Hello guys, gals, and other pals! I’m moomabelle, also known as Clara (with or without the aditional “-ara”). I’m the songstress behind the original music in this lovely game and your local dairy-dere cow! I’m proud to be talking to you during this magical time of year where we all sit down and put aside our differences to viciously argue about who best girl is. Yep, you know it. I’m talking about…
Iron Waifu.
For those that haven’t already, you should check out the main topic here and let your voice be heard! Your favorite harem gal will thank you!
I have it on good authority that fans sometimes wonder who the staff picks are. Like most things I do, I vote purely with my mushy-wushy heart, for better or for worse. Because I can’t just say “Felix, Felix, Felix,” here are my top three picks!
1. Elayia, the tragic and vengeful gunslinger. From the very beginning, she has always been my favoritest. Grit, resolve and moxie are some wonderful things. They’re made even more delicious when served with melodramatic backstories. The scandal, tragedy, and brutality of her journey really pulled me in and really made me think, “Wow, this game is really something special.” In fact, this gunsmoke avenger was the catalyst that put me in touch with NoMoshing in the first place.
2. Florine, the cruel and scheming opportunist. A contentious pick to be sure, but one I stand by nonetheless. Until I recently replayed the game, I had written her off as the person I dumped all of my various slime jars onto. But then she broke bad and jumped to number two on my list. Again, moxie and hustle are my main reasoning here even if they’re used for evil. Actually, especially if they’re used for evil.
3. Alina, the reliable tsundere steward. And in my headcanon, the OneTruePairing™. What can I say? I like her snark, and let’s face it, Hero would be in prison or living under a rock if she wasn’t making sure bills got paid. The future runs on Alina. This is my heart’s belief.
I’m giving a special mention to Gargan, whose story strikes a personal chord with me. The themes represented in their arc are things that I have an intimate experience with. To see them reflected in this project is something that, not gonna lie, gets me a little choked up.
So there you have it! Moomabelle’s staff picks! If you happen to be curious about the gal behind them, please do continue reading.
It’s strange to think about it, but I’ve been playing music for two decades now. I started on one of those Casios with the light-up keys and have moved up to other things with more expensive lights on them. I’ve done a lot with music in real life, and it’s been pretty great. But little me always wanted to make video game music, and adult me still wants to. So I do. And it’s pretty great.
Why this particular game? I love the characters, I love their stories, and well.. asexuals can like lewd stuff too! I wanted to support it and I wanted to help. The game was impressive to me when I joined and it’s even more impressive now. A lot of things have happened between then and now, — and I’ve missed a lot — but I’m no less happy to be a part of the team and no less proud that my work has been appreciated. I’m notoriously bad at accepting compliments and praise, so I just wanna take a second to say that it means very, very much to me.
For those curious about what my favorite track is, that is a really tough question for me. I have a hard time listening to my songs after they’re done. Unless I’m intoxicated. Then I am very enthusiastic about showing them to anyone who will listen. But I digress. If I had to pick, I would probably go with Demimensch because I like the way it sounds, or Hard Like Diamonds because it straddles that frail line between goofy and badass. Both of those songs worked themselves out very quickly, taking a few hours each from start to finish. It’s a very satisfying thing to have happen. It makes you feel super confident!
When I’m composing, there are a lot of little technical things to think about. Those things are detailed and complicated in their own right, but for me the more interesting challenge comes with setting the right tone for individual tracks while keeping a coherent common thread between them. With Harem Collector being as eclectic as it is, it can be rather daunting at times!
The game’s use of parody gives me a lot of freedom in that arena. Harem Collector makes a lot of references, and I try to do the same with the soundtrack. A lot of the tracks are shout-outs to songs that I like or that NoMoshing shows me, or amalgams of a particular genre. Demimensch was heavily inspired by Mystic Mysidida from Final Fantasy IV, while Hard Like Diamonds stems from my impression of what classic rock sounds like. Going about it like this yields a lot of variety!
One thing I try to do is set a general theme for important moments. I’m sure a lot of you have noticed the common hook from the sex scene songs To The Victor, TLR, and Thinking About You (for Once). I put a high priority on the association between that motif and “sex is happening now”. It sounds like this in its most basic form!
One that’s a bit harder to find is what I call the “Spoopy Boogie”. It’s four notes I use in varying configurations whenever something is creepy or unsure. You can hear it in Ancient Puzzleboxxx and Shiver
Neat, right? I think it is, anyway.
Okie, I think there’s one more weird thing about my soundtrack process. Sometimes when I’m getting stuck — which happens a lot on heavier tracks — I take it down to basics. Normally people would do four-part writing on a musical stave, but I’m really bad at reading sheet music. So I make a chiptune version instead! They don’t always sound great but some I really like. Like this chiptune version of Heterovania!
Anyway, that’s a little about me, my process, and my feelings about the project. I hope I didn’t ramble too much for you. I don’t really talk about myself much, but it was kinda fun for a change. Thank you for reading! Stay safe and remember to give headpats to your loved ones! Mō! Mō! Mō!