The Music of The Hearth and Harbour

6th Apr 2026

4–6 minutes

Composer James’ approach to music creation for games

Hello readers!

This month, James, the game director, composer and sound designer for The Hearth and Harbour, is here to talk to you about his approach to creating music for games. Take it away, James!

James:

We start with an idea. For me that begins, more often than not, at the piano. I want to tease out the mood and feeling of a scene or a moment. Try and soundtrack how I already feel about it.

Sometimes that calls for huge sweeping moments of over the top bombast! And other times, it’s a small, gentle, subtle affair.

How do we know which?

the man at work

Research and experience. Experience comes from doing it lots of times and asking a lot of questions of your peers. I always loved that Brian Eno doesn’t believe in ‘genius’ and instead explains that a ‘sceneius’ is a better term. It is representative of a town or city’s ‘scene’ and doesn’t discount the shoulders of peers and mentors that every artist stands on.

Research, for me is the important part. It gives the work authenticity and a trueness that is essentially impossible without it.

I will use the music from The Hearth and Harbour as an example.

So I knew a few things from the outset, I knew it would be an historically adjacent 1910s – 1920s setting.
I knew I wanted to look into how the music from that period reflected societal issues, and lastly, I knew I wanted the music to reflect instrumentation that was available in that period in our history (I bent that last rule slightly for fun).

So I dove in in the best way I know, which is to embroil myself in the music of that period, and ordered a heap of books. In this case it was a particular set of composers that were writing in the period between the two world wars.

These young men (as it was unfortunately always men until fairly recently) had either seen, or experienced directly the effects of the First World War. They had seen dreams shattered and friends die, largely for nothing.

From this grime and dirt, post war, rose an interesting movement, often called the English Pastoral School or Cow Pat Music. This loose grouping wanted to celebrate patriotism, but for place, rather than for systems. Uninterested in the pomp and militaristic marches of old, their music revelled in the small details that are best seen from a train carriage window. Cows flicking their ears whilst snoozing under willows, long hedge rows full of insects and small fauna. Perhaps a flock of Larks Ascending? (Cheeky Vaughan Williams reference)

A Lark Ascending (Vaughan Williams, 1914) – you may need to open the link in Youtube to listen due to copyright

The music its self is reflective of these scenes and moods. Happier, more earthy and flighty compositions full of nostalgia and potential.

Using English folk song as reference, it was both a step forward into firmly 20th century music, whilst also a look back to the time of the Tudors, troubadours and story tellers.

George Butterworth, Vaughan Williams, John Ireland and Holst all penned important works in this period and I recommend looking into each of them.

The Banks of Green Willow (George Butterworth, 1913) – you may need to open the link in Youtube to listen due to copyright

I experimented a lot with voicing and palette while I was researching and eventually found the sound I was searching for.

In the world of The Hearth and Harbour, as a recent blow-in, there is so much potential for the player to build something unique. Excitement for exploration and a new adventure. Knowing this led my compositions down a rhythmic and melodic route that both referenced the feeling of The Cow Pat Music I was enjoying so much, and connected it to the more modern c20 composers I love like Benjamin Britten.

The Heath and Harbour is a game about starting a business, sure, but it is also a game about building community. The duality of keeping the wolves from the door, whilst also leaving said door open a crack for visitors, got me excited about contrast and that has born fruit in the work.

I think what I arrived at gives our setting depth. Its a music that is stacked with hope and excitement, but retains a cautious note, aware that, despite optimism and much like the player’s world, things can go wrong if they are not paying attention.

I hope my ramblings make some sort of sense and give a glimpse into my process, and that you enjoy a few of the examples shared. I will write again about sound design and perhaps about the middleware process so make sure to follow our socials and check back for updates on development.

I have selected a work in progress to share, ‘Strings and Piano’: