Gray Matter

Unique soundtrack for Jane Jensen adventure game Gray Matter

Gray Matter, the up and coming adventure game written by genre queen Jane Jensen, gets an extravagant soundtrack: Along with the music composed by Robert Holmes (see dtp entertainment press release of March 5th, 2010), there will be a soundtrack that will make Gray Matter a unique experience also from a tonal standpoint.

For creating a sound and music concept, author Jane Jensen, composer Robert Holmes and publisher dtp entertainment agreed on teaming up with Periscope Studio, a Hamburg/Germany-based sound company, who already worked on several high quality adventure game productions. The whole concept is based on Robert Holmes’ music compositions.Periscope arranged his compositions and additionally designed the game’s sound effects and background atmospheres. Every single asset has been designed to reflect the depth, emotions and mystery of Gray Matter.

Still, both Jane Jensen and Robert Holmes were in control of the music and sound production. They kept close contact to Periscope and set up a couple of guidelines: For example, the Gray Matter soundtrack is inspired by sci-fi movies of the 70s. “This revealed a strong resemblance to the film score of Angelo Badalamenti, which is much more than just a coincidence: It perfectly fits the atmosphere and the story of the game. This music style separates Gray Matter from other adventure games. We didn’t focus on orchestral sounds, but consciously used atmospherically heavy synthesizers”, explains Finn Seliger, Periscope’s art director.

Periscope created 17 music tracks out of Robert Holmes’ compositions and songs of the independent band The Scarlet Furies that appear in the game. The band has been founded by Robert Holmes and is one of Jane Jensen’s favourites. The tracks created by Periscope are related to various gameplay situations.

There are also 10 very short music tracks that are related to the player’s actions, as well as numerous background atmospheres and sound effects.

Gray Matter will be the first new full-size adventure game by the famous adventure author Jane Jensen since the release of Gabriel Knight 3. Staying true to the Jensen-style, the story interweaves gruesome incidents and supernatural events.

Neurobiologist Dr. David Styles is one of the main characters in the game. Ever since losing his wife in a terrible car accident many years ago, he has become a recluse, leaving his English mansion Dread Hill House only on rare occasions.Vagabond and street artist Samantha Everett shows up on his doorstep unexpectedly, at a time when Styles just happens to be looking for a new assistant. Originally from America, she has been travelling Europe for the last few years, and is in desperate need of a job and place of refuge. Her first assignment involves finding six volunteers for an experiment planned by Dr. Styles at Oxford University.

The experiment begins harmlessly enough, but soon strange things start happening. Styles is visited by his beloved, but deceased wife. Now it is up to Sam to solve the mysteries of Dread Hill House.

In Gray Matter, the player takes control of Dr. David Styles as well as Samantha Everett as they are trying to unveil secrets and find the truth.

dtp entertainment will release Gray Matter worldwide in October 2010 for PC and Xbox 360.

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