Lena Raine ( or ; born February 29, 1984), also known as Lena Chappelle or Kuraine, is an American composer, producer, and video game developer. Raine is best known for her work on the soundtracks of Minecraft, Celeste, and Guild Wars 2. She has composed music for various other video games, including Deltarune and Chicory: A Colorful Tale.
Early life Raine was born on February 29, 1984 in Seattle, Washington. Her father is a musician, and her mother is a dancer. She had an early exposure to music due to participation in choir at a young age. Her father was also a violinist. Through a Sonic the Hedgehog fan community she was introduced to MIDI arrangement, first recreating versions of songs she knew and then making original music. She later attended Cornish College of the Arts for a degree in music composition.
Career In her early career, Raine worked on titles such as Dead State and Hackmud, released in 2014 and 2016 respectively. Raine began working at large studios while located in Seattle, Washington, doing quality assurance and certification testing at companies such as Microsoft and Nintendo. She did this while releasing her own music before she was eventually hired at ArenaNet. She worked on Guild Wars 2 at ArenaNet for six years as a designer and soundtrack composer. At ArenaNet, she and Maclaine Diemer were in-house composers of the music for the game's 2015 expansion, Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns. She left ArenaNet in 2016, but has continued to occasionally compose songs for its various releases as a freelancer.
Raine also posted original work on Bandcamp as Kuraine. Impressed by her "fusion of ambient music, techno, and 8-bit sounds", video game developer Maddy Thorson hired Raine to compose the soundtrack for the game Celeste, released in 2018. Later that year, Raine released the text adventure ESC on itch.io. Raine was the developer and composer for ESC, with visuals created by Dataerase. In 2019, she released her debut album, Oneknowing. She would continue to do freelance and self-published work from 2019 onward, with her composition work for larger studios, such as her mastering work on Steven Universe: The Movie soundtrack, being released during the same time as her personal work on websites like Bandcamp.
Raine composed music for Minecraft, creating four new pieces of music which were included in the "Nether Update" in 2020. She first returned to Minecraft with six new tracks for the 2021 "Caves & Cliffs: Part II" update alongside fellow video game composer Kumi Tanioka. She subsequently composed another three new tracks for "The Wild Update" released in 2022, and then five new tracks for the 2024 "Tricky Trials" update.
Raine assisted with the soundtrack for the second chapter of Deltarune and first worked with Wishes Unlimited as the composer for the adventure RPG Chicory: A Colorful Tale, both released in 2021. On June 8, 2023, Wishes Unlimited announced their new game Beastieball, with Raine returning as the composer. On November 12, 2024, the game entered early access and the existing soundtrack was released on Raine's Bandcamp page, with all tracks released during early access planned to be later added to the album.
On May 28, 2024, Raine announced Anothereal, a game combining elements of shoot 'em up and role-playing video games, Raine is credited with being the primary designer of the project, with work having begun in 2021. The game is being developed by Radical Dreamland, Raine's single-person development studio.
Personal life Lena Raine is a trans woman. In 2014, she published a book titled City of Tigers, and, since 2015, has begun composing more LGBT-oriented fiction in her spare time.
Awards YearAwardCategoryRecipientResult2018 Independent Games Festival Awards Excellence in Audio Celeste The Game Awards 2018 Best Score/Music 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards Excellence in Musical Score Game Developers Choice Awards Best Audio Game Audio Network Guild Awards Best Music for an Indie Game 15th British Academy Games Awards Music ASCAP Composers' Choice Awards 2018 Video Game Score of the Year 2022Independent Games Festival AwardsExcellence in AudioChicory: A Colorful TaleNew York Game AwardsTin Pan Alley Award for Best Music in a Game
Discography
Albums and singles +List of albums and singlesYearTitleNotes1999Changing of the TideCompilation2016SnowflightEPSingularityAcoustic CollectionAcoustic compilation"Transference"Single2017"Dawn Ouroboros"Chip CollectionChiptune compilation2018A Day on the RoadEP"Lullaby for Lancer"Single2019"2X18"OneknowingDebut full-length album2020ReknowingRemix album of Oneknowing
Soundtracks +List of soundtrack contributionsYearTitleType2013Music MadnessVideo game2014Dead State2015Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns2016Panic at Multiverse High!UpshiftHackmud2018CelesteCeleste – Madeline's Grab BagESCISM (ESC Original Soundtrack)2019Celeste: FarewellSteven Universe: The MovieTV movie2020Spin Rhythm XD – Beyond the Heart (Broken Heart Mix)Video gameMinecraft: Nether UpdateSackboy: A Big Adventure2021Celeste Classic 2: Lani's TrekChicory: A Colorful TaleDeltarune: Chapter 2Minecraft: Caves & CliffsMoonglow Bay2022Minecraft: The Wild UpdateGuild Wars 2: End of Dragons2023Harmony: The Fall of Reverie2024Celeste 64: Fragments of the MountainBeastieballMinecraft: Tricky Trials 2025Deltarune: Chapter 4OuterlandsFeature filmSonic Racing: CrossWorldsVideo gameof the Devil Episode 2Unbeatable – Binary ReasoningCancelledEarthbladeTBAAnothereal
Games YearTitleRole2018ESCWriter, designer, programmer, composerCelesteWriting assistance, composer2019GuildlingsSpecial thanks 2021Deltarune: Chapter 2Music assistanceChicory: A Colorful TaleComposer2023Misericorde: Volume OneSpecial thanks2025Deltarune: Chapter 4Live piano editingTBAAnotherealWriter, designer, programmer, composer
References
External links