Inhaltsverzeichnis
| 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 |
| 1. Forsaken City | First Steps |
| 2. Old Site | Resurrection Awake |
| 3. Celestial Resort | Chacking In Spirit Of Hospitality Scattered And Lost |
| 4. Golden Ridge | Golden Anxiety |
| 5. Mirror Temple | Quiet And Falling In The Mirror |
| 6. Reflection | Madeline And Theo Starjump Reflection Confronting Myself Little Goth |
| 7. The Summit | Reach For The Summit |
| 8. Core | Exhale |
| 9. Farewell | Heart Of The Mountain |
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 | The music is calm introduces the player to the new environment. | |
| Deeper in the chapter | The music become more present, but remains calm. | |
| After the mirror | 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 | The music reappears but remains calm, more distorted, gives a feeling of danger and unknown. | |
| Chaise | Here the music changes paste (highest bpm), it becomes faster and distorted. | |
| End of the chapter | 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 | ||
| Jump | ||
| Dash | ||
| Climb | ||
| Death | ||
| Respawn | The respawn sound is the death sound played in reverse and faster. |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV0yJ2cae9Q
Ambient sounds examples
| Wind | |
| Fire |
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 | |
| Gear Platform | |
| Jump Pad |
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 | |
| Touching a second collectible before collecting the first one | The sound is the same as the first one but the pitch higher. |
| Collecting |
Level completion
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 | |
| Old Woman | |
| Theo |