As so many people have commented on and praised the quality of the music featured in the Unexplored 2 trailer, I thought it'd be good to take a deeper look at the game's soundtrack. So here's some insight (and also some songs from the OST) straight from the game's composer and audio designer, Matthijs Dierckx.
First, though, give the trailer a watch and reacquaint your ears with its hauntingly beautiful song:
https://youtu.be/X-ZSojM7ABI
Question: What overall 'feel' are you aiming for with Unexplored 2's music? How does it differ from the first game?
Matthijs: I like to think that the musical style differs as much as the visual style. Unexplored 1 is a great dungeon crawler, it’s pretty dark, with some explosive moments. The music was there to support the player, to pat them on the back when they did well, or to accompany them in their moments of despair.
Unexplored 2 completely re-did the visual style, moved the whole game outside and suddenly I feel I’m composing for a Ghibli-movie. Which means I’m taking a much more orchestral approach, much more melodic and atmospheric.
The music in Unexplored 2 is becoming part of the world, of the feel. It’s not there anymore to just support the player. It’s there to draw the player in, into this beautiful world, to make them feel the wonder, the mystery, the unearthliness of the scenes.
Although the music is much quieter, it’s also less anonymous. Unexplored 1 had a couple of really cool tracks that you would recognize instantly as Unexplored 1, but it also features some tracks that would fit in just about any game with some action. The music for Unexplored 2 should feel much more distinct, much more linked to this particular game and its stories.
Unexplored 2 'Main Theme':
https://youtu.be/tCHDiR7RSeA
Question: Does the game's procedural content generation technology have any impact on the music?
Matthijs: Oh yes. Working on a procedural game is challenging. Let me give you an example. Say I compose two themes to go with desert levels. Usually, a player will not stay in a desert for hours on end. But what if the generator decides to throw a curveball and the player ends up in a desert-heavy world. Should I make them listen to the same two desert tracks over and over and over again?
These kinds of scenarios need to be solved in conjunction with one of the programmers. We sit down and try to come up with everything that MAY happen to a player and how the music should respond. This works fine. At least until something new is added to the game and the number of potential situations doubles, or triples, overnight.
But we’ll get there. I feel I’m really able to speak the musical language of this game and it’s immensely fun and greatly satisfying to write more and more music for the Wayfarer’s Legacy.
Unexplored 2 'Vignette':
https://youtu.be/ov-HBeAAXOw
Question: Is there anything clever going on behind-the-scenes that may not be immediately obvious to the player?
Matthijs: About half of the tracks are layered and the game decides which combination of layers to play. This way the music adapts to the circumstances in the game. We’re still tweaking the system, which is an extension of what we created for Unexplored 1, but the results are promising.
The only downside is the amount of time it takes to create these adaptive tracks. I like those ingame tracks to be about four minutes. That’s four minutes per layer. So, basically you’re writing twenty minutes of music for a four minute track. But in the end it’s very much worth it.
Example of the basic layer of an adaptive in-game track:
https://youtu.be/_y77joTpTWM
Question: What's your musical background?
Matthijs: I’ve been playing piano since I was six or seven and I was lucky enough my first piano teacher thought I was a complete and utter disaster. After a while he just quit. That meant I basically had to teach myself. And if you do that, you’re forced to come up with your own music. Which happens to be infinitely more fun than just repeating someone else’s music with your own fingers.
I didn’t go to music school, but I never really let it go. For a long time I kind of did grown-up stuff, like being a journalist, a publisher and a conference organizer. However, everything I did was within the confines of the games industry. That’s how I met Joris (Dormans), creator and game director of Unexplored.
I had written music for some bands and student movie projects, but Unexplored was my first real, professional gig as a composer. I do lack some experience, but luckily I met some great Dutch game composers through my previous work. The ones working on games like Horizon Zero Dawn, Arizona Sunshine, and Verdun. Whenever I need advice, they’re always willing to help.
Something else that’s helping me right now is my addiction to soundtracks. I cannot remember listening to 'ordinary' radio. Quite literally all the music I listen to is a soundtrack to a movie, a game or a trailer.
Thanks so much to Matthijs for the insight into the music of Unexplored 2. I definitely can't wait to hear more.
Matt | Big Sugar
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1095040/Unexplored_2_The_Wayfarers_Legacy/