The Lazarus Sign | Original Game Soundtrack

The Lazarus Sign is a psychological drama RPG created by solo developer Stefan Ortelbach. Built in RPG Maker, the game embraces a retro 16-bit aesthetic, with gameplay centred around narrative, exploration, and puzzle-solving.

I love the indie dev community. The creativity, enthusiasm, and sheer passion for projects are infectious, and I’m constantly inspired by developers’ openness and willingness to share ideas, collaborate, and support one another.

When Stefan approached me to compose the music for his game, I knew the score for The Lazarus Sign needed to be as flexible and adaptable as possible. With a modest budget and a wide range of narrative moments to support, the music had to work hard across many different scenes.

By writing the score in a way that made looping easy for Stefan, we were able to get remarkable mileage from a relatively compact body of music. The contrasting moods and dynamics, combined with looping possibilities, made the soundtrack both practical and expressive. With careful implementation, Stefan was able to curate the music across the entire game by selecting the most suitable sections for each moment.

While composing the score, I didn’t have direct access to the game itself. Instead, the musical ideas grew out of conversations with Stefan and from studying the concept art for characters and environments. The loose framework provided by these discussions proved invaluable, leaving room for creative exploration and making this collaboration especially rewarding.