Three weeks ago, 505Games and Remedy published the first episode of their new season of developer diaries with a closer glimpse at Control's dynamic gameplay and reactive environments. Today, they're back with another behind-the-scenes look this time exploring the music behind the upcoming game.
In the hotseat, this week is Martin Stig Andersen and Petri Alanko (the Composers for Control) and Ville Sorsa (Senior Sound Designer).
In case you missed it: If you haven't already, you can catch up on the first season of developer diaries below. There has already been almost thirty minutes worth of behind the scenes content ranging from story to gameplay, the location and characters. Check them out below:
- Episode #1: Introducing the Story
- Episode #2: Introducing the Gameplay
- Episode #3: The Oldest House
- Episode #4: Introducing Jesse Faden
- Episode #5: The Key Players, Directors Old and New
- Episode #6: Dynamic Gameplay and Reactive Environments
Episode 7: Behind The Sound Transcript:
Martin Stig Anderson [MSA]: Composing for a game is very different from working with linear media like films and so because, considering composing a fifty-second sequence that, y’know, works musically but it has to react to the player’s actions.
Ville Sorsa [VS]: There are so strong thematics that we cover in this game. It was so obvious that we needed to use audio as a vehicle, to kind like, create an emotional connection with the player.
Petri Alanko [PA]: Because without it, you basically are just wandering alone in a space where nothing is really touching you from the inside.
VS: The detail that goes into these games nowadays is just crazy. Our resonance system; so let's say there’s this glass surfaces and every single time you used your skills, they rattle. And even the wooden table that’s right next to you is going have some sort of stress sounds because of the kinetic powers being used in very close proximity to it. And it’s details like that, that create the whole experience.
VS: One of the single most difficult aspects of the game was definitely the trying to capture the core essence of the invisible threat that have in this game, called Hiss.
MSA: We don’t know what it is. We can’t relate to it. It kind of belongs to the physical world we already know, but at the same time, it’s kind of distorted in some ways.
VS: It can be an environmental effect, it can be part of the gameplay loop. It can be part of the narrative exposition.
PA: There’s some kind of sense of danger going on all the time.
VS: They infiltrate so many areas of audio in this game including the music actually.
PA: One of my earliest thoughts was to represent the Hiss by somehow distorting the tuning of the sounds or the harmonic overtones or whatnot.
VS: The main difference between our past games and this game was the thematically change in terms of collaboration. Let's just create this massive production library that everyone can use.
MSA: Of course, we had access to the same server so we could always listen to each other's stuff and get inspired
VS: Basically the whole entire universe of Control in the tips of your hands.
PA: Knowing what you have done, I’ve used that as a basis for what I have done.
VS: In a way, everything’s a remix of a remix. So, all of our audio content that was meant to be used in combat stuff or environments ended up in the composer’s hands and all of their music content, was then again put into our library and we could further process and use it.
MSA: I worked on the master enemy and I stole some of your material and twisted it and stuff like that…. I shouldn’t have said that.
PA: I’m going to have my revenge!
VS: That kind of collaboration yielded a very very nice, rich universe for Control.
MSA: The guys here at Remedy is creating a system that composes the music.
VS: The system seemed to work very well with the music system which also intuitive in the game.
MSA: It’s like your composition gets deposed and then recomposed by the game.
PA: You are basically offering up a huge bag of Legos to the system, and it sort of disassembles and assembles.
VS: We could create this seamless mesh of sound that could be transformed from one emotion to another, fluently.
PA: So you’re not hearing any repetition, you’re hearing something that’s constantly renewing. It’s actually very interesting because it is doing it with the sounds you have provided.
MSA: Hmm.
PA: And there is a DNA of yours that’s being altered by the machine.
VS: Everything’s super smooth and we’re super proud of it.
MSA: You don’t see into music taken to that extreme.
PA: I’m having all of my hands and neck hairs standing up because I’m thinking of the possibilities. It’s really, really intriguing and interesting.
Control is due to be released on 27th August 2019 on PC (Epic Store), XBOX One and PlayStation 4.
