GDC Showcase Session Viewer

This GDC 2019 talk will feature real-time interaction with the speaker through online chat messaging during its scheduled broadcast. Hiring an orchestra can elevate your game's production value immensely, but is it always a good idea? In this talk Jon will share his personal tips and tricks for making a tight budget go further. Citing real-world examples from his score to 'Battletech', he'll dive deep into the complete Wwise project for the game, discussing things that worked and things that didn't, highlighting his successes and failures while writing and implementing a 4 hour interactive score on an indie budget. He'll share video from his live sessions in Budapest, Germany, and Latvia, and show how these recordings were used and repurposed in various ways throughout the project. He'll share examples where convincing mock-ups were favored over live players and vice-versa. Finally, he'll cover the basics of planning recording sessions with interactivity in mind, and speak about the importance of structuring your Wwise project early in the development process to avoid headaches.

Takeaway

You'll learn how to push your indie budget further, understand common mistakes composers make when writing for orchestra, and best practices for elevating recorded cues and mockups for maximum effect. Beginners should find working with orchestras a bit less daunting, and how to avoid common pitfalls after getting the gig.

Intended Audience

This talk is geared towards the working composer, particularly composers who work freelance. A basic understanding of common composing techniques, recording practices, and implementation middleware is recommended. However, if you have any interest in how freelance composers approach large music projects, this is a great start.