Version 0.18

In this update, I added “Stage 3 Boss ~ Yamamoto’s Theme” to the Music Room.

(Yamamoto image board)

This track ended up becoming a rather unusual piece.

Its structure is roughly:

• Intro: Presents the “festival music” motif with a woodwind solo

• Main Theme: Development of the intro motif

• Main Theme (2nd pass): Adds a higher melody using counterpoint

• Outro: A cadenza-style variation of the intro

So the composition may be a little unconventional for a game BGM track.

For the Stage 3 intro sequence, the music is played in the following form:

[c]1 → 2 → 3 → 4 >> 2 → 3 → 4[/c]

However, from Round 2 onward, it is intended to loop as:

[c]4 → 2 → 3 >> 4 → 2 → 3[/c]

The main festival motif is based on a local festival chant from rural Shizuoka (near where I live), sung while people shake the festival float:

“Ya-re, so-no-se”

—or something along those lines.

The original author is unknown.

I modified it heavily, so it has become “almost an entirely different song”, though.

Stage 3 takes place in my home region (Shizuoka), so I wanted to give the music a distinctly Shizuoka-like atmosphere.

Shimoda and the central Shizuoka area where I live are actually quite far apart, though.

When I visit Shimoda, it usually ends up being an overnight trip.

This track was quite difficult to complete.

I felt that the Stage 2 music had drifted a little too far away from the “Hanafuda” atmosphere, so for Stage 3, I started with the intention of creating something that sounded unmistakably “Hanafuda-like”.

Unfortunately, that process turned into far more of a rabbit hole than I expected.

Ironically, the main theme (“Aki no Yama”) came together very naturally, and I wrote it almost effortlessly.

Because of that, I mistakenly assumed that this style of composition was one of my strengths.

Apparently, that assumption was wrong.

Trying to push the “Hanafuda feel” to the forefront, while also aiming for a “grower” track that never gets old no matter how many times you listen to it — and at the same time attempting to create something “unlike anything heard before” — may have been my downfall(?) for trying to pursue all of those selfish goals in parallel.

In the next update, we’re finally planning to implement Arcade Mode (beta), allowing players to play up to Stage 3.

Because of this, the next update may take a little longer to release.