Nuno Fonseca grew up with an equal love for music, audio and technology. He’s a former university professor in Portugal, and he’s published more than 20 papers on computer audio and 2 books on sound and computer design. His interests led him to create Sound Particles, which is immersive software capable of generating thousands or…
Read moreKristin Naigus plays dozens of instruments and has performed on dozens of soundtracks. Here’s a fraction of her credits: Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, Aragami 1 & 2, ABZU, Farpoint, various Minecraft mythology projects like the Egyptian, Norse and Chinese Mythology packs, Moss: Books 1 & 2, Darksiders Genesis, Hades, The Pathless, Ori…
Read moreComposer Ed Critchley talks about his music for South of the Circle, a narrative adventure about an academic named Peter and his relationship with another lecturer named Clara. The game is set in the Cold War in the 60’s in Antarctica. South of the Circle came out more than 2 years ago, which matters, because…
Read moreComposer Cris Velasco talks about his music for the game Dauntless, a co-op action RPG that debuted in 2019. This release is Cris’s third volume of music from the game. We talk about the evolution of the score over the last several years, and how he takes instruments from all around the world to create…
Read moreComposer scntfc (C. Andrew Rohrmann) talks about two of his scores for games: Gibbon: Beyond the Trees is from 2022 – an ecological adventure game about Gibbons. As a player, you swing, slide and somersault through the trees while learning about these special creatures. Andy’s music is heavy on struck percussion, rhythmic and full of…
Read moreComposer Austin Wintory talks about his music for Aliens: Fireteam Elite, a squad shooter from Cold Iron Studios. The game is a part of the Aliens universe, you know, the face-hugging, chest-exploding, H.R. Giger-designed Aliens. And the soundtrack is fabulous, with many subtle and less-subtle tributes to the famous film scores written by Jerry Goldsmith,…
Read moreComposer Maclaine Diemer‘s music for Salt and Sacrifice is grimy and unpolished. As producer Sam Keenan says, “You can make a cello sound a lot of ways, and he found a bunch of fun ones.” Of course, Maclaine is best-known for his gorgeous, lush, epic orchestral music for Guild Wars 2. And this is definitely…
Read moreComposer Andrew Prahlow wrote music for Outer Wilds over the course of ten years, most recently for the game’s giant expansion: Echoes of the Eye. At the conclusion of that project, Andrew felt compelled to write more music inspired by the game. The result is The Lost Reels, a set of segueing tracks Andrew wrote…
Read moreComposer Jason Graves talks about his music for Moss: Book II, a VR game where the player helps a mouse named Quill save her homeland from evil. The score has numerous solos for various wind instruments, like flute, oboe, English horn and Irish penny whistle. Jason also mentions the baby grand piano he bought and…
Read moreComposer Nick Roder talks about his music for Roadwarden, an illustrated text-based RPG released in September (2022). Since the game is text-based, the music functions a bit differently than game music often does, allowing Nick to stretch tracks out over longer periods of time. It’s very melancholic music – deeply introspective, calm… maybe a bit…
Read moreThe Game Brass are a team of seven musicians on a mission to share video game music in a brassy way. Six of them are performers: John Robert Matz (who’s been a recurring Level guest), Robby Duguay, Danny Flam, Daniel Romberger, Alex Hill and John Stacy. The seventh, Thomas Kresge, is The Game Brass’s arranger…
Read moreComposer Phill Boucher wrote a fantastic score for HEROish, a new castle defense game on Apple Arcade. It’s an amalgamation of Celtic instruments, a full-orchestra and some hardcore metal guitar. He calls it “Celtic metal plus” and the description is appropriate. Definitely take a few moments to check out this score video if you want…
Read moreComposer Nainita Desai is all over my playlist these days, whether it’s her game music or film music. Most recently, it’s for Sam Barlow’s new interactive film/game called Immortality. In Immortality, the player sifts through footage of 3 unreleased feature films, trying to solve the mystery of missing (fictional) film star, Marissa Marcel. As a…
Read moreBen Hanson and Kyle Hilliard are serious content creators in the world of video game media. They have a media empire of sorts here in Minneapolis at MinnMax, with weekly podcasts and videos, a vibrant Discord and a variety of events. They met years ago as colleagues at Game Informer magazine (published here in Mpls)…
Read moreAlina Matson is the founder of Glossbird, a Minneapolis-based game developer making a game called Fitment. Alina and her company are making a social micro-fitness game, described as Animal Crossing meets Duolingo for exercise. It isn’t out yet, although it will be hitting early-access soon! Fitment’s release is expected in 2023, and now you can…
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