The first sound in Resonant Tale is that of breaking waves. So too began the new orchestral arrangement of its soundtrack, the waves no longer a single noise channel playing from the Playdate's tiny mono speaker but the rumbling percussion of the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra. The following fifteen minutes held me enraptured and left me in awe, the music I knew so well completely transformed as if the black-and-white world of the game had been rerendered in full colour and three dimensions.

That was just the rehearsal. I'd travelled up to Birmingham (in the English midlands) from Orange Thief HQ and the composer Rupert had invited me to the final run-through a few hours before the show, an offer I was all too happy to accept. He'd kept the details of the game's orchestral arrangement deliberately vague and it was my first time hearing it, sat alone and privileged in the later to be filled audience.

The percussive waves of the opening precipitated a first dreamy then rousing rendition of Adrift, Ashore, the suite mirroring the start of our player character Leit's adventure. I laughed as a Bassoon solo abruptly transitioned into the comedic woodwinds of Meeting the Locals, a piece that was always imagined as a conversation between the quirky inhabitants of Melody Village, an idea now made real by the different instruments of the orchestra. It was an unexpected and joyful distraction but smiles turned to shivers as the orchestra launched into Traversing the Tonal Plains, the once tiny pocket sized adventure now a grandiose expedition into a sweeping musical landscape. Snatches of An Audience at the Castle propelled the performance into its first dungeon and boss fight, challenging the listener through complex and surprising rhythms.

There was a climactic release, a moment of silence, then the celeste and harp began the beautiful Arabella's Theme, an already standout piece on the Playdate now elevated and refined and holding me entranced. In its second half the strings struck up, layering texture into the melody as the whole arrangement had throughout. Then, after the lull, I was back on the beach and approaching the final passage with the dramatic and driving Courage's Call. The final boss of both the game and the arrangement was once again a chaotic, climactic cacophony, in the best and most enjoyable sense of the word, and I was again surprised and delighted as it ended with the final chiming of the sacred bells, played by the whole orchestra and tubular bells included, giving way to a beautifully brief reprisal of Arabella's Theme, and at last a return to those rich percussive waves, played by Rupert himself.

Then I got to experience it all again, surrounded by an audience and with the atmosphere that only exists at the inaugural performance of a new piece of music. The conductor held up a Playdate to introduce the suite. The audience strained to hear the tiny beeps and boops from which the music they were about to hear originated. Everything I just described above repeated but with an added electricity. Then at the end, deserved and sustained applause from audience and orchestra alike for Rupert, the composer.

When I started making Resonant Tale I never imagined it would be as well received as it was, let alone that two years after release I'd be sat hearing its soundtrack performed in concert by an orchestra. It was an incredibly special experience and one that I'll remember for a long, long time. Thank you to the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra, to the conductor Jack Lovell-Huckle, and of course to the composer Rupert Cole for making it happen!

(Resonant Tale is a pocket size puzzle box adventure for the Playdate that's packed full of secrets, out now on Playdate Catalog and itch.io! If you'd like to listen to the original chiptune soundtrack, you can do so on Bandcamp! Blog post by Scott Hall, lead developer at Orange Thief.)