Check

"Check" is my entry for OST Composing Jam 7. It's a soundtrack for a horror game exploring living with OCD, in particular focussing on the experience of repeatedly checking if all necessary actions have been completed (i.e turning off electrical devices, turning off lights, locking doors etc.) before leaving somewhere unattended, such as leaving the house for work. This would be a horror game that loops around the same environment - similar to the likes of P.T, Layers of Fear or The Exit 8 - that follows waking up, leaving an apartment, then looping back into the apartment. The gameplay would involve following a list of tasks (turning off lights, closing the windows, locking doors etc.) before being able to leave and it would explore the fears that I have when carrying out this task and leaving the apartment. When looping back to the apartment, lights would be back on and doors opened, to reflect what I imagine when checking these tasks have been completed, despite knowing that I have definitely completed them. The game would have different events in each loop to show the quite frankly irrational and unrealistic nature of these fears, using the horror aesthetic to reflect the stressful nature of a seemingly mundane situation for those with OCD.

I made the soundtrack using Logic Pro, my go to DAW. I started with sound effects of the actions that would be completed in the game. The light switch sound effect forms the basis of the piece, starting the loop heard throughout "...And Again?". I used a number of looping sounds in this soundtrack to invoke the feel of repeatedly checking things. I used some vinyl and tape effects (Izotope vinyl and Arturia Tape Mello-fi - very good plugins!) to create an eerie feel and ad to the skipping sort of effect created by the light switch loop. These plugins also create some nice pitch bend effects, which add to the instability of the piece. I wanted some parts to sound as though they were sounds coming from a record or tape being played in a room with you, and some to sound more unnatural and ethereal to create an unsettling contrast.

"...And Again?" is the main theme that would play in the menu, and is as such a bit more rhythmic to try and grab your attention. "...Ready To Go?" would play at the start of the game on your first go round, and "...Did You Forget?" would play on the first loop, when coming back to everything in the apartment being back on. These two pieces are during the gameplay and therefore are more ambient. I gave all the pieces a question for a title to represent that constant second guessing and questioning myself as to whether I have left the house in a safe state.

Credits:

"...Ready To Go?" uses "Alarm Clock 1.wav" by shyguy014 on freesound.org, licensed under the Creative Commons 0 license. Find the sound here: https://freesound.org/people/shyguy014/sounds/462455/