Second stretch goal reached! On our way to the third!
Combined with the Paypal payments we’ve reached the second stretch goal! Wo-hoo! Thank you very much!
That means some of Benny’s music will be recorded by a live orchestra. If we reach the third stretch goal, ALL of the music will be recorded live!
Speaking of music…
Our Composer: Benny Oschmann
BoUT1 was praised for its great music, composed by Benny Oschmann, who made all our scores since then. Benny has won the Adventure Gamers Aggie Award this year for his unbelievable work on “The Raven – Legacy of a Master Thief”. Well-deserved in our opinion! We wanted the game to sound like a 60s or 70s Agatha Christie movie – and it does. Even more than we had thought possible.
If you want to know more about Benny and listen to some of his other work, click here.
Orchestral Music
With your help we’ll try to record as much of the BoUT2 music as possible with a live orchestra. (Take a look at Benny’s interview below, to learn why we think it’s worth the extra effort.)
For the Raven we were able to record ONE piece of music. Check out the video from this cool recording session:
The Music in “The Book of Unwritten Tales 2”
We asked Benny a few questions about his role in the production and his ideas for the “The Book of Unwritten Tales 2” score.
You have composed the soundtrack for every big KING Art game since The Book of Unwritten Tales 1. How did this collaboration come about?
Benny: Back then I had posted some pieces of my music in a German video game forum and the guys from KING Art were searching online for a composer for The Book of Unwritten Tales 1. They liked my stuff and asked me if I would like to write some music for their game. At that time I was still a student and had never composed for a commercial project. Of course I didn’t let that opportunity slip and accepted. I never regretted this choice and have worked on many great projects with KING Art since then.
Your music in BoUT1 and The Critter Chronicles was praised highly everywhere. What were your sources of inspiration?
Benny: Mainly it was all the magnificent soundtracks of the movies and games that are also parodied in BoUT1 (Indiana Jones, Star Wars, LotR, Harry Potter and many more). From the beginning we wanted the score to be melodic and catchy. Many current game and movie scores just aim to be bold and epic, but lack musical substance. We wanted to counteract that and make a soundtrack that is fun for the players while they play and still lingers in their memory afterwards.
What plans are there for BoUT2 in respect of music?
Benny: We will of course remain faithful to our musical concept from part 1 and once again and bank on strong melodies/themes for the numerous characters and locations. In addition to completely new pieces, there will be many new adaptions of themes from BoUT1. All in all it will be significantly more music.
For BoUT2 the music will be played be recorded with a live orchestra for the first time. What are the benefits of that?
Benny: For the player a real orchestra mainly amounts to an improved sensation while playing. When the music is played by a real orchestra, consisting of 70 professional musicians, it creates an emotionality that can’t be imitated even with the best digital orchestra samples. The purely digital product „video game“ thereby gains a human emotional touch that breathes additional life into it.
For me, as a composer, a real orchestra also offers more creative options for my compositions. When composing with digital orchestra samples you’re quickly stretched to the limits soundwise, because certain elements don’t sound convincing or can’t be implemented at all. In contrast the tonal range of a real orchestra is nearly boundless.
Shout outs
A beautifully hand-drawn adventure game:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iggynore/shrug-island
Even tiny projects deserve support:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1696538202/tiny-text-adventure-2-interactive-fiction-game
