CONFERENCE
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AUDIO
The Audio Track brings the industry's top professionals to share their knowledge and experience from the real-world, addressing these unique problems: aesthetic, technical, business, logistical and then some.
2012 HIGHLIGHTED SESSIONS
Journey vs Monaco: Music is Storytelling
Austin Wintory (Independent)
Composer Austin Wintory compares the two radically different scores he completed in 2011: thatgamecompany's JOURNEY and Pocket Watch Games' MONACO. Despite being different games with different goals, and very different scores, the underlying philosophy for creating a musically meaningful experience was identical. This talk explores how large scale and small scale structures were made in order to try and create narrative arcs, and how reconciling adaptivity with musicality were handled. It will also explore the production process for each score, including a look at unused music and the evolutionary process the scores underwent. The lead designer for each game (Jenova Chen and Andy Schatz) will join Austin for the audience Q&A.;
The Music of the Wasteland: Interactive Music in an Open World
Scott Lawlor (Obsidian Entertainment)
In this session, Scott will discuss his approach to the interactive music system in Fallout: New Vegas. Music in an open world game presents a unique set of challenges due to the size and scope of the game. With hundreds of hours of gameplay in a gigantic world, it is important that the music transitions seamlessly and does not get stale. He will discuss the techniques used to achieve this including; location based music, battle music transitions, reactive emotional switching and more.
The Dynamic Audio of Vessel
Michael Csurics (2K Marin) and David Gilbert (Wadjet Eye Games)
This talk examines how the sounds were created for the independent 2D liquid physics puzzle game Vessel. All sounds were created using FMOD and Lua for the more complicated audio behaviors. Live examples will be shown from the game to show the modulation of parameters and the resulting sound. Pure Data and Open Sound Control were also utilized for rapid prototyping. Nearly all game events are physics-based triggers which require the audio design to reacts to rapid object dynamics generated by the game.
All sounds in the game were custom without the use of pre-existing sound effect libraries. Techniques of dynamic sound design will examine the methods of sequencing, layering, layered sequencing, spectral layering, effects parameter modulation, asymmetric loops and granulation. The overall goal for the audio was to create the illusion for the player where every drop of water is convincingly detailed.
All sounds in the game were custom without the use of pre-existing sound effect libraries. Techniques of dynamic sound design will examine the methods of sequencing, layering, layered sequencing, spectral layering, effects parameter modulation, asymmetric loops and granulation. The overall goal for the audio was to create the illusion for the player where every drop of water is convincingly detailed.
Digital Orchestration for the Video Game Composer
Fletcher Beasley (Fletcher Beasley Music)
Recreating the sound of a symphony orchestra using only a sequencer and orchestral sample libraries presents a great challenge to the contemporary game composer. The latest orchestral sample libraries sound better than ever, but they still require considerable manipulation to convince a listener that they are hearing a real orchestra. It is imperative for the contemporary composer to be able to create sophisticated and realistic sounding mockups of his or her orchestral music. On many projects, the composer may not be given the budget to hire live musicians, yet still be required to produce a great sounding orchestral score. This sixty minute session will provide game composers with sequencing and mixing techniques that can be used to create realistic sounding orchestral pieces using their sequencers and sample libraries.
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