8 minute read
STEVE GREEN & AUSTIN WINTORY
Steve Green has six years of experience designing audio for award-winning titles such as What Remains of Edith Finch, 12 Minutes, and ABZÛ. When he isn’t immersed in audio, he’s playing video games, spoiling his two cats, or riding his motorcycle.
G.A.N.G. Staff (GS): The Pathless won Best Music for an Indie Game this year at the G.A.N.G. Awards, and the score proved to be another masterpiece composed by Austin Wintory (Journey, ABZÛ, Erica, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate). What is your approach for each new project with Austin, and what is it like working together?
STEVE: Working with Austin is always interesting as I’ve never worked on two identical music systems for him yet. He finds new ways with each game to push my knowledge base and understandings of Wwise, or how music can work in a game. To be honest I’m grateful for this as I have very little musical understanding myself. I can’t compose myself out of a bag. So, to prepare myself for working with Austin, I tend to make as broad of strokes as possible in any music system I set up, and focus on the system after countless meetings and time spent reading his notes, documents, and meeting with the team in question. The Pathless, for example, utilized a “reduction” system wherein the more times a player heard a track, the more we would remove from the piece. After spending so long in a certain piece, it would have so many stems removed, it would feel like a new track.
GS: Giant Squid Studios was founded by Matt Nava, the art director behind the award-winning games Flower and Journey. Can you tell us what your typical day is like working with Matt and the team?
STEVE: Working with Matt has always been amazing. I couldn’t speak any more highly of him as he has a very similar aesthetic to what I love in games. To me, it’s like minimalism with a purpose. Everything he makes has such a purpose behind it (Austin has a similar mindset, I feel like, as well). However, Matt has always embraced experimentation, and allowing audio to take the lead when it comes to decision making. With ABZÛ for example, we created a “radio drama” style to help figure out the feeling and flow of the cavern level. The Pathless had a few examples as well during the chase scenes where the music was partially timed or built to match the feelings of the chases. We even adjusted some flying moments to fit music feelings and durations.
GS: You have a very impressive career history. You were enrolled in Michigan Technological University’s Visual and Performing Arts Department when you applied for a job at Giant Squid without knowing anyone there. As soon as you graduated, you hit the ground running on ABZÛ as the sound director. Have you had the opportunity to mentor any recent graduates interested in game audio? If so, would you tell us about the experience?
– STEVE GREEN
STEVE: As far as Michigan Tech goes, I’ve spoken to a number of students both as a group and on an individual basis. Either talking about the gaming industry as a whole and what I’ve learned and my experiences within have been like, but also teaching how to use Wwise. Generally I’m an open book when it comes to talking and sharing what I’ve learned in Wwise, Michigan Tech student or not, mainly because I’m an immense proponent of sharing knowledge. Sharing what we’ve learned only helps make games better.
GS: You’ve worked on some very cool projects. How has your role evolved over time? Have you developed any new and unique skills since your first project?
STEVE: I’ve been extremely lucky to have worked on what I have. For ABZÛ, I recall I was given the option of Fmod or Wwise. I had chosen Wwise because at the time I understood it’s musical workflow better than FMOD’s. Knowing I’d be working with Austin, I wanted to make sure I could do whatever he may have asked of me at the time. Apparently, I just so happened to have chosen a good combination as immediately after, I was brought onto What Remains of Edith Finch as the Lead Sound Designer. They were using Wwise and UE4 as well, making me a great fit for it. Since then the combination of Wwise and UE4 has been so prominent, and I had learned the pair so early on, I feel like I became fairly valuable. In an effort to not lose my edge, lately I’ve been attempting to dive more and more into the technical side of things, as well as attempting to get my Fmod knowledge up to speed with my Wwise knowledge. I always want to be useful. I’ve always been willing to take on whatever skillset I need in order to make the rest of my team’s lives easier.
GS: Giant Squid is certainly a cutting edge developer. You’ve had great success with new IPs, which is attractive to publishers. Can you tell us about your partnership with Annapurna Interactive?
STEVE: I feel extremely lucky to have a great personal relationship with Annapurna. Edith Finch was one of Annapurna’s first shipped titles. The Giant Sparrow and Annapurna teams were so close to one another, they’d come visit us nearly every week. I got to know them very well in that time, and after Edith Finch shipped, many of the devs went to work, if not directly at Annapurna, then with other Annapurna published studios. It got to the point for me that Annapurna can reach out to me to help out with any of their projects that may need my support, advice, or playtesting. They take really good care of their studios and developers. I’ve been extremely lucky, in general, to have worked with developers and publishers who have taken care of me for that matter.
GS: What’s on the horizon for Giant Squid?
STEVE: Giant Squid will continue to push the line in emotional works of art. Giant Squid is simply one of the most unique game developers out there in my opinion.
G.A.N.G. Staff (GS): You’ve worked with this team before on highly successful titles. What’s the recipe for a productive and gratifying collaboration?
AUSTIN: The key with Giant Squid is that they invite a very long-running and transparent collaboration. Matt Nava, the creative director, has invited me to be part of all their productions from day 1, which gives me a chance to see the development and evolution of every idea from the earliest phases. This in turn allows time for experimenting with the music on a level that’d be impossible otherwise. Beyond that, they also invite my participation in just about every aspect of the game. Playtesting builds, giving feedback on all the systems, the writing / narrative, all of it. The team in turn all are encouraged to weigh in on the music. The result is something very tightly-knit and, in a sense, “homegrown.” GS: You’ve been quoted as trying out many “novel ideas,” which makes for an interesting process with extraordinary results. How do you convey your vision effectively to the audio team while you’re still developing concepts for the score?
AUSTIN: I guess part of “conveying the vision” is making sure that I constantly create material that reflects it. I prefer to let the music do the talking instead of simply talking about it. But more importantly, it’s rarely about truly selling a vision so much as growing one with the team’s involvement. It’s OUR vision much more than mine, by the time the game ships.
GS: You’re very generous with your time and are constantly giving back to the community. You’ve mentored countless up-andcoming composers and have been a speaker at many conferences over the years. Would you like to share some words of wisdom about composing for games?
AUSTIN: I’m not sure what to offer up as a single answer to that! But I would say that for me, scoring games comes from a place of loving games. I love the ways we can tell unique stories through them, I love
the way we can experience art (of all types … musical, visual, narrative, etc.) through them, and I love the teams that make them. It’s a truly 20th or 21st century expression that we’ve barely begun playing with. I find it’s very easy to deal with the hardships of this career when remembering just how fortunate we are to have the chance to be part of this incredible art form!
GS: Thank you for your time, and we look forward to your future projects!
