Category Archives: Music Composition

GDC 2024 Dial Up the Diegetics: The Animal Kingdom

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Photo of Bafta-nominated video game composer Winifred Phillips, working in her music production studio on her original musical score for the video game Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.

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Hi there! I’m video game composer Winifred Phillips – my most recent game release is the music of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord: the smash-hit 3D remake of the classic 1981 dungeon-crawler (listen and download my award-winning soundtrack for free).  Welcome to part three of my article series presenting the content of my talk from the Game Developers Conference 2024!  My presentation, “Dial Up the Diegetics: Musical Sound Effects,” discussed the ways in which game composers can repurpose the tools and assets normally within the province of sound design experts.  In order to best make my GDC discussions as widely accessible as possible, I’m now sharing the content of my GDC lectures every year in an article series that includes the full lectures, supplemented by most of the videos and many illustrations from my GDC talks.

In case you haven’t read the previous installments of this series, you can find them here:

  1. GDC 2024 Dial Up the Diegetics: Musical Sound Effects
  2. GDC 2024 Dial Up the Diegetics: Sounds of Nature

In part two of my GDC 2024 article series, I discussed how using appropriate animal vocalizations can provide game composers with awesome sonic tools for adding evocative character to game music.

An illustration that includes one of the bullet lists used in the GDC 2024 presentation given by award-winning video game composer Winifred Phillips.

As an example, we discussed how adding seagulls to the music of an ocean-themed gameplay level can help the environment blend more seamlessly with the music supporting it.  So let’s now check out another example of an animal sound that’s used less literally than seagulls at the ocean – and more in a figurative way.

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GDC 2024 Dial Up the Diegetics: Sounds of Nature

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Photo of video game composer Winifred Phillips, whose latest project is the award-winning original music of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.

By Winifred Phillips | Contact | Follow

Welcome back! I’m video game composer Winifred Phillips – my latest game project is the award-winning music for the smash-hit 3D remake of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord! (Listen and download the award-winning soundtrack, and vote for the Wizardry soundtrack in the public voting of the World Soundtrack Awards.)

This is part two of my article series that presents the content of my lecture from the Game Developers Conference 2024.  This year, my presentation, “Dial Up the Diegetics: Musical Sound Effects,” explored how composers can employ sound design assets and techniques in their game music.  Since not all of us can attend GDC, I make sure to post the content of my GDC lectures every year in a series of articles that present the full discussions, along with many of the videos and illustrations that were a part of my lecture.  Last month I posted part one of this article series, in which we considered a list of categories wherein sound design assets may be sorted:

Illustration depicting a bullet list as used during the GDC 2024 presentation of video game composer Winifred Phillips.

We began with a discussion of environmental diegetics, first exploring how short environmental sound design assets supports diegesis, and the ways in which we can make these sound design assets work in our musical compositions.  So now, let’s explore that idea further.

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GDC 2024 Dial Up the Diegetics: Musical Sound Effects

Posted by Winifred Phillips on

Photo of award-winning video game music composer Winifred Phillips, working on her original music score for the game Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.

By Winifred Phillips | Contact | Follow

Hello everyone!  I’m video game composer Winifred Phillips – my latest is the music for the bestselling remake of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord! (Listen and download the award-winning soundtrack for free, and vote for the Wizardry soundtrack in the public voting of the World Soundtrack Awards)

Last March I was pleased to give a lecture at the Game Developers Conference 2024 — it’s a top industry event where experts in various game development disciplines share tips and techniques related to their fields. My presentation was called “Dial Up the Diegetics: Musical Sound Effects.” Every year, after I give my lecture at GDC, I include most of the lecture content in an article series (for the benefit of those who couldn’t attend the conference). So with this article, I’m kicking off a six-part series based on my 2024 GDC presentation! In these articles you’ll find all of the discussion from my GDC lecture, supported by many of the videos and illustrations that I used to support the ideas explored in my talk.  So let’s get started!

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The Game Show Interview: What Game Music Means to Gamers

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Photo of award-winning video game music composer Winifred Phillips, pictured with radio host Meena Shamaly of the Game Show on ABC Classic (in connection with the interview of Phillips conducted by Shamaly for the Game Show).

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Welcome!  I’m video game composer Winifred Phillips – my latest is the music for the bestselling remake of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (listen and download the award-winning soundtrack for free).  Today I’m pleased to present the final installment of my three-part series based on my interview with Meena Shamaly, the host of the Game Show on ABC Classic (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Meena Shamaly brings all his knowledge as an accomplished composer, producer and performance artist into his role as interviewer and host, and I was honored to be an interviewee for his awesome show!  An audio recording of the full uncut interview is hosted right now on the ABC Classic web site.  I’m including the full written transcript of that interview here, along with some supporting links and media files to expand on the topics discussed.  In part one of this series, Meena and I reflected on the journey a new composer takes to break into the video game industry, along with the “always say yes” philosophy that can help new composers as they pursue their first break.  In part two, we discussed the unique role that music plays in video games.  Now, in the third and final installment, we’ll be discussing the impact of music on a gamer’s experience, and how game music weaves itself into a gamer’s life.

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The Game Show Interview: Game Music & Game Design

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Photo of composer Meena Shamaly, host of the Game Show on ABC Classic, pictured here video game music composer Winifred Phillips (Game Show interviewee).

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Hey everybody!  I’m video game composer Winifred Phillips.  Welcome to part two of my three-part article series based on my interview with Meena Shamaly, host of the popular Game Show program on ABC Classic (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation).  Meena is a prolific performance artist, composer and producer, in addition to his role as the host of the Game Show, and I was delighted to be interviewed for his awesome series!  An audio recording of the uncut interview is hosted right now on the ABC Classic web site.  These articles include the full written transcript of that interview, along with some great supporting links and media files that help to expand on the topics discussed.  In part one of this series, Meena and I reflected on the journey a new composer takes to break into the video game industry, along with the “always say yes” philosophy that can help new composers as they pursue their first break.  In part two, we’ll talk about composing in unorthodox ways to help us stay at the top of our game as composers, and we’ll also discuss the unique role that music plays in video games.  Here is part two of my interview with Meena Shamaly of ABC Classic’s Game Show, beginning with a discussion of how two very different projects from my early career shaped everything that came later… Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and God of War.

Official logo of the ABC Classic radio show - the Game Show. (This image supports a discussion in an article by video game composer Winifred Phillips).

Winifred:  So now my career has two very divergent paths. People who know me from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and things like that – they approach me for projects like Shrek the Third, or The LittleBigPlanet games, or SimAnimals, Spore Hero, things like that. And on the other side, people who know me from God of War are coming to me for things like the Assassin’s Creed Liberation game, or Homefront, or Jurassic World Primal Ops, or The Da Vinci Code. And that has allowed me to swing back and forth and do very divergent things. It’s made my career very fulfilling for me, because I get to stretch and change. I don’t ever feel like I’m in a box, because I get to express myself in such different ways. It’s rare! It’s a rare thing to be able to do that, so I’m quite grateful that my career started that way.

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The Game Show Interview: Starting a Career as a Game Composer

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Photo of host Meena Shamaly of the Game Show on ABC Classic, pictured here with his interview subject Winifred Phillips (video game music composer).

By Winifred Phillips | Contact | Follow

Hello there!  I’m video game composer Winifred Phillips, and last November I was delighted to be featured on the popular Game Show program broadcast on ABC Classic (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).  The show that was broadcast on ABC Classic featured lots of my music from my video game repertoire, along with clips from a longer interview we recorded shortly before the broadcast.  Game Show is hosted by Meena Shamaly, who is an accomplished performance poet, composer, and producer of arts workshops and poetry slams.  With this in-depth background in music and the arts, he brings a unique sensitivity and insight to the conversation, posing fascinating questions right from the top of the interview, and responding deftly to help the conversation evolve in revealing ways.  While the broadcast from ABC Classic is no longer available, an audio recording of our full, uncut interview is hosted right now on the ABC Classic web site.  I thought that readers of this blog might appreciate the transcript of the full interview, so I’m including that transcript here.  In addition to the transcript, I’ve also included music examples to illustrate topics discussed during the interview, and links that expand on various topics that are touched upon in the transcript.  This interview for The Game Show web site was quite long, so I’ll be dividing it into three articles.  In addition to this transcript, you can also visit The Game Show web site, or visit the official ABC Classic site (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).  So now, without further ado, here is part one of my interview with Meena Shamaly of ABC Classic’s Game Show!

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The Big Index 2024: Articles for Game Music Composers

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Video game music composer Winifred Phillips, pictured here in her music studio at Generations Productions LLC. This photo is used to illustrate the Big Index, containing an organized repository of articles exploring topics of interest to game composers and game audio practitioners.

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Hey everybody! I’m video game music composer Winifred Phillips, author of the book A Composer’s Guide to Game Music. Since the publication of my book by the MIT Press, I’ve maintained a monthly series of articles designed to expand upon the content of that book and enable further exploration of related topics. Inspired by my more recent video game projects in popular franchises such as Jurassic World, Lineage, and Sackboy, these articles have delved into subjects ranging from interactivity, to music theory, to business and networking.

The sheer number of articles has necessitated the inclusion of a navigation tool, so I now include an annual “Big Index” that can assist us in finding our way through the content that’s accumulated over the years.  What follows is that index, organized by general subject matter.  New to the index are articles from the past year that have engaged in more detailed and technical discussions of music theory-related topics, with deep dives into non-diatonic construction that included atonal and polytonal composition.  I’ve also included the transcripts of my interviews with National Public Radio and the BBC that took place in 2023.

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Importance of Contrast (The Game Music of Jurassic World Primal Ops: GDC 2023)

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Video game composer Winifred Phillips is pictured here working in her music production studio. This image is included in an article about the music of the video game Jurassic World Primal Ops.

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Hello there! I’m video game composer Winifred Phillips.  In March of 2023, I gave a lecture entitled “Chaos Theory: The Music of Jurassic World Primal Ops” during the Game Developers Conference 2023.  This lecture was named one of the most popular presentations at GDC 2023, and is currently nominated for a Game Audio Network Guild Award for Best Game Audio Presentation.  Every year, after I present at this popular yearly conference, I release the complete content of my lecture in a series of free articles.  This is the sixth and final article in the series based on my GDC 2023 presentation.  As before, I’m including all the substance from my GDC presentation in this article series, along with all of the videos and sound files, and many of the illustrations that I used during my GDC talk.

During these articles I’ve been sharing my process composing the musical score for Jurassic World Primal Ops – it’s the video game from Universal Games and Behaviour Interactive. Jurassic World Primal Ops came out in the summer of 2022, right alongside the theatrical run of the latest film in this famous franchise: Jurassic World Dominion. 

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Cultural Influences in the game music composition of Secrets of Skeifa Island

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Video game composer Winifred Phillips, pictured her working on music for the project Secrets of Skeifa Island, developed by Wild River Games.

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Hey everyone!  I’m video game composer Winifred Phillips.  One of my latest projects was the music for the game Secrets of Skeifa Island.  Developed by Wild River Games and published for the Nintendo Switch, Secrets of Skeifa Island allows players to wander a lovingly designed Nordic-inspired landscape.  The game centers on a quest to find a mysterious white ghost horse, uncover an ancient legend, and reveal a mythical realm hidden somewhere on the island.  My music for this game has already won two NYX Game Awards (Best Game Soundtrack and Best Music for a Nintendo Switch Game).  Film Score Monthly awarded this music a rating of 4 stars, calling it “enchanting!” and Cinelinx described the music as “delightful!”

This was my fourth time composing music for a project developed by Wild River Games.  My previous games for Wild River had required me to dig deep into historical research.  From Celtic orchestral drama, to courtly baroque, to medieval tavern music, to American bluegrass, my work with Wild River Games had spanned a wide array of styles.  Now, Secrets of Skeifa Island was going to point me in an entirely new musical direction.  I thought it might be interesting to share some thoughts on my research and composition process for Secrets of Skeifa Island.  Think of this as a brief case study.  I hope it’s useful for those of us embarking on challenging game projects requiring musical genres from world cultures.

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Kinetics and the 12 Tone Approach (The Game Music of Jurassic World Primal Ops: GDC 2023)

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Video game music composer Winifred Phillips is pictured at work in her music production studio. Phillips' music for Jurassic World Primal Ops won a Global Music Award and a NYX Award, and was nominated for a Society of Composers & Lyricists Award and a Game Audio Network Guild Award.

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Hey everybody! I’m video game composer Winifred Phillips, and I’m happy to welcome you to the fifth installment in this series of articles based on my Game Developers Conference 2023 lecture, “Chaos Theory: The Music of Jurassic World Primal Ops.” I’ve included the content of my GDC lecture in these articles, accompanied by all of the included videos, sound files, and many of the illustrations from my GDC 2023 conference presentation.

During the previous four articles in this series, we learned about Jurassic World Primal Ops – the latest video game in the popular Jurassic Park / Jurassic World franchise. We discussed how the strategy for this game’s musical style was driven by the concept of Chaos Theory.  This chaos-inspired musical composition philosophy attempts to increase tension through the use of some of the most unpredictable composition techniques, employing these unconventional strategies in the effort to create subversive and disturbing effects.

An illustration supporting a discussion of the use of chaotic, unconventional music composition techniques in order to subvert listener expectations. This illustration is included in the article by award-winning video game music composer Winifred Phillips.

By devising a musical style that avoided a conventional structure, the music of Jurassic World Primal Ops was able to support and sustain emotional unbalance during lengthy action sequences. You’ll find these unconventional techniques discussed in detail in these four articles:

Part One: Tonic Pivot (The Music of Jurassic World Primal Ops: GDC 2023)

Part Two: Quartal Chords and Chromatics (The Music of Jurassic World Primal Ops: GDC 2023)

Part Three: Whole Tone and Octatonic Scales (The Music of Jurassic World Primal Ops: GDC 2023)

Part Four: Polytonality (The Music of Jurassic World Primal Ops: GDC 2023)

We just concluded our discussion of the role that polytonality played in the musical score of Jurassic World Primal Ops.  Polytonality is an uncommon musical device that helps us to break away from harmonic conventionalism.  But harmony is just a piece of the puzzle, and it certainly isn’t the only way we can introduce chaos into our game scores. 

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