AWAY: THE SURVIVAL SERIES: Music Composition, Music Design, Audio Direction

Challenge

Breaking Walls created a third-person perspective nature documentary style game. The music and sound had to reflect a non-human natural world with emotions of wonder, danger and survival.

Composer Mike Raznick had previously worked on Nature Documentary shows such as LIFE, and Planet Earth II on the music teams and additionally received his BA in Environmental Studies.

What Dreamcraft Provided

A unique and organic musical soundscape.

For exploration, standard musical instruments were recorded and sampled in non-traditional ways. Guitars were bowed, a hammered dulcimer, piano and violin were recorded and then time-stretched and pitch shifted to extreme settings. For example, one piano note was extended to over ten minutes in length.

These sounds were then integrated musically into the game so they could be triggered in random but predictable (and somewhat organized) ways. This resulted in a soundscape that never repeated itself.

For flying sequences and dramatic gameplay, a 40-piece string orchestra was recorded to add emotional depth and impact.

Dreamcraft contracted sound designers, voice over and managed the audio pipeline.

Result

A unique immersive musical and audio experience that enhanced a world presented from an animal’s perspective.

Working with the Breaking Walls team was a natural fit with our shared vision and love for this format.

We published a behind-the-scenes look at the various aspects of music and sound production for this immersive game. The story is hosted on virtualrealitypop.com:

Here’s a behind the scenes video of our first orchestra session, created for the Bearded Vulture:

Since the release of the first playable character, the Sugar Glider came to life as our next protagonist and iwas released on PlayStation.

Release Trailer: