For us every project we are working on is important. Of course there is a great difference between working on bigger and smaller projects but it concerns only organizational matters. Composers feels fulfilled when they know that their work contributed to the success. MC, KW, AS: We are very glad that game was well received by both players and critics. Is this a perfect project for a composer, or perhaps you prefer smaller, indie ones? : Shadow Warrior 2 is a game that receives a lot of recognition around the globe. Miho not only sang the main theme, but also recorded ethnic instruments and translated our lyrics from English to Japanese to make everything consistent stylistically and grammatically. Cooperation with Miho was perfect despite the fact she is an extremely busy artist. We thought that Japanese vocals with very “specific vibrato” is what we need. We contacted Miho, who is an extraordinary vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. We looked for new ideas for its sound and this gave birth to the idea to include Japanese accents among very dynamic arrangements. We wanted the second part of the theme to evolve with the music. MC, KW, AS: The main theme of Shadow Warrior 2 is an expansion of the theme from first game. : What can you tell about cooperation with Miho Mizumachi? Did you plan this from the beginning or did it happened as a coincidence? – Michał Cielecki, Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz, Adam Skorupa The main theme of Shadow Warrior 2 is an expansion of the theme from first game. We were left with no other choice than contacting Mark and offering him cooperation. While listening to one of his demos, it turned out to be the sound we are aiming for. MC, KW, AS: We were thinking about different options, including a synthesizer and electric guitar, but Adam reminded himself that he knows Mark “TDK” Knight who, apart from playing electric violin, also happens to be involved in game industry for over 20 years as a composer and sound designer. : Why did you decide to put electronic violin as the main instrument of the main theme? What is more, the sheer fact that game is filled with humor, and music is usually very serious, on it’s own is kind of a joke. In order to drive the plot against the dialogues, we tried to mark those funny moments and go down from the pompous tone to more discrete melodies. MC, KW, AS: Exactly because of the fact that the game itself is very humorous it was needed to crank the joke up even more in cutscenes. Did you have any funny/interesting situations while creating the game’s sound design? So that the music is genuine, with its own personality, and somehow unique. We wanted the music to reflect emotions which drive the player, but at the same time we wanted the music to be cool to listen outside of the game. MC, KW, AS: The most important thing for us was to find balance between “game music”, which is background music, and creating it in such way that it’s memorable.
: What was the most important aspect for you while composing music for Shadow Warrior 2? Was there any particular target which was very specific for this project? Great example of how our work looked like is already published in Making of Main Theme clip. On top of that, of course we had a very close collaboration with soloists, especially with Olek (Aleksander Grochocki – guitar), who recorded hours of guitar and bass riffs. In order to do all of these and keep the coherence, we had to consult everything on each stage: ideas, tips, the and organization of work – those were hours of Skype meetings and phone calls. MC, KW, AS: Each one of us had a portion of music, which needed to be composed, assigned. : How did you work out dividing tasks between all of you – in such way that coherence is kept and effectiveness sustained? On the other hand when you are restricted with some predefined schemes, at the same time having substantial amount of freedom in composing, given in this case by Flying WIld Hog, it causes you to have a lot of fun during composing and sort of freshness in your work. Because of that we had to somehow face ourselves, changing our composer’s habits. Michał Cielecki, Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz, Adam Skorupa: Instructions we got were only “more guitars and melody” – eventually this turned out to be the challenge, because usually music for action sequences – or even action games overall – is composed in moderation, with emphasis on rhythm and not the ‘memorable’ melodies. : Firstly, a warm-up question – what did you like the most during Shadow Warrior 2 project and what was the biggest challenge?
0 kommentar(er)
