In my project plan it said that I would be installing and play-testing the video game on a gaming laptop, however there has been some difficulties in getting hold of a gaming laptop meaning I will not be able to use one until next week. Therefore, to fix this problem I will be using an online gameplay walkthrough to mind map ideas on what needs to be in the level in terms of musical themes and ideas. To make sure my music is not influenced by the original video game soundtrack I will mute the youtube video while taking notes on it. For this project I will be composing the music for the final level for the Wwise adventure game which is set in a cave, I chose this level as the setting inspired a lot of musical ideas within my head which I have documented below.
Plot Summary
The story of the ‘Wwise Adventure Game’ is that in a magical kingdom an unknown evil force has been unleashed, spawning evil plants around the kingdom. You play a hero that has to save the kingdom by finding the source of the evil, accompanied by you on this journey is the grand wizard. He will point you to different quest markers and help you find and destroy the source of the evil. The evil is located in the ‘dungeon level’ which is the level I am composing for.
Cave Level Video Time (36:58-45:24)
| Themes | Musical Relation |
| Dark | deep brass |
| Ancient | drones (ambience) , choir (hymns and ancient songs), strings (bowed unlimited time) |
| Mysterious | augmented chords (mysterious sound), mystic Chord |
| Magical (Evil) | arpeggio, harp, tri-tone (evil chord from medieval times) |
| Dangerous | tension (foreshadows upcoming boss), descending glissando (creates sense of instability) |
| Finale (Boss) | staccato (aggressive), rhythmic section (tension and momentum) |
While watching the gameplay video I took notes on what themes are present in the video game level and how the music can reflect on this theme. All notes in the tables below are results of a brain storming exercise and many of these ideas may not be used in the final musical composition. In the gameplay footage I noticed the cave level had a lot of ancient structures present such as; pillars and stone statues. I related choirs to ancient times because in the Old Kingdom (Ancient Egypt) choirs were used to dedicate music to worshipping their gods. Due to ancient periods low tempo musical style I associated this music with drones, musical drones also create a sense of ambience and mystically. Therefore, I will try and implement this technique into my music. I linked strings to the term drone as notes on strings can be bowed for an unlimited amount of time, whereas brass and woodwinds players must take breaths between notes.
| In Game Events | Music Relation |
| Hammer found | quick triumphant brass instrumental, ascending melody |
| Enter boss arena | string tremolos (unsettled atmosphere), deep brass (evil and foreshadowing) |
| Boss fight | Boss motif (brass melody), staccato strings (tension), |
| Boss fight phase 2 | more intense music (faster rhythm, metric modulation, staccato strings) |
| Boss defeated | Victorious and resolving music (strings and choir) |
| Boss returns | Dark brass comes back into music (personifies evil boss) |
During this level there are key moments of significance that the music must reflect upon, I have noted all of these significant moments on the table above. It is important that the music reflects upon all of these gameplay moments effectively to highlight these moments of significance and alert the player to in game events. I have also documented in the table below ideas on how the music might respond to these in game events.
Level Screenshots
This room within the level is significantly darker than the other two rooms, therefore I would like the music to reflect on this by using instruments with dark timbres and low frequency ranges. To reflect on the ancient architecture I would like to use a choir, as choirs where often used in ancient time eras as a form of worship.
This is the final room before the boss battle, therefore in this room I would like some light percussion to come into the music to build up tension in the lead up to the boss fight. I would also like the music to sound more bright due to the increased mount of lighting within the game, I may do this by raising the pitch of some of instruments within the music or by adding a new instrument into the arrangement. One instrument I may add into the music would be a harp due to it’s bright and magical timbre.
This is the final room in the video game therefore I would like the music to become more intense due to the boss fight taking place within the room. I would like to do this by using staccato strings and dark brass instrumentals, I will take inspiration from Hollywood action movies such as Godzilla. As the action music is very effective in building intensity and I would like my music to be just as effective as this.
Mood Board
For this project I made a mood board of the different themes I believed personally thought the video game’s themes and connotations. I made this mood board to look at for inspiration when struggling to compose music to the theme of the video game level, the idea was that if the music resonated with the images on the mood board it would fit with the general theme of level. As you can see below the mood board has images that relate to; dungeons, magic and fear. This is because I thought the cave level had huge connotations of these themes due to its ancient architecture and dark and scary lighting.
Source List
Audio Kinetic, 2020. Game Audio Play-through | Wwise Adventure Game. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5teXtMHOcA4> [Accessed 26 May 2022].