CONTEXT AWARENESS
ABSTRACTION OF VALUES
IDENTITY / DIALECTICS
A "next gen" experience will be one where a game understands and responds to a player's internal state. This is my north star.
Our ability to make accurate inferences based on game parameters and contextualized data.
A focus on identity. An understanding that your system design is a personality choice. As your system influences the composer the composer should influence your system.
BORDERLANDS 3
Click on Images Below to Browse my 2019 GameSoundCon Talk
Slides from my 2019 GameSoundCon talk on the music of Borderlands
Our values and pillars
Why we increased the scope of the music system
Style Guide: Promethea
Style Guide – Eden – 6
Style Guide – Pandora
Style Guide – Nekrotefeyo
Threat = Intensity, Interest = Arrangement Density
Section = Intensity, Part = Bar Length of containers, Layers = Random Stem
Increase layer count to achieve randomization.
Increase part count to achieve randomization for easier DAW management
Threat scalar curve (Player to Enemy level delta), thresholds and per-part interest level settings, etc…
SINGLE-PART
COMPOSER: RAISON VARNER
MULTI-PART
COMPOSER: MICHAEL MCCANN
ADDITIONAL MUSIC
Portions of my score for Borderlands 3 + DLC
FANTASY
TIME OF DAY | TOWN MUSIC
Fior Mes Iverno was a town in Avowed that utilized Time of Day. This was an early piece I wrote and performed live scratch tracks. This was all planned to be re-recorded live.
This was technically "temp" music.
COMBAT TRANSITION
An example of a combat transition demonstrating how writing the pieces stacked on one another in a single project produced smooth cross fade transitions.
Uses pre-orchestrator "temp" music.
EXPERIMENTAL
PD Cinematic Score Generator – High Quality VSTi driven by MIDI messages from PD.
The two videos below are examples of an experiment using PD to concept a generative vibe machine that produced high quality production music. The PD patch sent MIDI messages to Reaper driving kontakt instruments, a soloist would improvise while the patch played live in their headphone feed (I played legato string melodies), Then I placed those performances at random points on the timeline, occasionally trimming a result.
These two videos are short snippets from longer 45 minute unattended recordings. The output you're hearing is what the PD patch sounded like live.
PLEASANT EXPLORATION
A “conductor” patch sends root or dominant pitch information to all other patches so they can utilize musical context.
Phrasing Trees have many potential exit gates to create varied length phrases.
MISTY FOREBODING
A pedaling piano provides pulse while a low-pass filter oscillates to reduce the piano's strength and presence. Sub Bass root motion, Duduk and Ambient Synth parts respond to conductor root motion.