| Genre: | Platformer, Indie |

Release:	January 2018
Developers:	Matt Thorson, Noel Berry
Analysis by:	Agata Tselesh, Pietro Peduzzi, Kathleen Bohren

Playthrough no commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2tqSQNJxZQ

Game description

Celeste is a indie developed platformer. The story talks about Madeline a young girl that has decided she wants to climb the mount Celeste. Little she knows the mountain hide some secrets and obstacles that will change her forever. The player will proceed in the game by climbing and jumping from platform to platform. The world is divided in rooms, if the player dies he will be respawned at the start of the room he was in. All skills and movements are already given to the player at the start, the challenge stays then in using them in new ways to surpass more and more difficult obstacles.

Sound description

Celeste is a game that relies heavily on the anxiety and other emotions of the main character and this is mainly represented by the music that surrounds the gameplay. We then have the sound effects and the environmental sounds that then help the gameplay and immersion in the game world. The game is divided by chapters and so is the soundtrack, for each chapter there is one or more soundtrack that will guide the player though the gameplay.

Soundtrack

Prologue	Prologue celeste0.1_prologue.mp3
1. Forsaken City	First Steps celeste1.1_firststeps.mp3
2. Old Site	Resurrection celeste2.1_resurrection.mp3 Awake celeste2.2_awake.mp3
3. Celestial Resort	Chacking In celeste3.1_checking_in.mp3 Spirit Of Hospitality celeste3.2_spirit_of_hospitality.mp3 Scattered And Lost celeste3.3_scattered_and_lost.mp3
4. Golden Ridge	Golden celeste4.1_golden.mp3 Anxiety celeste4.2_anxiety.mp3
5. Mirror Temple	Quiet And Falling celeste5.1_quietandfalling.mp3 In The Mirror celeste5.2_inthemirror.mp3
6. Reflection	Madeline And Theo celeste6.1_madelineandtheo.mp3 Starjump celeste6.2_starjump.mp3 Reflection celeste6.3_reflection.mp3 Confronting Myselfceleste6.4_confrontingmyself.mp3 Little Gothceleste6.5_littlegoth.mp3
7. The Summit	Reach For The Summit celeste7.1_reachforthesummit.mp3
8. Core	Exhale celeste8.1_exhale.mp3
9. Farewell	Heart Of The Mountain celeste9.1_heartofthemountain.mp3

Music Loop Changing

Some soundtracks are composed by different loops that variates between themselves on depending on what is happening during the chapter.

Chapter 2: Old Site, Resurrection Loops Analysis

Chapter beginning	resurrection_loop1.mp3	The music is calm introduces the player to the new environment.
Deeper in the chapter	resurrection_loop2.mp3	The music become more present, but remains calm.
After the mirror	resurrection_loop3.mp3	After a scene where a dark figure appears in the mirror the music becomes a bit distorted with a synth accent.
Just before the encounter	Just before the encounter with the figure the music fades out, this increase suspense and anticipate the following. The player knows that something is going to happen.
Dialogue	resurrection_loop4.mp3	The music reappears but remains calm, more distorted, gives a feeling of danger and unknown.
Chaise	resurrection_loop5.mp3	Here the music changes paste (highest bpm), it becomes faster and distorted.
End of the chapter	resurrection_loop6.mp3	The music fades out leaving only a long distorted sound, the danger seems not imminent but still present. The final notes enfatises the drama of Madeline getting eaten by a monster and leaves only silence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeMv8Z0TIos&t=429s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2eVTgzCJcU

Character movement and feedback

Movement	Sound	Sound Variations
Walk	celeste_soundwalking.mp3	celeste_soundwalkingsnowandwood.mp3 celeste_soundwalkingstones.mp3
Jump	celeste_soundjump.mp3	celeste_soundgroundjump.mp3 celeste_soundwalltowalljump.mp3
Dash	celeste_sounddash.mp3	celeste_sounddashingbubble.mp3
Climb	celeste_climbing.mp3	celeste_soundclimbing.mp3 celeste_soundclimbingmetal.mp3
Death	celeste_sounddeath.mp3
Respawn	celeste_soundrespawn.mp3	The respawn sound is the death sound played in reverse and faster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV0yJ2cae9Q

Ambient sounds examples

Wind	celeste_soundwind.mp3
Fire	celeste_soundfire.mp3

Ambient sounds are barely noticeable and is possible to hear them practically only when the music stops or is really low. This helps the player feel the silence when the music fades out and the lack of it emphasizes the sounds that surround the player and his actions. The feeling that is created is really of silence even without complete silence.

Interactable objects sounds examples

Moving Dash Platform	celeste_soundbasicwallmoving.mp3
Gear Platform	celeste_soundcarrello.mp3
Jump Pad	celeste_soundmolla.mp3

All objects that are intractable or moving makes really different and distinguible sounds. The sound often plays only when the object moves or comes in contact with the player.

Collectibles

Touching the collectible	celeste_soundcollectibletouch1.mp3
Touching a second collectible before collecting the first one	celeste_soundcollectibletouch2.mp3 The sound is the same as the first one but the pitch higher.
Collecting	celeste_soundcollectingfruit.mp3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMZ_jXrxQoI

Level completion

celeste_soundchallengecompletion.mp3

Related to communication

In this game dialogues doesn’t have a real voice with words, the dialogue is showed in a bubble that appears over the screen. However each character have a different sound when speaking, difference made by differing pitches.

*examples:*

Madeline	celeste_sounddialoguemadeline.mp3
Old Woman	celeste_sounddialogueoldwoman.mp3
Theo	celeste_sounddialoguetheo.mp3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIXqmjYF4F4&t=54s