Today marks the second day of High Score, an annual game audio and music conference which brings together composers, musicians and gamers alike. With a full schedule of panels, keynotes and roundtables, there’s a lot on offer.
One of the highlights is set to be the closing keynote – ‘Branching Ballads: Lyrically driven narratives in Stray Gods’ – from Montaigne and Yon Hall (Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical, Summerfall Studios).
The pair will delve into their creative process in creating the branching lyrics and alternative choices that come with the world’s first RPG musical – making everything feel organic and connected regardless of player choice.
GamesHub had the opportunity to speak with Montaigne and Hall prior to High Score, and from all accounts, the keynote looks to be a strong closer.
Read: Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical nominated for Grammy Award
Music that sticks with you
Crafting a song is hard enough at the best of times. From nailing the right melody to creating a lyric that sticks with listeners, it’s a process. Crafting a song for a game, however, comes with its own set of challenges – and that’s before you add in the extra dimension of a branching narrative structure.
”This was honestly way easier for me because I was given a brief with characters and plot and emotional stakes to work to,” said Montaigne. “Writing rhymes and melodies is something I can do for days if you tell me what I’m writing about – it’s starting from nothing that’s hard.”
For Hall and the rest of the Tripod team, however, there was a bit of adjustment. “It was harder, really,” said Hall. “I mean it’s always hard to write a song that’s good, but a song that’s good that changes as the player chooses and still feels like a song was a special kind of hard.”
The layer of interactivity that comes with a game like Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical means that the composers need to be acutely aware not only of all the permutations, but also the feeling of how a weighty decision should impact on the player.
”It’s about audio and visuals marrying to create highly immersive and transportive experiences, and games have the added dimension of the player having agency in the world or story so it feels even more personal,” said Montaigne.
We all know that music in general has the ability to transport listeners emotionally, but it’s fascinating to hear about the intent and development behind even the smallest choices – a specific sentence, or series of chords – and ultimately that’s why conferences like High Score are so appealing even to non-musicians.
”There’s a particular line – You’re lost little girl – from the Persephone song, that doesn’t really look like much printed as words, but it’s a great hook,” said Hall. “I found I myself bringing it into other moments in the game – the Medusa song, the Finale … It’s got a great attitude and kind of sums up the Stray Gods gameplay, where the characters are often challenging each other in song.”
Read: Stray Gods: Orpheus DLC review – A welcome encore
The importance of events like High Score
Community events and conferences are an integral part of the local games industry, but it wasn’t until after taking part in a game music performance a year back that Hall realised that the collective desire for events like High Score was higher than expected.
“It struck me that there’s a really energised community here and they’re desperate to learn and share ideas as well as meet other like-minded folks,” he said. “High Score is a great (and formalised) environment for that to happen.”
Montaigne pointed out the scale of the local industry has an impact, because with Australia having a smaller population, it’s all the more necessary to create a culture of communication and collaboration within the industry.
“It does feel very important to be at High Score, because you have experts with great wins and international talent sharing their experiences,” they said. “It’s very inspiring to creators to be in touch with titans of the industry … I think it’s stronger (as all industries are) when its workers are communicating, sharing knowledge and skills.”
Whether you’re a budding composer, or just really love to hear about the decisions and intent behind your favourite game soundtracks, it’s well worth checking out Montaigne and Hall’s keynote (alongside all the other exciting panels and discussions), either at High Score this afternoon at LCI Melbourne, or by watching the livestream online.
