The Music of Jurassic World Primal Ops – Techniques for Game Composers

Video game composer Winifred Phillips is photographed on the red carpet of the 2023 Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards. Phillips was nominated for Outstanding Original Score for Interactive Media for the music she composed for Jurassic World Primal Ops.

By Winifred Phillips | Contact | Follow

So happy you’ve joined us!  I’m video game composer Winifred Phillips, and one of my latest projects is the musical score for the video game Jurassic World Primal Ops (listen to the score here).  Over the past few months, I’ve been tremendously honored that my score for this game has garnered several award nominations, including Outstanding Original Score for Interactive Media from the Society of Composers & Lyricists, and Music of the Year from the Game Audio Network Guild.  As a result, I’ve been asked numerous questions about how this score was created.  With this in mind, I thought it might be helpful to write a brief article that includes a few of the guiding principles that shaped my work on this project.

I’ll be giving a lecture during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco about my creative process, and I’ll be including some fine detail about how I planned and constructed this music.  In this article, I’ll be focusing on a couple of broader concepts related to the role that music played in this project.  But first, let’s briefly discuss the game itself.

Jurassic World Primal Ops

The Jurassic World Primal Ops video game casts players in the roles of expert dinosaur handlers working for the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW). In this capacity, players undertake missions to rescue dinosaurs from poachers, mercenaries, and other malevolent forces. The action of the game is set in various locales across North America following the calamitous release of the dinosaurs from the Lockwood estate at the end of the popular film Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The game is an action-adventure in which players are tasked with collecting dinosaurs, leveling them up to the top of their awesome strength, and then deploying them during missions to defeat enemies.  Here’s a video of Jurassic World Primal Ops gameplay that features the musical score I composed for the game:

The gameplay mechanic involves tracking dinosaurs, surviving their attacks, and battling human enemies — so danger is a constant.  While gameplay superficially resembles an action shooter, players are armed only with tranquilizer guns and must depend on dinosaur allies in order to survive and complete objectives.  Whereas a shooter might strive to make players feel well-armed and powerful, this game does the opposite.  Great peril resides at the heart of both this game and the famous Jurassic franchise as a whole.  I knew that this atmosphere of uncertainty would be very important in the musical choices I made for the score of Jurassic World Primal Ops.  How can music best convey the sensation of peril?  In order to answer this question, let’s first consider how the brain perceives music.

Uncertainty in Music

Some of my previous articles have considered the fascinating psychology of music, and how the brain receives and enjoys musical content.  One of the more intriguing aspects of music is its relationship with human cognition.  How do our brains interpret music?  According to an article in The Journal of Neuroscience, it may all be a matter of expectations – that is, we feel most at ease when we can anticipate what will come next.  “This has been proposed as an overarching principle of neurocognitive functioning: biological agents are constantly striving to minimize the long-term average of perceived surprise,” writes Nils Krause of the Freie Universität Berlin.  “Listening to music is conceived of as a form of statistical inference learning.”

In other words, we are always trying to figure out the structure of music – to learn its rules and habits, so that we can predict its outcomes.  When our predictions come true, we feel a little spark of pleasure and self-satisfaction as we perceive that everything occurred precisely as we thought it would.

An image illustrating a discussion of the satisfaction derived from correctly predicting musical events. This illustration is included in an article by video game composer Winifred Phillips about the music she composed for the video game Jurassic World Primal Ops.

“When listening to music, individuals constantly generate expectations about future events and about how the music will evolve,” observes a team of researchers in an article for Frontiers in Neuroscience.  “The interplay between the violation and confirmation of these expectations is widely accepted to be a key underlying mechanism for music-induced pleasure in tonal music.”

So what happens when music isn’t trying to achieve that goal?  Instead of making the listener feel safe, the music instead tries to make the listener feel unsteady and anxious.  “A stimulus’ arousal potential is mostly modulated by variables such as complexity, surprise, ambiguity and novelty,” writes the research team for Frontiers in Neuroscience.  “Atonal music,” they add, “has a high arousal potential that is likely going beyond the pleasure peak for most listeners.”

Brand New and Endlessly Complicated

Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt was one of the fathers of modern psychology, and the first person ever to call himself a psychologist.  In addition to pioneering the application of experimental methods to the study of the human psyche, Wundt developed a handy model which we’ll be considering.  The Wundt Curve allows us to explore the intrinsic relationship between novelty and complexity.  When something is novel, it sparks our interest.  The newness engages us at first, but after a while the novelty grows tiring and we start longing for a sense of familiarity and predictability.  The same can be said for the intricacy of a new stimulus.  Initial complexity can be engaging, but excessive or incessant complication can wear us down.  Wundt put these two concepts on a bell curve in order to predict happiness.  If something is simple and familiar, it’s at the far left of the bell curve, because it just isn’t engaging.  We’re bored.  As things get more novel and more complex, we move toward the center of the bell curve.  We’re stimulated, we’re engaged, and we feel happier.  If things remain constantly new, or endlessly complex, then we head towards the far right of the bell curve.  Everything has become too taxing, too unrelenting, and just too much.  Our happiness drops like a stone.  So as we can see, there’s a sweet spot right in the center, where things are new but not too new, complex but not too complex.  A Goldilocks zone, where everything is just right.

An image depicting the famous Wundt Curve, as incorporated into a discussion of novelty and complexity in music. The article is written by award-winning video game composer Winifred Phillips.

Music typically strives to hit that Goldilocks zone on the Wundt curve, because music creators typically want to make their listeners happy.  For Jurassic World Primal Ops, I wanted to make my listeners anxious and stressed, so I looked for ways to push the music out of the Goldilocks zone and into the right-hand side of the Wundt Curve, past the point of pleasant excitement but not quite reaching the exhaustion stage.  I had two primary techniques that proved useful in achieving this goal.

Technique #1: Atonal Novelty

Lacking a tonal center or key signature, atonality defies most attempts at prediction.  Without the ability to anticipate what the music will do next, the listener perceives atonality as exceptionally novel over long periods of time.  This is part of why atonality is so effective at creeping us out.  The music pushes things towards the right-hand side of the Wundt Curve as far as novelty is concerned.

During my upcoming lecture at the Game Developers Conference, I’ll be discussing the specifics of how I used atonality in this project, including an array of compositional techniques that produce unpredictable musical effects lacking a clear key signature or tonal center.

Technique #2: Kinetic Complexity

Energy in music is dictated by rhythm and motion.  Using unpredictable rhythms along with highly-active contrapuntal lines, I was able to introduce a dense complexity into the music for Jurassic World Primal Ops.  Not only were these techniques helpful in propelling players and keeping the energy level high, they also infused musical complication that served to shift the score further to the right-hand side of the Wundt Curve.

In my upcoming GDC lecture, I’ll be exploring how dense and intricate compositional structure can increase anxiety in listeners.  The discussion will include an array of techniques that support kinetic complexity.

Let’s check out a musical composition from Jurassic World Primal Ops that exhibits both atonal novelty and kinetic complexity in order to create an atmosphere of tension and anxiety during gameplay:

Conclusion

Here we conclude this brief introductory discussion of some of the concepts I’ll be including in my Game Developers Conference lecture.  My lecture, entitled “Chaos Theory in Game Music,” will take place during the Game Developers Conference (March 20th – 24th) at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco.  I’d love to see you there!  Also, the Game Audio Network Guild Awards will be taking place on Thursday March 23rd at 7:30pm PST at the Moscone Convention Center, and I’ll be there as a Music of the Year nominee for Jurassic World Primal Ops.  It should be a fun night!


Photo depicting video game composer Winifred Phillips, nominated for a Society of Composers & Lyricists Award for her music for the video game Jurassic World Primal OpsWinifred Phillips is a BAFTA-nominated video game composer.  The music she composed for her latest video game project Jurassic World Primal Ops is currently nominated for a Game Audio Network Guild Award in the category of Music of the Year.  Phillips’ music for Jurassic World Primal Ops was also nominated for a Society of Composers & Lyricists Award for Outstanding Score for Interactive Media.  In addition, Phillips won a Global Music Award for the musical score of that game.  Other recent releases include the hit PlayStation 5 launch title Sackboy: A Big Adventure (soundtrack album now available).  Popular music from Phillips’ award-winning Assassin’s Creed Liberation score was featured in the performance repertoire of the Assassin’s Creed Symphony World Tour, which made its Paris debut in 2019 with an 80-piece orchestra and choir. As an accomplished video game composer, Phillips is best known for composing music for games in many of the most famous and popular franchises in gaming: the list includes Assassin’s Creed, God of War, Total War, The Sims, and Sackboy / LittleBigPlanet.  Phillips’ has received numerous awards, including an Interactive Achievement Award / D.I.C.E. Award from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, six Game Audio Network Guild Awards (including Music of the Year), and three Hollywood Music in Media Awards. She is the author of the award-winning bestseller A COMPOSER’S GUIDE TO GAME MUSIC, published by the MIT Press. As one of the foremost authorities on music for interactive entertainment, Winifred Phillips has given lectures at the Library of Congress in Washington DC, the Society of Composers and Lyricists, the Game Developers Conference, the Audio Engineering Society, and many more. Phillips’ enthusiastic fans showered her with questions during a Reddit Ask-Me-Anything session that went viral, hit the Reddit front page, received 14.9 thousand upvotes, and became one of the most popular gaming AMAs ever hosted on Reddit. An interview with her has been published as a part of the Routledge text, Women’s Music for the Screen: Diverse Narratives in Sound, which collects the viewpoints of the most esteemed female composers in film, television, and games.  Follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

 

 

 

The Big Index 2023: Articles for Game Music Composers

 

Video game composer Winifred Phillips was nominated for a 2023 Society of Composers & Lyricists Award for her music for the video game Jurassic World Primal Ops.

By Winifred Phillips | Contact | Follow

Welcome!  I’m game music composer Winifred Phillips, and just before the holidays I was ecstatic to learn that my music for the Jurassic World Primal Ops video game was nominated for a Society of Composers & Lyricists Award!  In all the excitement following the announcement of the SCL Awards nominees, many budding game composers reached out to me for advice regarding their own career trajectories.  I found myself referring many of them to articles I’ve written in this space over the years – articles covering the widely diverse topics that interest us as game composers.

Since 2014, this series of articles has explored the evolving state of our industry and the tools and techniques that can help us make great game music.  Over time, these articles have become a fairly deep repository of information. After referring so many budding composers to articles in this lengthy series, it has occurred to me that this sizable collection has become quite difficult to navigate – partially due to the many topics that have been explored over the years.

Discussions have included many of the creative challenges that make our profession unique.  Through an examination of the structure of interactive music systems, numerous dynamic composition techniques have been investigated.  Along the way, we’ve pondered how game music composition has been accomplished in the past, and where it might be going in the future.  A profusion of resources have been collated in these articles – including the best methods to find gigs, and awesome networking opportunities that can benefit a game composer’s career.  There have also been examinations of resources that can keep us inspired and creatively energized.

Together, these articles constitute a living document about game music composition.  However, they definitely need an index at this point.  With that in mind, I’m offering this ‘big index’ of articles I’ve shared over the years, organized by subject matter.  We can navigate around this index using the following menu:

Dynamic Music in Games | Game Music Business | Game Music And Cognition | Game Music Composition and Production | Game Music Events and Interviews | Game Music in Virtual Reality

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Utility for Modular Game Music (Composing for Lineage M: GDC 2022)

In her music studio at Generations Productions, Winifred Phillips is pictured here composing music for her video game projects. Phillips is a BAFTA-nominated video game composer of music for games in the franchises God of War, Assassin's Creed, Total War, Lineage, LittleBigPlanet, and The Sims.

By Winifred Phillips | Contact | Follow

Delighted you’re here!  I’m video game composer Winifred Phillips.  Welcome to the fifth and concluding installment in this article series based on my Game Developers Conference 2022 presentation, “Composing for Lineage M: Modular Construction in Game Music.”  You’ll find the entire contents of my GDC lecture in these articles, accompanied by all of the included videos and some of the images from the Powerpoint presentation I used during my conference session.

During the previous four articles in this series, we learned about how NCSoft ported the original world-famous Lineage PC game from 1998 to mobile devices under the name Lineage M.  We discussed how the launch of brand-new DLC content for this mobile port raised an unusual conundrum.  How does a modern game composer create new music that will work effectively within a game engine originally devised in the 1990s?  In the previous articles of this series, we discussed the popular DLC release of Lineage M: The Elmor, and I described what it was like creating new music for such an awesome game with an amazingly long history and enduring fanbase.

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Segmentation for Modular Game Music (Composing for Lineage M: GDC 2022)

Pictured working in her music studio at Generations Productions, As a video game composer, Winifred Phillips' credits include games in the franchises The Sims, Total War, Assassin's Creed, LittleBigPlanet, and God of War. In this photo, Phillips is pictured at work in her music production studio.

By Winifred Phillips | Contact | Follow

So happy you’ve joined us!  I’m video game composer Winifred Phillips, and this is the fourth article in my series based on my Game Developers Conference 2022 presentation, “Composing for Lineage M: Modular Construction in Game Music.”  I’ve included the content of my GDC lecture in these articles, along with the videos and some of the images I used in my Powerpoint presentation during the conference.

In the first three articles of this series, we discussed the port of the popular Lineage PC game from 1998 to mobile devices under the name Lineage M, and the subsequent launch of brand-new content for this world-famous game in the DLC release Lineage M: The Elmor.

This is an official promotional game image supporting a discussion of game music composition within a modular system, as described by video game music composer Winifred Phillips.

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Stemming for Modular Game Music (Composing for Lineage M: GDC 2022)

Video game composer Winifred Phillips was nominated for a BAFTA for her work composing music for the LittleBigPlanet franchise (other projects include games from the franchises Total War, The Sims, Assassin's Creed, and God of War). Phillips is pictured her working in her music production studio at Generations Productions LLC.

By Winifred Phillips | Contact | Follow

Welcome!  I’m video game composer Winifred Phillips.  I’m glad you’re here for this third article in my series based on my Game Developers Conference 2022 lecture, “Composing for Lineage M: Modular Construction in Game Music.” My GDC presentation explored the top creative and technical challenges of creating a flexible music system for a game with a retro design.  This article series shares most of the content of that GDC presentation, along with the videos I included in my presentation at the conference.

In the first two articles of this series, we explored the power and awesome popularity of retro gaming.  We reviewed the history of the world-famous Lineage video game franchise, including how the original Lineage PC game from 1998 found its way to modern mobile devices in 2017 under the name Lineage M.  I shared my experience as the chosen composer of the music for a new DLC release for Lineage M, and what it was like composing the first new gameplay music for the original Lineage MMORPG in over 24 years.

An official game logo and cover image, as included in the article written by video game composer Winifred Phillips.

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Structure for Modular Game Music (Composing for Lineage M: GDC 2022)

BAFTA-nominated video game composer Winifred Phillips is pictured here working in her music production studio at Generations Productions. Phillips' video game credits include music for games in the famous franchises Lineage, Total War, God of War, Assassin's Creed, LittleBigPlanet, and The Sims.

By Winifred Phillips | Contact | Follow

Hey everybody!  I’m video game composer Winifred Phillips.  Thanks for joining me for this second article in my series based on my Game Developers Conference 2022 lecture, “Composing for Lineage M: Modular Construction in Game Music.”  In my GDC presentation, I discussed my work composing music for a recent installment in the famous Lineage franchise (one of the most popular MMORPG game series ever made).  This article series will share the content of that GDC talk, along with the audiovisual samples I included in my presentation at the conference.

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Techniques for Modular Game Music (Composing for Lineage M: GDC 2022)

In the Generations Productions music studio, video game music composer Winifred Phillips is pictured here working on projects. Phillips is best known for composing music for games in the franchises Assassin's Creed, Total War, God of War, Lineage, The Sims, and LittleBigPlanet.

By Winifred Phillips | Contact | Follow

Hello there!  I’m video game composer Winifred Phillips.  At the most recent Game Developers Conference, I was pleased to present a lecture as part of the conference’s audio track.  GDC is a top video game industry conference, packed with expert sessions supplemented by an array of awesome opportunities to network and learn.  Whenever I give a GDC presentation, I like to include the content of my lecture in my articles here, so I’m now kicking off a five-part series of articles based on my presentation in March!  In these articles, I’ve included the substance of my GDC presentation, along with most of the multimedia materials I used to illustrate concepts during my lecture.  So let’s get started!

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Hybrid Linear-Dynamic Music for Game Composers (From Spyder to Sackboy: GDC 2021)

This captured image from the GDC 2021 lecture of video game composer Winifred Phillips includes details of a discussion of the music of the video game Spyder.

By Winifred Phillips | Contact | Follow

Glad you’re here!  I’m video game composer Winifred Phillips, and I’d like to welcome you to the sixth and final installment in my article series based on my GDC lecture – From Spyder to Sackboy: A Big Adventure in Interactive Music!  Last year I had the privilege of working with Sumo Sheffield on music composition for two projects in simultaneous development – Sackboy: A Big Adventure for PS5/PS4, and Spyder for Apple Arcade. (Above you’ll see a photo from one of the sections of my GDC lecture in which I’m discussing the Spyder project).  Both the Sackboy and Spyder projects incorporated highly interactive music into their design.  While both projects included the basic dynamic models of horizontal and vertical structure, they each brought new twists and quirks to these ever-popular music implementation methods.  Since I spent a lot of time bouncing back and forth between the two projects, I got a chance to see how malleable interactive music systems can be when employed creatively.  Now, I’m glad to share my best experiences and observations creating music for these two awesome projects!

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Hybrid Dynamic-Diegetic Music for Game Music Composers (From Spyder to Sackboy: GDC 2021)

During the Game Developers Conference 2021, video game composer Winifred Phillips delivered a lecture that included a discussion of her music for two projects, including the project pictured here (Spyder for Apple Arcade).

By Winifred Phillips | Contact | Follow

Hi!  I’m video game composer Winifred Phillips.  Welcome to installment five in my series of articles based on my lecture, From Spyder to Sackboy: A Big Adventure in Interactive Music.  In delivering my presentation at this year’s edition of the popular Game Developers Conference, I based my lecture content on my experiences composing music for two projects in simultaneous development at Sumo Sheffield – Sackboy: A Big Adventure for PS5/PS4, and Spyder for Apple Arcade.  (Above you’ll see a photo from one of the sections of my GDC 2021 lecture in which I’m discussing the Spyder project).  The music design for these two games included multiple dynamic systems that were both complex and ambitious in scope.  While they both relied on some of the most tried-and-tested strategies for musical interactivity, they were also quite innovative in their own distinctive ways.  While composing music for these projects, I had the opportunity to see how flexible dynamic music models can be.  I learned a lot from the experience, and it was really interesting to explore the similarities and differences during my GDC 2021 lecture!

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Hybrid Horizontal-Vertical Structure for Video Game Composers (From Spyder to Sackboy: GDC 2021)

This screen from the GDC 2021 lecture of video game composer Winifred Phillips was taken during the discussion of how success is recognized by the dynamic music system.

By Winifred Phillips | Contact | Follow

Delighted you’re here!  I’m video game composer Winifred Phillips, and I’m very happy you’ve joined us for this latest entry in my series of articles for video game composers, based on the lecture I gave during the Game Developers Conference 2021 – From Spyder to Sackboy: A Big Adventure in Interactive Music!  Over the previous year, I had the privilege of working with the expert development team at Sumo Sheffield on music composition for two fantastic projects – Sackboy: A Big Adventure for PS5/PS4, and Spyder for Apple Arcade.  (Above you’ll see a photo from one of the sections of my GDC 2021 lecture in which I’m discussing the Sackboy project).

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