How Austin Wintory's Interactive Musical Works
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- čas přidán 11. 05. 2024
- I had the privilege of getting an inside look into Austin Wintory's work on the new interactive musical: Stray Gods: A Roleplaying Musical. The system to allow players to choose-their-adventure through a song is deceptively complex, with just an insane amount of work writing and planning required to make something that feels totally seamless on the players' end.
0:00 - Intro
1:11 - How the Interactive Music System Works
1:43 - Challenging A Queen
2:57 - The Blue Path
3:56 - The Green Path
5:01 - The Red Path
6:01 - Persephone's Reactions
7:59 - Rippling Implications of Player Choice
11:18 - Small Sample of Possible Endings
14:46 - Outro
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#StrayGods #gamemusic #8bitMusicTheory - Hry
![Time to SING! - Stray Gods [1]](/img/n.gif)
DUDE wow you always shoot past expectations. I am so impressed and touched by your detail, as always. This channel is such a gem, I feel so grateful to have been a periodic beneficiary of your curiosity. Seriously, thank you
Also HUGE HUGE HUGE shoutout due to my cowriters from the band Tripod on this song. Absolutely a team effort in all ways (musically, lyrically, conceptually, all of it). Spent many many weeks on just this one alone!
You've become a household name in the video game music world Austin, and no amount of modesty is going to keep us from digesting your work over, and over, and over, and over...
Thank you for everything you have done, are doing, and will do in the future. We all love it.
Big double-take when you mentioned Tripod. I grew up watching those guys on Aussie TV, and working in live production have even worked with Gatesy a couple of times. Deeply, deeply excited to check out this game.
TRIPOD?! I knew it was a Melbourne-made game, but I didn't realise it was THAT much of a Melbourne-made game
A guy of such singular talents could very easily be arrogant and get away with it, so the fact that you use your success to gas up your colleagues and nurture a musical community just makes me like your music even more.
@@balhatchet they are just the best
The amount of work this must have taken both to program this and to record all of the different options is wild
Im not usually one to buy "deluxe editions", but if one gets released with a huge book of sheet music for all the songs, id starve myself to afford it
Interactivity in music broadened to the general public is a really ingenious idea. I'm really excited to hear Wintory's music in this roleplaying game!
This has nothing to do with anything but I love seeing a contralto role in Persephone. It's so rare to have a female role in my own range in a musical.
Mary Elizabeth McGlynn is a BEAST
SAME!!! I was like “finally a part I can sing along to directly instead of having to transpose it down or sing way up in my register”
Things like this are why I maintain that video games are, at least at this current point in history, the greatest art form. In no other medium would a theatrical performance like Stray Gods even be possible, at least not in a way that would be reasonable for most theatre companies.
Imagine rehearsing a show where on any given you night you wouldn't perform 95% of what you'd prepared. That's at LEAST the situation this would be if attempted live
@@awintory Right! And that's not even considering how all of the possible permutations from the audience's potential choices would affect blocking/dancing on stage, as well as the music. Planning, choreographing, directing, and performing all of that would be a nightmare to the nth degree. I'm performing in a normal show this weekend and still sometimes manage to forget my lines and movement lol. As such, absolutely phenomenal work on this soundtrack, Mr. Wintory. Your compositional skills are truly awe-inspiring!
It’s like if Anaïs Mitchell and Neil Gaiman wrote a video game together.
That is the best way to describe it, now I might need to get it since hadestown and coraline are my fav musical and movies respectively
You know, the moment I heard of this game being in development, my immediate thought was "can't wait for 8-Bit's video on this"
Austin wintory is a great composer. Assassins creed syndicate had a stellar soundtrack from him
Looking at the cast list for this game is practically a who's who of all my favorite voice actors. I can only imagine how excited they all were when they were pitched the concept for this game, especially since I know how many of them love to sing.
Mmmmm, that flow chart! It's really cool how modular the song is while still being a cohesive whole and not sounding that modular. Great video and analysis!
I've been messing around with this kind of concept in Unreal Engine, but these developers make my experimenting look like kindergarten level...
I've been working with having different characters represented by their own instrument in the music, and adapting the background music based on which characters you side with in the story.
That sounds awesome! Please don't feel intimidated by Stray Gods.
@@Razidable There will always be people who do better at one thing or another.
I'm more worried about making the elements of my game work together to create a player experience than I am about comparing the individual elements to other artists.
I still can’t believe they did it. Truly a mind bending amount of work to do something like this. Creating meaningful TEXT choices is already difficult, but they want to do it with music?! Incredible
This is so cool to see explained! Also happy to see the shoutout to the harp (me throughout the Charming/Green choices) 🎶
This game was not even on my radar because I had no idea but man is it screaming loud at me to get. Thank you so much for sharing a find like this. I had chills when the aggressive paths just flows so well.
This is the first time I hear about this game and it looks like a dream to me. I love making decisions in RPGs and I love musicals. This seems like a masterpiece in everything it does.
It was a pleasure getting to meet you at the Live show, and to make you that tie-dye spaghetti bowl we call a song map 😅 This video is amazing, and right on the nose with the technical and narrative explanations!
Huge fan of your work always, 8bit!
This sucks because this game looks so good and it’s being entirely overshadowed due it’s release window. This game looks amazing, but I literally can’t play it because there’s so many games I’m playing at the moment! I will definitely circle back, but I don’t know how many else will
12:33 This is why I love thid game. Not only does it create all of these unique songs within songs, its able to bring back the melodies from previous songs to create a thematic link.
Like, this is Persephone's grief for Calliope being explored, so it uses the melody from the end of Phantom Pains, the song about Apollo's grief for Calliope. God I love this game
I just finished playing this in one sitting. Couldn't put it down
This looks phenomenal! Wish listed for purchase next paycheck!
i always adore your videos on Wintorys work, lol
So uh, are we getting a series on the music for this game? Because I’d love more.
I remember working on a Pure Data patch that I wanted to put in a rudimentary asteroids-meets-adventure game where sets of variables in the game could control everything from active tracks, effects, song movements, and everything between. Experimenting with interactivity in music is absolutely intoxicating, and it's exciting to see all of the different things that people are dreaming up. It'll be interesting to see how much further people get with intermedia approaches within games.
Is it just me or are the transcriptions a lot more approximate than usual? Not that I’m complaining - vocals are hard! And it gets the idea across.
Now I must be off to play this game. Like, IMMEDIATELY.
I think for now a big question for people who haven't got to try several playtrough is how much narrative branching happens depending on your choice. Bit until we find those answers, this kind of video help confirm them how the songs guarantee very different experiences
stayed up all night to play this the second it dropped... that shit was so worth it. it was so GOOD. it's like someone made a game just for me in a lab ❤️
A bit of this reminded me, musically and thematically, of the musical Hadestown
I can't imagine how difficult this must have been for Austin to do. This is insane, and is absolutely a historical release for both video games AND music. Bravo!
The people who made This are truly musical geniuses
When I saw this game and that Wintory was involved I knew it would be something special
What a pleasant surprise. I've never been a huge fan of musicals, but the effort and skill applied here is very impressive! I never would have sought this out on my own, so thanks for sharing!!
Favourite game this year, personally.
There's 17 endings actually and I didn't find them all by myself I missed 4 of them. The thing is if you go with blue chorus about "maybe it's you who doesn't know who they are?" but then pick Green option you get either completely diffrent version of [Let her win] ending if you charming or 3 very somber endings that as always thematically close second verse. And they all come with one last unique scene transition that all other songs don't have.
If there was anyone to have accomplished something like this, it would have had to been austin wintory. He's just that good.
This game is MIND-BOGGLING.
Thanks for showcasing us this game Music theory. I love myself some music based games and chose your own adventure style games as well. This is like combing elements of Rent the musical vibes with the music, with Detorit Become Human Story Branching Narrative smasehd together. If I haden't heard of this game it would've slipped under my radar. Thanks for sharing. I'm defenly wishlisting this game.
Superb video, as always! Love your analysis of the music, as always! And so amazingly cool to see you featuring Austin Wintory's music on this channel again!
Its always a great day when a new 8 bit music theory video comes out lol.
Came here again straight after my playthrough of Stray Gods. What a magical experience it has been, rarely has a game ever made me feel such emotion, enraptured me quite like it did, and left me speechless and with tears in my eyes. I wanted to return here to say thank you for this video, for without it, I would very likely never have heard of Stray Gods, and thus never experienced its brilliance. Thank you so much, for all the work you do, for all the videos you've made that have brightened my days, for introducing me to this fantastic game. Thank you ♥
Just compleated this game today. If you like music (i mean you are watching this) please play it. Worth every penny
I've been hearing about this game for months and thought it sounded interesting, but this concept is awesome! Definitely worth checking out.
This review sold the game to me! Incredible stuff, it's a whole other level of appreciation for the art form.
Honestly, after how he scored not just Journey but the concert so that the orchestra could play along with someone playing the game... Yeah I'm not surprised.
No less impressive though! I can't wait to play this, after I'm freed from the thrall BG3.
Would love to see your take on Karmaflow someday!
Wow, this game looks incredible. Checking it out on steam right now
I love Austin wintory. Particularly fond of his work on monaco what's yours is mine
so some music from a short hike its really good
Wow I was just in Berklee's Film, TV, and Video Game Scoring Program in Los Angeles where Austin Wintory about a week ago so this video is very cool to see!
This is mind blowing. 😮
Seeing this video and the trailer, made me want to buy the game. It’s just so cool
This is insane!
That orchestration is fire. Great job notating the fills, 8-bit.
I've got mixed feelings about the song. It's way too on the nose: "We're fighting. Here's a song about the fact we're fighting. Here's the next verse, in which we're also fighting." Good musical theater songs triangulate a conflict through some other thing. Then you can focus your lyrics on that other thing and they don't come out as bald/unsophisticated/cringe statements of emotion. Like in Sunday in the Park with George: "Finishing the Hat" has the artist George sing about finishing painting a hat, when the song's actually expressing the conflict between his dedication to his art and his love interest's own demands on his time.
This game does seem to nail one idiomatic detail, though. Conventional musical theater songs don't use melisma because it makes lyrics harder to catch. So bravo on that one.
For the record, that sort of lyric writing depends entirely on context. The game has many moments that call for lyrics in the vein of the Sondheim example. But musicals where the lyrics become, in effect, dramatized dialogue are very common. Hence this example
idk about "good musical theatre songs"...there's plenty of great musical theatre songs which are more on-the-nose lyrically
A great villain theme Austin wintory made is Men Have Become Monsters from AC Syndicate
THIS IS SO COOL WHAT THE HECK?!
I love Austin Wintory. I should play this game
dang, that's so cool
ONE MORE AUSTING WINTORY VIDEO LES GO
ive had this game wishlisted for months im very curious how it turned out
Brilliant works!
Kind of reminds me of Steven Universe ⭐
This is bonkers how have I never heard of this???
Instant buy!
The interaction this game gets from me is me whispering "Snake Eater" time after time 😂
I really hope that one day you will react or analyse the music of genshin, especially their main themes and each of the game's nation's leitmotif
Oh snap.... When I've got the couple bucks extra, I know what I'm adding to my backlog
Not sold, but super cool more games/ publishers ar working with you
Experienced a person singing along with Duke Ellington's Sacred Concert. Only person in the house who got the point. When "Freedom" hits the second time, sing along. The aggressive path, or just playing along?
Can you do a video on the musical history of Kirby?
...without mentioning the final boss themes? Just the stage themes?
I would like offer my apologies for a horrific challenge in Tyrants. I really thought that finding the music would be hard, but after I found it was not only easy to find, but seemingly childish to breakdown. I felt like had “shamed my famiry.” Sad asian noices… My next seemingly out of context mention the the song, Kangaroo Hop, From The Adventure Of Sherlock Homes’ Little Brother. No need to mention on your channel unless you want to try to branch out? I really appreciate your channel. But since Im going back to school I can’t really be a patreon and buy beer. I hope to see more than 1 video a month, and will spread your seed, not in a hay way, with other young fellows at the college I will soon attend. Thanks for your awesome videos non the less bro.
Is Austin a Joe P fan? So much Bari content!
The game sounds very intriguing!! however, maybe this is a personal preference, but I wasn't a fan of the voicing leads at all. No matter what or how it was being sung, it felt boring for me. Maybe I just don't like musical music? But the vibrato and everything felt eh, despite how much build up there was supposed to be.
It's in-line with how people perform in modern musicals, so there's that. I would say the quality is comparable to your average Broadway show, so if it doesn't work for you the style of singing is probably why.
The reason you're bored could be that these passages leave out what makes musical music exciting: the vocal high work. Seeing musical theater live can feel like an athletic performance, watching whether the performers will be able to meet the demands of a particular difficult, climactic high passage. As a musical theater fan, I find a good voice pushed to its limits incredibly thrilling.
Here, judging solely by 8-bit's excerpts, the music all stays in a comfortable pop alto range. I mean, maybe you just don't like musicals, but this isn't a representation of the most appealing of the genre, which combines opera-weight vocal power with hard-charging narrative drive.
@@paulxanders6498there are definitely some big high notes which are very fun to listen to, both in certain pathways in this song and throughout the song.
Though, I wouldn't say that's "what makes musical theatre so exciting", there's all sorts of things that go into thay
Now, you must look into Metro Exodus/series music.
When's the video about Dan Forden's soundtrack for the original arcade version of Mortal Kombat (NOT THE GENESIS VERSION, that would be cheating)
If you liked that then you should do de Blob
Funny enough that remind a Brazilian called lenda do heroi. In which the game is a typical side scroll RPG. And the hero is a knight. And the made in a way the hero sing telling what he is doing the game. Get a Stanley parable vibe. But more musical
Awesome concept, but I have no intention of playing.
Interesting concept and obviously a ridiculous amount of work... but the vocals are so bland and lifeless, especially the main character, that not a single line grabbed my attention. It also doesn't help that they feel somewhat lost in the mix when they should be the main attraction as the driving forces behind the story.
I will say there's some way more powerful, emotional vocals, including some from the same lead actress throughout the game."The ritual" is a highlight for me
Nobody talks about Karmaflow.
I just wish I could enjoy the lyrics
Nice. Man still nothing will ever get close to Monkey's Island music transition
This would be more impressive if these could actually sing but it's so obviously autotuned.
The execution of the idea is really impressive but am I the only one who finds the melodies really jarring? Just wasn't nice to listen to in the end
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I love Austin's music to death and the fundamentals of his writing in Stray Gods sound fine, as I would expect given his considerable talent, but the overall flavor of it isn't up my alley, nor is the game itself seeing as it looks to be yet another modern day riff on Buffy the Vampire Slayer young adult angst that will end up being dated inside a month. I'll take a hard pass on that and patiently wait for Sword of the Sea, which will hopefully be a welcome return to form for Austin and is much more within my realm of interest where independent games are concerned.
Most cringe "game" of 2023 award lol
Watch out - the video game understander has spoken!
This looks like a visual novel, or rather a sound novel.
A genre of "game" I really like, but that is so easy to make it attracts the most talentless and cringe people there is.
Searching for a good game on Steam in this category is like diving in a septic tank looking for the wedding ring you dropped in the toilet.
Anyway. I cringed too.
I get that games where you walk around and kill enemies are more typically fun, but sorry, writing this game of as cringe is seriously wrong. It is something fresh, something new. The open-world style games you see everywhere have become a bit stale at some point. This on the other hand is finally something different, more creative, it has work put into it. Sure it could be better, but as it is a first of a kind it is understandable.
I don't even like musicals, yet somehow this game makes me incredibly happy. It is incredibly good, you just have bland tastes.
Not into this ... Sorry ...
this aint it chief