1998: The Toll Keeper Story : DEVLOG #6 – Crafting the Sounds of a Crisis

DEVLOG #6 – Crafting the Sounds of a Crisis

In this Devlog, Roderick (Game Designer) and Ruth (Composer) are going to talk about the audio development in 1998: The Toll Keeper Story

The Making of Sound and Music

Hello!

I’m Roderick, and I want to share a bit of the process behind the making of the Sound and Music in 1998: The Toll Keeper Story.

The ideas in designing the audio of this game start with the job of a toll-keeper itself, which looks mundane and monotonous. So, only have a sideroad ambience as the main background is what we decided. This idea goes along quite well with our SFX and UI concept to give unique vintage sounds to each interaction in the game.

Then we have the idea to add a radio in the game. At first, this radio will be the main world-building media for the game as we planned to add several breaking news to be played on the radio. Unfortunately, in our test sessions, we found it was very easy for testers to miss out the contents of the news, and it also felt too disruptive to the gameplay. With this, we go back to newspapers to be the main media for world-building in this game.

So for now, the radio only serves as a music player to accompany Dewi as she goes through her day in the booth. Although nearing the final phase of the game development, there was an idea to make this radio feel more alive, but sadly, there was not enough time for us to implement it. But I hope we can add this idea in one of the future updates.

As for making the music, I was working with multiple incredible artists and composers who successfully brought the uniqueness of Indonesia’s late 90s music to this game, both on the radio music and also the VN-style BGM for the night session. It was very fun making the music for this game, since the main references are music I grew up with: Indonesian 90s hits.

To share more about the music in this game, Ruth will share her story of composing the amazing cinematic scene.

Composing a Painful Memory

Hi everyone!

I’m Ruth, one of the music composers for 1998: The Toll Keeper Story.

I was entrusted with writing the music for Cinematic Day 15 and the cinematic ending of the game. At first, I was very honored, but also totally freaking out since I had to depict and embody the historical tragedy of 1998 through my music. On top of that, it was a challenging task because the music had to help conclude the game and hopefully deliver its message to the players.

During the writing process, I spent about 50% of my time watching documentaries and reading articles about the 1998 incident. Since I wasn’t born yet when it happened, I wanted to make sure I had an accurate understanding of what took place. That research enabled me to write music that could effectively convey the story and the inspiration behind this game.

For the cinematic happy ending, I think that was the hardest one to write compared to the others. I needed to show how the character has moved on from the past, while also capturing the fact that the memories and pain don’t just fade away easily. The pain might linger or gradually recede with time, but I personally believe that through Dewi’s eyes, there’s a better future ahead.

To portray such humanity and loss, I decided to use organic elements, such as breathing sounds and vocals incorporated in the music. From those core elements, I expanded the idea by incorporating orchestral instruments mixed with electronic/synth elements to create a deeper ambience for the audience to step into Dewi’s world.

That’s all I have to share about my process of composing the music for the cinematics. Hopefully, this gives you a glimpse into the thought process behind it. Most of all, I hope the players can feel the range of emotions I aimed to convey through the collaboration of storytelling, gameplay, animation, and music.

Thanks!.