BTS - Wuthering Waves First Demo

If you haven't heard, I recently scored the new character theme for a game called Wuthering Waves. It was a really interesting project and I got quite a bit deeper with it than was probably needed, but it's hard for me to do anything part-way.

I thought you might find it interesting to read the first thoughts I sent to the character creator, the first demo, and the initial submission breakdown, just to give you a little insight into how these things develop.

>> INITIAL CHARACTER THOUGHTS << (After they gave me like 25 pages of dialogue and a full breakdown of her backstory and inner world) (Keep in mind, they are not native English speakers, so my tone is a little different here)

Hey guys! Really looking forward to working on this, the storyline and essential emotional building blocks an conflicts are really moving. I wrote down some initial thoughts and questions here after spending some time contemplating the SPEC you sent over.

• This is a really beautiful story, and contains a lot of themes that are meaningful to me. The complex topic of the role darkness plays within a person has been one I have explored for over a decade now. With its immense power for destruction, can one harnass darkness for good without falling into its traps? Can one be truly good while containing such evil inside of themselves? Moreover, can someone ever be truly seen by another, truly accepted and loved by humanity, while containing such darkness? My favorite psychologist Carl Jung wrote “No tree can reach up into heaven unless its roots have sunk into hell.” Capacity for evil seems to be a necessary container for the truest goodness, yet the perils of navigating the coexistence of such opposite forces are multitudinous. 

• In the treatment it says “At first she hunted Galbrena to survive” — I assume that is meant to say “She hunted Tacet Discords to survive?” Just checking to make sure I’m not missing anything! 

• In terms of her origin story’s emotional elements, here are my reflections and questions, feel free to correct me if any of it is incorrect:

• Primary sources of pain in her past:

  • Her pain and terror during her time in the Dark Tide, as well as the ways it twisted her psyche and changed her. (Were those changes primarily from the suffering she endured while inside of the Dark Tide, or does it have a corrupting influence that touched her with darkness that lingers? What were the changes in her psyche?)

  • The fact that she was banished from her homeland, the resulting loneliness, shame and feeling of losing her home and acceptance in humanity.

  • The initial period of having to constantly fight the Tacet Discords. How does Galbrena feel about that? What was the primary cause of suffering in her initial battles — was it the terror of having to constantly fight? Or is there an element of empathy for the Tacet Discords? Did it hurt her to slaughter them? Did it initially feel like a curse, and now she has come to peace with it and uses it to her strength in order to aid in the fight against Lament? 

• With the central question of “Could happiness be her greatest weakness?” Is that referring to the fact that, in order to properly harnass these powers and navigate her dynamic with the Chimera, she needs to have a layer of callousness and detachment from her emotions? Is the fear that, if she were to truly embrace her tenderness and be happy, she would not have enough strength to fight the Chimera, and would succumb to the darkness? 

• Current emotional conflicts: 

• The main struggle here is the complex relationship with her darkness, because it is her greatest source of strength? She is good at heart, yet is always walking the line between good and evil, needing to exercise so much self control in order to navigate utilizing the Chimera’s power while avoiding succumbing to its darkness? 

>> FIRST DEMO SUBMISSION <<

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/4kimjwodvdgi3fu9zgtmd/AK8SpwyxUSIM6CUtxSPYoQU?rlkey=ap9dmvip7nfl274jtsno87jss&st=qrgnwl99&dl=0

Hey guys! 

Whew. Thanks for giving me a few extra days, I’ve really loved losing myself in this track and was waiting for the children’s choir recordings as well as some string stuff. I’ve been fascinated trying to capture all the complexities of this character — both those you expressed and those I inferred from her dialogue and actions. There are some aspects that I have conceptualized and haven’t implemented yet, and the track is obviously unmixed, but it’s definitely going to be helpful to go ahead and hear your thoughts before continuing.

This initial draft is sticking loosely to the structure outlined but isn’t perfect, because I wanted to go ahead and get all of my gut-instincts out and capture the ideas I had for the character without too many guardrails. It’s easy to rearrange things and rework the format in whatever way is needed! 

Side note: On the piano version, when the piano first comes in it sounds wobbly and lofi - it is not supposed to be doing that, that effect is only supposed to come in for the Coda. I just hopped in the car immediately after finishing and don’t have my computer to reexport at the moment. 

A little about the track:

= TITLE =

The working title I am giving it right now is APHELION (Galbrena’s Lullaby). Aphelion is a planetary orbital term, refers the furthest point a plantary body gets from the sun (Perehelion is the closest point in its orbit). I love this title because it is multifacted — firstly, the main period of Galbrena’s life this piece is addressing is her period of pain and darkness, the furthest she has been from the sunlight of her angelic upbringing. Secondly, it reflects her fear. That with every Tacit Discord she absorbs she strays further from the light. The incorporation of calling it a lullaby evokes the hope in Galbrena that maybe she could find solace in her curse to integrate darkness. 

I have a lot of ideas for titles though based on the ways I’d like to contextualize the track, this isn’t necessarily the final. 

= OVERALL CONCEPT =

I love the coexistence of darkness and tenderness, strength and vulnerability that is present within Galbrena. I decided to lean into that in my approach to this theme by emphasizing that juxtoposition, through having darker production nested around very vulnerable and tender lyricism. The production reflects the world around her, the darkness she lives in, the darkness she presents, and then the vocals capture her inner world, her inner pain. I think that combination captures something about the human condition in a way that tenderness and vulnerability alone cannot. 

= LYRICS =

I’ve been spending a lot longer on these lyrics than I usually would (I have about 6 pages of brainstorming), because they are going to be crucial in presenting the complexity of her as a character. The first verse is going to be especially critical in establishing the emotional atmosphere — If the correct atmosphere is established, then the darker instrumental coming in will feel weighty and complex, instead of just stereotypically “dark.” All of the lyrics the first verse and the anthem at the end are still being rewritten to try to capture her inner world not only in a way that is meaningful but a way that can come across clearly on the first listen.

Galbrena’s relationship with fear is one of the most compelling parts of this character to me, mirroring the battle and subsequent integration of The Shadow from Jungian psychology. She felt fear, and then decided to respond by becoming fear, becoming the thing that is spoken of with terror. The repeating motif of “Run And Hide” in the lyricism captures that transformation in her relationship with fear, first being introduced in the Bridge with a vulnerable and delicate delivery, afraid and timid, representing her fear when she descended and first emerged from the void. The line returns in the epic climax, but flipped on its head, chanted as part of her anthem - she is now the being of power that should be feared, by Tacit Discords and any other evil.

I’m reworking the lyrics for the ending anthem, but haven’t gotten them to re-record it yet because I want to make sure the lyrics are perfect before getting the children to spend another day singing them.

The piano portion at the end is where I would like to put a coda with lyrics, maybe with a female singing it in a delicate voice. When I read through the dialogue I really latched on to the moment when Galbrena muses about how angels can be terrifying, and wonders if she did, in fact, live up to her name. That question, “Can an angel be terrifying? Am I one after all?” is really compelling to me and I think it would be a perfect note to end the piece on, that open ended question.

The whispers are reversed vocals, and if the listener plays them backwards they can hear a small piece of poetry reflecting Galbrena’s inner questioning. I’ve found that little easter eggs like this can make the listener really engaged and shows them there are many layers to the piece.

Here are the full lyrics:

INTRO

Reversed whispers: Am I the lamb that must be slaughtered?


VERSE 1

In my dreams
I’m swallowing my womb
All this hunger
Tastes like love

Do you fear me?
The angel that consumes
Oh my father
Oh my mother
What have I become?

What have I become?
What have I become?
What have I become?

Run


CHORUS 1

(Instrumental)

BRIDGE

Voice 1: Run and hide, run and hide

Reversed whispers: Am I the lamb that must be slaughtered? The knife that plunges in, while it weeps? Will god forgive the sins he makes me commit?

VERSE 2

(Background vocal repeating “Run and Hide”)

What am I to do, knowing I’m the storm?
Mother desolation, waiting to be born
What am I to do with this hunger in my soul?
All these gaping mouths longing for the taste of doom

CHORUS

Run and hide, the reaper of darkness wakes
The knife
The light is fading

Hear her wake
The many-faced one is here
The knife
The light of ruin

Run and hide
Run and hide
The reaper of darkness wakes
Run and hide
Run and hide
The reaper of darkness wakes

Coda lyrics will go here

= PRODUCTION =

There are two options for the intro, piano and guitar. I know it seems like piano is the obvious choice here, but I also think the guitar, with it’s sense of restrained violence and foreboding, could potentially be much more compelling when combined with the tragic and surreal visuals. I find that sometimes tension and that bit of “not quite fitting” makes both the tender and the violent emotion much more acute, whereas when everything fits perfectly it can sometimes be brushed off as too obvious, too one-dimensional. I’m open to either option though!

You should try listening with headphones, as I programmed binaural audio on some elements to further immerse the listener. It comes comes across on speakers as well, but in headphones those elements really shine.

Here are the most immediate changes that are on my list to implement:

- Lock in lyrics for the first verse
- Redo lyrics for children’s choir so they aren’t as repetitive
- Write more orchestral work to increase the emotionality of the piece, having more soaring high parts that can sit in the big instrumental parts.
- Further refine the transitions to make sure they are really standing out as “moments” that the visual team can use.
- Potentially add some borrowed chords to some of the ending parts to make it more multilayered.
Replace the “ohhhs” in the intro with male and female hums
- Continue refining the first intro sound so that it feels like a mess of sound resolving into an angelic choir (once again, foreshadowing the hope that Galbrena has that her darkness could become beautiful.)
- Integrate a choir on large sections 



= QUESTIONS ON MY END =

I have a lot of directions I could take this track in, and I’d love to get your input as to which ones you think might fit best with your vision.

1: It could go further into the cinematic direction
2: It could develop some higher energy at certain points, leaning toward battle anthems instead of staying in it’s current heavy foreboding yet somewhat slow tone the whole time.
3: It could go in a direction where the big parts lean a bit more electronic and have heavy bass or even drops