I’m happy to announce that I composed the music for the upcoming Puzzle & Dragons (one of the highest grossing mobile games of all time!) collaboration with Power Rangers! It was an honor to contribute to two massively popular franchises! Thank you to both Gung Ho and Hasbro. More details soon! I’ll tell you when you can…go go download it.
Today marks the release of my latest soundtrack for a lovely upcoming game called The Long Return. It’s a gorgeous puzzle adventure that tells the story of an orphaned cub. You follow along as he retraces his steps through the last journey he took with his mother. It’s…emotional. And hopefully you hear that in my score.
On the personal side this project came along at a time where I was really feeling the need to express myself musically. I’m lucky to get to create music for games everyday but sometimes you just have that need to go all out into your own direction. Developer Max Nielsen let me do exactly that and I’ll forever be grateful for the opportunity. Being able to pour my heart into this meant so much to me. I hope you hear that in it too.
Anyway, it’s out now! On Bandcamp, iTunes, on Spotify, and really everywhere else. I would love it if you gave it a listen. It’s probably my most personal work yet so it would mean a lot to me.
I…sorry. I wasn’t telling you to. More like asking enthusiastically. I’m super excited.
The soundtrack to the brand new Arc System Works and WayForward collaboration River City Girls is up for preorder right now! This soundtrack was an awesome tag team effort between Megan McDuffee, Chipzel, Cristina Vee, Nathan Sharp, and myself. And if you missed it, River City Girls is a continuation of the classic River City (Kunio-kun) franchise. BARF! It comes out on all platforms on September 5!
We’re only into day two of Dreamscaper’s Kickstarter and it’s 75% funded! I’ve been working on this for a year now so seeing the support and feedback this past couple of days has been amazing. I’ve dreamed of a soundtrack I could dump my heart into and this is definitely it. A demo has been released alongside the Kickstarter and it’s a very meaty one with two levels, bosses, tons of powerups and options, and lots of my music.
Speaking of: The latest update on the Kickstarter today is a deep dive into my musical process for the Dreamscaper soundtrack. It took us some time but we came up with a musical soundscape that rides a wavy line between dream and nightmare. In the feature I get into some of the musical approaches I took to get this kind of sound. Plenty of audio examples are included. I’d love it if you’d give it a read.
It’s hot, isn’t it? I wouldn’t know because I never go outside.
Hardcore Gamer interviewed me on my upcoming soundtrack for Sparklite. In it I kinda spill the beans on how the score is...well, it's definitely not a modern style score. You can see what I mean by that here.
And last week at San Diego Comic-Con I sat down with Shacknews to talk shop.
Finally, Helvetii, a beautiful hand-drawn 2D action game I’ve been working on for a couple of years just hit Kickstarter yesterday with an excellent start. I hope we can get this one going because I had the pleasure of working with Emi Evans (Nier series) on it. You can check it out and hear samples of my soundtrack here.
Ah the soundtrack art is so cute!
I’m very happy to share that Sparklite, a beautiful roguelike adventure game by Red Blue Games, is getting a physical release this October on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. I’ve been having a blast writing a GameCube-style score for it this past year. And that score comes with the newly announced Sparklite Signature Edition. A copy of the game, a signature sleeve and box, a Nano Block figure, a numbered certificate, and a copy of my soundtrack will be included. Preorders go live this Friday at Signature Edition Games.
As for details on the soundtrack release, stay tuned!
I’ve been busy on lots of new games and projects in 2019 (more news on those soon!), but I wanted to share some of what’s been announced while I’ve been working.
The Long Return is a beautiful puzzle adventure title that is coming to PC later this year. The trailer above showcases some of the pieces I’ve written for this soundtrack. I wanted to write the prettiest, most moving soundtrack I could to this lovely game. If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, please wishlist the game on Steam and stay tuned!
Medusa and Her Lover was released on PlayStation 4/PSVR in Japan this month. It’s a moving, emotionally weighty VR adventure where Medusa journeys with her lover. It’s made quite an impression on VR fans already! I had the honor of composing the score alongside Noisycroak. It’s out now in Japan and I have it on good authority that it’s coming westward later on.
Wizard of Legend got an update! Sky Palace adds a ton of new content (and a new boss) to this hit game. And new music from me. Owners of the game on any platform can download this update for free. More news on this game and its music soon!
It was announced that I’ll be composing music for the amazing Mecha action game M.A.S.S Builder! I can’t say a lot yet but get ready for some cool stuff.
I also worked a little bit on the newly announced River City Girls, coming from WayForward and Arc System Works!
Here’s a list of what I’ve been working on. Well, the ones I can share right now. Several more to be added very soon!
Sparklite — Webpage | Twitter | Trailer
Dreamscaper — Webpage | Twitter
The Long Return — Webpage | Twitter | Trailer
Medusa and Her Lover — Webpage | PS4 | Trailer
Wizard of Legend — Webpage | Twitter | Trailer
M.A.S.S Builder — Webpage | Twitter
Helvetti — Webpage | Twitter
Plague Huntress — Webpage | Twitter
Ray’s The Dead — Webpage | PS4
Alchemic Cutie — Webpage | Twitter
Unraveled: Tale of the Shipbreaker’s Daughter — Webpage | Trailer
Sky Trader — Webpage | Steam | Trailer
New music looks so great with our new intro! Thanks again, Dale!! 🥰 pic.twitter.com/WGt0WM5HJ6
— Krysta Yang (@breath0air) February 24, 2019
No, really!
I had the honor of writing a new jingle/logo, theme song, and music bed for Nintendo’s Nintendo Minute video series, which you can find on Nintendo’s YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook feeds as well as right on your Nintendo Switch.
You can see and hear a lot of my work in this latest video and all of the videos they’ll release from now. Listeners with sharp ears will hear several musical Easter eggs I hid in the music. Two of those are fairly prominent in this first video!
Today marks the release of a new album titled PERFECT SELECTION Dale North, Vol. 1. It’s my take on the kind of collection album that Japanese composers and game publishers release (I’ve always loved these), and it kicks off a series of albums of this type for me. In between bigger games and projects I’m doing lots of smaller ones and it occurred to me late last year that I’ve written more than 100 pieces that haven’t been released anywhere outside of these projects. Compiling them into an album has proved to be fun and I can’t wait for the next one!
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First off, the album is available everywhere: Bandcamp, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Prime Music, Google Play, and more. Thanks in advance for your purchase or stream. It means a lot.
Given that this album is a collection of various songs from several projects I figured track-by-track liner notes would be good to give listeners some background. In writing these I realized that there are some pretty interesting stories. Honestly it took me through a bit of an emotional journey!
So here are the liner notes. I hope you enjoy them
Happy New Year!
For those that ask, I wanted to make a list of the things I could list that I’m currently working on, just wrapped on, or is pending release in the near future. A lot of stuff I’ve been writing music for is about done and will come out soon, so stay tuned.
It’s weird, and that’s mostly due to how games work — you don’t usually talk about what you’re working on until its done and out. And other times you can’t! But I’ve been writing lots of music!
So, here’s some of what I’ve got going on right now as far as games go. This list, of course, is missing a few things that I can’t talk about yet. But between those and all of these I promise you I’ve been working. More news later this year on these and more.
Click through to see the list!
It just occurred to me how many theme songs I’ve written for various organizations and purposes. I thought I’d lay them out here to both share and for me to take tally and keep track of them.
For Nintendo, I had the pleasure of writing three theme songs. I composed the Nintendo Minute theme and jingle, the Nintendo Power podcast opening theme, and the Nintendo eShop The Download theme, which has become wildly popular on its own for some reason. All were an absolute honor and I still can’t get over how many millions of people hear these songs every month.
For game storefront and indie game publisher Humble Bundle I had the honor of composing their official jingle and boot logo. This song and its accompanying logo video can be found in the introduction of all the games they release! It was most recently used in the intro of the wonderful game Wandersong.
And I’ve done a lot of official theme songs for Podcasts out there. Here are some of my favorites:
The What’s Good Games theme is probably my most popular one.
And the new Animators vs Games animated intro was a blast to score.
And I’ve done other themes for What’s Good Games’ shows, like the scary Lights Off! show.
I had so much fun creating the Magical Boys themes.
The RPGamer podcast RPGcast features my work as the theme song.
And more are coming. Some very exciting ones, too! For now, enjoy this playlist of my best theme songs and I’ll update this post and the playlist as more are released.
The soundtrack to Majula Frontier is now available for purchase and streaming through several distributors and stores. This role-playing game score has a modern, melodic heart and covers many different styles across its 14 tracks. I’d absolutely love if you took a listen — while it’s not a big release this is some of my favorite work yet!
Buy/stream here: iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Bandcamp, and Spotify.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Hardcore Gamer on my work on this soundtrack. Please check that out for more details and song samples if you’re interested.
I had the pleasure of being interviewed by IGN Japan on my work on Wizard of Legend! They speak with the devs and I, and for my part specifically we talk about how the music is supposed to make you feel. They said they love the "Arcane Refuge" song! If you can read Japanese, check it out here.
It was just announced today that Wizard of Legend has sold 500,000 copies across all the platforms it was sold on in these past two months! To celebrate, the game is discounted today on all platforms. The bundle that includes the game and my soundtrack is only $22.38 today.
There's a new update "Nocturne" adding new characters, new language support, some tuning, better load times, better frame rates and more.
And there's more: two new DLC releases are on their way, both with new dungeons and bosses...and music from yours truly.
The full digital Liner Notes and Composer’s Commentary for the Wizard of Legend Original Soundtrack are right here! Click through to read them.
This commentary includes a look at the music making process for Wizard of Legend, complete with stories from the game’s development as well as visuals, music examples, and even minute notes so that you can read and listen along. In these minute notes I get into fine detail on my musical decisions, pointing to how themes tie together, or how songs might reference gameplay. I’ve also included selected samples from previous revisions and unreleased tracks for your listening pleasure.
Please enjoy!
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! It's out. IT'S OUT! Wizard of Legend is out now on all platforms. Please check out the brand new, super epic launch day trailer we did (and the trailer music is a bonus track on the soundtrack release).
Here's where you can buy the game!
Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/gam…/detail/wizard-of-legend-switch
PS4: https://www.playstation.com/en-…/games/wizard-of-legend-ps4/
Xbox One: https://www.microsoft.com/…/store/p/wizard-of-…/c40hl7dfhwcx
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/445980/Wizard_of_Legend/
GOG: https://www.gog.com/game/wizard_of_legend
Humble Store: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/wizard-of-legend
Soundtrack bundle on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/…/Wizard_of_Legend__Soundtr…/
And my soundtrack (thank you thank you thank you):
Bandcamp: https://scarletmoonrecords.bandcamp.com/…/wizard-of-legend-…
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/…/wizard-of-legend-orig…/1381419427
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1lzCABOpWG1uEkOmDlbx2R
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wizard-Legend-Original-…/…/B07CW5FVM6
Google Play: https://play.google.com/…/Dale_North_Wizard_of_Legend_Origi…
Wizard of Legend launches tomorrow on Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC but my soundtrack is out a day early on several music platforms. Speaking of early: early reviews are still trickling out but the word seems good already! I was delighted to see that Bonus Stage called my work "an absolutely sweeping and enthralling score."
It would mean the world to me if you'd buy and listen to this soundtrack. It's available now on iTunes, Amazon Music, Google Play, Spotify, Line Music, and Tidal. And Bandcamp! It will release on additional platforms in the coming days and I'll update this post accordingly as they come up.
I wrote this soundtrack over the course of a year, working with developers Contingent99 along the way to carefully match the game's various stages and challenges. Given that the game features super fast gameplay that revolves around magic spells and combos, I wanted to mix sharp, high-tempo synthesizer work with soaring orchestral backing. It took us awhile to figure out how that would work and we definitely went back to the drawing board a couple of times. I truly hope it does this awesome game justice.
Please let me know what you think!
One of the games I'm working on is coming to the Nintendo Switch very soon. Wizard of Legend by Contingent99 is a fast action dungeon crawler with lots of personality. And it's hard! And fun.
The soundtrack I composed for it tries to capture that energy as well as touch on the magic and combat elements that give the game so much of its character. So the level music is fast-paced and rhythmic, with pulsing, syncopated synths and the funkiest bass lines I could muster at those tempos. And on top of that foundation you'll hear strings and woodwinds doubled with shimmering pads and synth leads. Off-beat supersaw stabs, time signature changeups, crazy polychords -- I had so much fun creating this soundtrack.
But...but you won't hear much of that in the trailer. You'll have to wait a little bit more for Wizard of Legend to release.
I've worked with Nintendo again, this time writing the theme music for the brand new Nintendo Power Podcast. That's right: Nintendo Power is back!
It was, of course, an absolute thrill to work with my favorite game maker again, as well as being a part of one of my favorite properties of all time. In the theme you'll hear the song morph from NES/Gameboy to Super Nintendo to full blown current day style game music. This was super fun to do.
You can hear my work on the very first episode, right here on Soundcloud, and like all good podcasts, also on iTunes and Google Play.
I wrote the theme/intro music and music bed for the What's Good Games podcast. It's brand new, but it has already started off with a bang and I'm glad I could help out in a small way. If all turns out well I'll be adding more music to their podcasts and videos in the future.
For now, take a listen above.