Video Game Music...

Prometheus is a game-mod to Unreal Tournament 3. Created by Rachel "AngelMapper" Cordone, it was entered into the $1,000,000 Make Something Unreal contest. After it won 1st place in phase 2 of 4, I joined the team as a music composer.

The video below shows some game footage featuring my music. I wrote eight songs for the game. The first five songs, for Prometheus levels, each have seven layers. The last three songs, for Epimetheus levels, each have five versions.

For the Prometheus levels, the player controls five "Quantum States" (QS) starting with #1 and ending with #5. During the first QS, the song plays with only a beat. Each QS after adds another layer to the song until the song is complete when the level is complete.

For the Epimetheus levels, the player controls three Quantum States in an order. In fact, the player can replay any QS over again as many times as he wants. Since the QS interaction is random, AngelMapper wanted the song system different than for Prometheus levels. Each QS gets a different remix of the same song.

What I really like about the music system for this game is how good of a job AngelMapper did on the programming end. If you notice, there are no trainwrecks (see definition below). Each version/layer of the song is seamlessly crossfaded into the next version/layer. This feature is not part of the original game. In fact, I hate writing music for the game because of the train wrecks that occur when trasitioning between different versions.

Prometheus can be downloaded here. You can find more information about the game at ModDB.com. You will need have Unreal Tournament 3 installed in order to play the game-mod.

train wreck [treyn rek] - noun
A sudden and disastrous [change of the beat or] halt in the music 'set' played by a DJ. Often associated with the music styles of House and Techno where a set can last for an hour or longer. This calamity results in the loss of rhythm and ‘flow’ in a club or rave, which in turn presents a certain negative attitude by the attendees toward the DJ. This is best defined as ‘boo’. This condition often throws the DJ into an extreme state of apprehension and a fevered determination to save his cred usually resulting in an increased chance of causing another train wreck. Technical problems associated with equipment do not qualify under this definition. Derived from the visual image of a train, traveling at high speed, smashing into an brick wall.
UrbanDictionary.com