! We create everything ourselves. Sometimes, we pick up sound material here and there, but we systematically rework it. It’s truly a "sound sculpture" starting from raw material: we sculpt the frequencies and sound textures that we arrange bit by bit.
Julien: Contrary to what one might think, making a "beautiful" rain is very hard. We mix several types of rain together to tune them, because the perfect sound doesn't exist in a natural state; you have to manufacture it. There is also a real collaboration between sound design and music.
Camille: Yes, it’s essential, because all the sound information must be perfectly aligned so that the whole is coherent.
Antonio: I think we would all like a little secret to finish, an anecdote or a little something extra...
Camille: We worked a lot on the presence of the voice in Lena's head, slipping in very discreet little voices at times to try and create a form of confusion for the player. You should also know that, for us, the absence of sound is always a deliberate choice: everything is decided, everything is prepared. Silence is truly a component of the narrative in its own right.
Julien: We also have a little something to share...
And that concludes our devlog on music! The one in May will focus on a character from the game, similar to the one done for Samira. To stay connected with us, feel free to join us on our networks:
Before we go, I’d like to share with you the work of a studio we deeply admire: Atelier Sentô. They are close friends currently developing their first video game, titled The Doll Shop. We can’t encourage you enough to head over to their page and add the game to your wishlist. Set in Japan, the game promises a captivating experience: psychological horror, romance, and breathtaking visuals!
If you have any questions, ask them in the comments: we will be delighted to answer them.
See you very soon for the next devlog. Take care.
Antonio, Marketing & Community Manager