04/20/2009    |    Devlog    |    Alto    |    Discuss

I’m Ollie, the sound guy here at Flying Lab Software. Since joining the team back in August of 2008, I have been busy working on many aspects of the game audio, most notably in the area of Avatar Combat as well re-working and creating new sounds for our various towns. Today I’m going to fill you in on what I’ve been working on lately.

Before I do so, I thought this might be a good time to tell you a little about my background. I grew up playing the violin at the age of seven and eventually picked up the viola around 6th grade. In those early years, my focus was quite intense and I quickly developed a personal connection to the music which would eventually push me to obtain a degree in music. In addition to playing a lot of classical music in those early years however, I was also playing a lot of video games and listening to a lot of pop music. Hip Hop in particular turned out to be a huge influence on my current sense of musical aesthetic and general appreciation of technology and music. I eventually took my first computer music course back in 1991 and that really opened up a lot of things for me artistically. I realized that this kind of work made the most of my musical sensibilities as well as my creative impulses and it was fun too! While in my undergraduate studies, I decided to enroll in a year long audio production course. The rest is history.

Since graduating back in 2000, I have acquired a wide variety of experience which has helped me to understand a range of perspectives on commercial and non-commercial audio. I have performed in rock bands and experimental improvisation groups, played records in a plethora of clubs, held a year-long string quartet residence at a school in California, worked on films that have appeared at festivals such as Cannes and Sundance, created ringtones, composed music for mini-games, collaborated with animators, choreographers, poets, and now Pirates. I love it!

So enough about me; let’s talk about how my latest project: adding traditional music to the Burning Sea!

As you know, our game takes place in the 18th century. From a sound perspective, this is already pretty cool. There’s a lot that can be done with the more adventurous aspects of the game audio, but the everyday sounds one hears while walking in the various towns can also be exciting. What’s even more interesting to me is the music of that time.

Some of you may remember the music missions from last holiday season. For those missions, we recorded traditional seasonal music and placed it in towns. Adding this musical element to the towns made them feel livelier and brought greater authenticity and immersion to the gaming experience. In light of that, I have embarked on a new project to bring a richer variety of musicians and music into the rest of the game world.

To help me do this, I researched appropriate music and instruments for the time period and worked with ArtCo to expand on our selection of existing game musician models which include musicians with fiddles, lutes, flutes, percussion instruments and a harpsichord. I wanted a selection of instruments that would coincide with the game’s national varieties but also with the assorted careers as well. Given my background, I couldn’t resist the allure of bringing an entire string quartet to the game, so we created a brand-new string quartet, Baroque guitarist, recorder player and a Hurdy-Gurdy player as a starting point.

One of the great things about Seattle and the Pacific Northwest is its diverse music scene and, more specifically, the wealth of ensembles and players dedicated to performing period music. Executive Director of the Seattle Early Music Guild, August Denhard has generously allowed the use of tracks from his album ‘Cusp of the Baroque’ for our game, which will be played by several lute players in the game.

To record the sound for our Hurdy-Gurdy player, I had the good fortune to work with Cali and Alden Hackmen, two of the country’s premier builders of custom Hurdy-Gurdys. We recorded a variety of solo and duet songs, many of them sea songs from numerous countries of origin. You will find characters playing these songs in many of the national starting towns.

But that’s not all in the next month or so I will be recording a live string quartet and adding additional violin and viola solo works to the game. We’re in the planning stages of recording new Baroque guitar and recorder music as well.

Many of you have expressed interest in this aspect of the game, so I hope you will find some new tunes that strike a chord. The sound work for PotBS is never ending as the game continues to evolve and I am devoted to continuing to polish, accentuate and expand its reaches as far as possible.

Stay Tuned!

04/20/2009    |    Devlog    |    Alto    |    Discuss