When you think of video game music, often people go straight to the upbeat 8-bit classics like Super Mario Bros, Mega Man, and Sonic the Hedgehog. However, composers have shown that even simplistic sound palettes can create a wide array of atmospheres.
Today, we’re checking out the sheet music for “Old Doll” from the 2012 survival horror role-playing game “Mad Father.” The piece, which was composed by pianist Sen, serves as the eerie opening theme. The melancholic waltz plays as the credits roll over nighttime scenes from a graveyard before the face of the protagonist Aya Drevis appears.
Aya’s father, Alfred, is a maniacal killer who performs experiments on his victims. As the game progresses, it’s revealed that he intends to perform taxidermy on Aya to turn her into a doll. This gory detail is the story’s main plot point as she tries to elude her father and escape their house.
Sen plays on this theme in several ways. First, “Old Doll” is written a medium tempo waltz with a simple “boom-chick-chick” accompaniment in the left hand. The tempo gives a plodding, ominous feeling to a typically cheery 3/4 time signature.
The song’s sound bank also adds to the creepiness factor. Its main instrument sounds like a wind-up music box that’s been sitting in an attic for decades. Somehow, just the opening chords bring cobwebs and dark corners of a room to mind. Thus, the theme is closely tied to motifs of doll imagery and transformation.
“Old Doll” is written in C minor. The intro sets up the key before dropping in more notes to create dissonance. First, the right hand plays a G and F, which are the fifth and fourth in the key of C minor, respectively. The next notes are A natural and Eb. The Eb is the minor third, which supports the C minor harmony, but the A natural takes us out of the natural minor scale.
The melody enters at bar 13 and begins on G with a lower chromatic tone of F# before returning to G. The F# is not a scale tone in C minor. Its tonal ambiguity adds to the tension of the music. The melody then ascends to a B natural harmonized with a D. In the next bar, we have another chromatic line starting on G, but it is displaced by a beat. The F natural is then repeated an octave lower. Again, this rhythmic and melodic displacement builds tension and suspense.
Sen also built a sense of dread into the left hand. It featured a chromatic descending pattern that gives the listener a sinking feeling, like something isn’t quite right.
Hear all of this and more in this play-through video by Gabriel Piano, who uses a bright piano setting on his Yamaha P45 keyboard to capture the spirit of the horror game.
“Mad Father” is a modern game that has throwback graphics and music. Video game music has evolved as hardware became more capable of reproducing full-fledged soundtracks, but the nostalgia of 8-bit music still holds a place in our hearts.
Follow along with the sheet music for “Old Doll” from “Mad Father.”
