2024 GDC Main Stage: A Developer's Concert (feat. Austin Wintory and Troy Baker)

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[Music] [Applause] well thank you I'm glad you all realize that you are not in fact at the indie game festival and developer Choice Awards uh this is our way of saying welcome to GDC 2024 I'm Austin winry and uh this is really exciting they've never done this kind of thing before here at GDC and because you're all here and being very vocal and excited maybe hopefully we'll get to do this again so that's going to come down to your reaction

so uh I want to bring out a friend of mine who is remarkably at his first ever GDC uh he needs no introduction so I'm just going to bring him on out here my host for this afternoon uh Troy Baker my goodness welcome you guys sound amazing hi everybody um it is my first GDC which is weird because I've always wanted to go I was going to come in 2020 and then that was weird um so finally I was able to make it and and they gave me some rules just a little bit of housekeeping this is new for me it may not be new for you but just in case uh they wanted to say okay first of all uh make sure you keep your credentials in plain sight

great start okay off and running nailing that one um you mentioned the uh the igf the independent games festival and games developer Choice Awards will take place tonight uh between 6:30 and 8:30 here on the GDC main stage in the West Hall uh Troy is not nominated so if yeah it feels weird they had to point that out thank you uh if you're a GDC attendant you're more than welcome to join us there will be a live interactive musical performance by extra lives as pre-show entertainment beginning at 5:30 and if you're not here at GDC then you can watch live on Twitch that kicks off at 6:30 p.m. with the igf I did a great job we nailed the clinical part nail the clinical part now yeah this is amazing thank you for letting me be here so what we're going to do next okay Troy and I do a podcast that we call you got to hear this because I love sharing music by my friends and colleagues and people that just have meant a lot to me or

things that I think are somehow significant to the industry and the medium and remarkably he loves listening to me just Yammer on about this kind of stuff I mean yeah well he tolerates it I pay well so I guess that helps uh so in keeping with that we decided to make this whole concert essentially a version of you got to hear this so this is essentially me saying Troy as the proxy to all the rest of you I want to just share with you music that means a lot to me so to begin going to bring out the first of a few special guests uh this is another person who I think In This Crowd needs no introduction so I'm just going to cut to the Chase and bring out one of the landmark composers of this industry someone I feel very lucky to call a friend I admire them as a colleague immen immensely Darren Corb and Ashley Barrett

feel all right hello hi uh with your blessing and everyone's blessings I'd love to do a little bit of Hades shall we let's kick this Pony let's do it [Music] we their thre our Liv our soul

to our [Music] life [Music] oh feel it [Music] inside it's in the in [Music] the [Music] the in your light

[Music] live it's not where you live but who cares your God follow you true the be it's the blood it's in the [Music] blood from the

place you it's always there it's in your dearest King [Laughter] [Music] the it's in the blood it's in the [Music] blood in [Applause] the oh it's in the [Music] [Applause] blood

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] it's thank you incredible man not bad that so it it's so weird because like I remember playing Hades and and it's just obviously who's played Hades okay um but then like the thing that I love about knowing you is I get to take

games that I know and get to like have a more personal connection to them because I remember seeing them do that at the Hollywood Bowl yep and it never doesn't just give me chills the two of them and the music is incredible but their singing is incredible but you also got to see them do it in a very interesting venue as well right yeah I I am very lucky with regard to to Hades if if you guys aren't aware and everybody should go look this up after um obviously Darren and super giant have now an incredible body of work together with Bastion transistor py in Hades and a couple years ago we did a show at packs called the the best of super giant games basically where we did orchestral reimaginings of some of Darren's sort of greatest hits like the spine and all these other she shines Etc um amazing songs and we collaborated and put on a show and then and then said we should do this as a record so we got to go to Abby Road and record it as a proper album that you can find online and while we were there I said you're working on Hades right now surely we can stick some

Orchestra in there somewhere and he said well here's the song I wrote for the end credits uh called in the blood why don't you just add some Orchestra to this so I'm very grateful to say that that what you heard was I got to have my own tiny little fingerprint on otherwise Darren's perfect Masterpiece but it it remains a real privilege to be part of a very small small part of Darren and super Giants story so so that one that was thank you person in the fourth row I just want to I'm like 70% sure that was a human that just made that sound but there is a little doubt I was like like um so that one I knew so just so you know I've got a little bit of a cheat sheet but pursuant to the the podcast that we do there's a lot of this stuff that I don't know and one of his favorite things to do and I actually enjoy it too is when he'll play something and goes tell me what this is from and I'm like nah I have no idea um so that's that's kind of what we're what up there's a lot of these that I have no

idea I'm right along with you guys I have no idea what's going to come so so let's just drive right into it and unpack it after okay then you play the next one unpack it here we go [Music] [Music] e

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I think Lena's here somewhere right can I embarrass you and make you stand up and get the love from everybody here in a rain so I remember I I remember you were the one that told me about this game and it's one of those things where I've got like this backlog of steam titles that was like okay I I it's even one of those that I purchased and like I'll get to it and I don't know if you guys you guys like this too it's like there's so many ones that I just I want to play but I remember you like you gave a very simple pitch to what the the game was all about I was like okay extreme difficulty

extreme difficulty I am not good enough uh for that game I'm afraid it why what what about I mean besides with the beautiful piece that I just heard what made you choose something from that to play today well it so this is one of those wonderful success stories because this was a game that you know seemingly came out of nowhere obviously a lot of people worked really hard and behind closed doors but what I particularly love about Lena's story was that she had started as a game designer game developer and then shifted over and and dropped this on the world and instantly became a superstar and what I love about it and the reason why it was a mandatory inclusion on this show is that um it it for me it ticks every one of the boxes it has those catchy hooks that that there's just no substitute for that not everyone has the gift to come up with a thing that will stick with you even just a few notes that are that are deeply memorable it's got that but a thing that in a way this presentation doesn't do just to is that it's really

wonderfully electronically colorful it's full of sounds that when you hear them you go that's Celeste that's the only thing that will ever be we kind of don't do justice to that because we've put it in in the hands of an orchestra and that's really fun but it's just my way of saying I encourage checking out the original because it's it's just loaded every time you listen you'll hear things you didn't hear before and that to me is the Hallmark of best kind of writing that was the best button you've ever done if only we were recording this that was really really good we should be recording this um I okay so that for ahead forging ahead into this next one there there are a lot of games that I haven't played uh there are a lot of games that I have and and there's a big Trend right now there very few that you're not in 70% um but there's like when we we talk about like kind of bringing games that we played on previous consoles or in the past and like remaking them or remastering them or whatever there's a lot of times even I am hesitant and I

understand the irony of me saying that but um I remember the first time that I played this on PS2 and it was a brutal brutal game and I loved it so much and then when they talked about remaking it into this completely different thing I was like I don't understand how they're going to do this but then I started realizing some of the commonalities of this franchise were the music that's involved um even with different composers so I see up next you want to tell what it is or you okay I didn't dude we're there are no rails for us to be on by the way um so this is the God of War medley we're going this is another one that's very difficult to do justice to because there's a bunch of games with a mountain of great music by a lot of great composers so I chose a few of what I think are the obligatory highlights uh but there's so much more there worth going into if you don't know it take it

away maestro [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] CH go the

cross [Music] [Music] all [Music] oh

the [Applause] [Music] [Music] la [Music]

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[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh there he is George stand up guard Marino I'm pretty confident bear is not up here but love for bear as well and a whole bunch of other great composers uh this one I'm just going to go straight into I had the uh great pleasure um uh a number of years ago of working on Assassin's Creed Syndicate that's not what we're about to play um but I was lucky that it got nominated for some awards and uh it lost all of them uh to I'm about to play because it

is one of the greatest scores ever written for games it's written by one of my favorite people who I'm lucky again to call a friend and a colleague and with that here we go I pass the day at the morning tree where the river Sorrows Run Deep and all at once our of birds did settle and Nast around [Music] me in their song I heard your song I heard the B

strong benath those birds and the sing winds I heard you coming home oh my love where did you fly after you came here to me like a night Jo you love to nest in the morning [Music] dream [Music]

how special is that piece I loved that whole game I loved everything about it Jessica Curry from the Chinese room uh just yeah very special she's amazing yeah big shout out to Laura and travia doing double duty tonight flute Piccolo and vocals yeah he's pulling double and triple Duty microphone go bye-bye it's back all right there we are um I love that game um you're you're doing very you're doing a good job have I curated well is this okay for you um are you all having a good time is this a good way to spend your it feels like an okay to spend your lunch hour so good I see badges we're we're doing okay I'm I'm looking ahead and I see that what we've got up next is kind of something that you have concocted uh kind of this is a a big

chunk this is a mighty chunk compared to the others the mighty chunk yeah um set it up and and I'm just curious uh well this is the initial when when the folks at GDC very graciously reached out to me about uh putting on this concert the initial pitch from them was we'd love to uh put on a concert that is paying tribute to the absolutely stacked year of releases that was 2023 and I said that's fantastic let's do that can I also throw in a whole bunch of others of my favorites and they said well no we would really love and I said I've already we've begun it's just we'll see you on the day um and so so here we are so this is going to be uh obviously the crazy thing is there were so many high-profile and noteworthy releases last year a true a true Landmark year in games uh we don't even get to all of them um and uh but we we we we give it our best to pay proper tribute to the incredible work that was

not I wouldn't say done last year I would say the culmination of the work that was done and finally released last year that's true because this was an 23 was an interesting year for me because I got a perspective on making games that I'd never had before as an actor I've always tried to get in as early as I can but being able to see what all goes into making a game by the time it just gets to a script in front of an actor is is there's so many steps and I think that even as much as I tried to appreciate that I didn't appreciate as much as I did this year and I I'm hoping that I don't know what you're going to play u there was a game I I want to shout out selfishly stray Gods which was thank you um which we worked incredibly hard on and that is one of those things where I realize it's not just about adding like TV and film you can add music to it because it belongs there but with games it's something different because it's how does that work with the game how does that work with the mechanics how does that work with the narrative how does that work with player agency and so

that's the thing that I'm realizing is a commonality between all the songs you're choosing is it's not just oh this is the music that's in the game it's how that music was a part of the game in the case of most of these I would say the music is completely inep despite the fact that we've separated it from the game to put it on the stage it is truly Inseparable at least when I think of it um and certainly I think that's true of this lineup so mey chunk shall we shall we do our Mighty chunk Mighty chunk [Applause] [Music] 18

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drifting cold waterers with st to be seen the world too much or is it just me everything I set upon unravels at my feet everything I learn wasted on a girl who doesn't know how to be free like a [Music] b with not a

free I am dri [Music] called No star to be [Music] SE for True [Music] to Jo [Music] and NE

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[Applause] [Music] place your with mine let your sleeping take flight take me through the night down down down by the river down down down by the river hanging moon in fall this will lead where you belong sweep me off my feet down down down by the River down down down by the

river down down down by the river Inky and swirl and dance just C the flames and take a chance to be with me tonight take my hand and hold it cuz you and I are everywhere night is glor down down down R down down down by the river Don't Wake Me Up Just leave me

there [Music] dreaming you Barett thank you guys thanks Austin and come on for this Orchestra it's I'm I'm like I know I know we don't have as much time as we normally because typically if we do a podcast it's it's my wife calling me for dinner because we've been on this for like two or three hours so I know that we don't have that much time um but there is one question that I have for you it it seems to be like it would be a

really unique challenge because I'm I'm looking at some of the ones that we had that we had like Hogwarts when we had Star Wars and a lot of times you don't have the same Freedom that you would if you creating something new because you do have to create something new for something that is Iconic and still make it feel like it belongs within this very familiar IP so I'm just curious like what you do with that what you've seen are the touchstones that other composers have used to make it feel like it belongs in Star Wars or whatever yeah well in particular in that case I I think that Gordy Hab has had the unenviable task of figuring out how to out Williams John Williams for the last uh 10 plus years and obviously the the Grammy win he just got a couple months ago wish Steven Barton I think validates that uh they've figured out they've cracked that code uh me on the other hand I was like I I'm going to do a little musical that's so you know I'm gonna steer clear of that I don't I don't that that's too that's too much of a challenge but um yeah that's a non- answer to your question I like that wonderful job um

I'm deflecting well deflect over to what we're doing next because this is incredible yeah so what uh we'd like to do next uh originally I uh featured this composer's um music in the opening medley that we did what I was calling my hall of fame medley that we opened the show with I had a piece in there that I considered to be uh one of those little kind of mandatory highlights and then after the show was almost done being put together the lovely Folks at GDC let me know hey by the way uh this year at the Choice Awards here tonight on this stage what did we say 6:30 yes uh for the first time ever for a composer the lifetime achievement awarde uh is going to be Yoko shimamura and I said that is Justified and I said oh well then I'm definitely not going to just do a little glancing blow at uh a tiny little truthfully unfair small amount uh of uh

of her music in the opening Montage we need to do uh a slightly more sizable chunk so even this this really doesn't do justice um but I would love to share a little kingdom hearts with all of [Applause] you [Music] take

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[Music] a Shima Mora please stand and uh be honored appropriately Yoko shimaa we'll go into more depth about her astounding career tonight at the awards so please do in all honesty you

must come it it's worth it for that alone um where we're going to go next is I'd like to bring out a special guest Peter this is Peter McConnell so selfishly this one was for me uh I've been lucky to be working in this industry for now now uh close to 20 years and uh that once I kind of had my feet on the ground and I was lucky to be working and having projects out there people would constantly ask what is your favorite score of all time from a video game and if I'm trying to be polite I will him and ha and say oh how could you choose there's so many beautiful it's like you're you like you choose your favorite family member what there is an actual answer to that question Grim Fandango by this

man you want to say anything about Grim Fandango I was just blessed really to be able to write this music at the perfect time when uh the scene in San Francisco was just alive with this kind of stuff it's worth pointing out what he's alluding to there is when I played this game was in high school and I had been a gamer since I was 5 years old or something like that um but this was one of the first ones where I remember hearing it wasn't just brilliant music which it's brilliant music but the performers The Soloist these saxophone players and trumpet players and guitarists and violin and it's loaded with personality this music had soul and it was one of those eye- openening moments much like so many of the others on this program tonight where I went oh this art form this is just getting started this is this has shown us a new potential so with that uh one of my favorite pieces of all time from any video game the Beautiful Love Tango for

Manuel Cala and M Kar uh by Peter McConnell to come as well for this and GDC had the incredible politeness of scheduling him for a panel in this exact moment so uh we have to make sure that uh the twitch shows you screaming and makes him very jealous that he's not here [Music] right

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come on PE Peter

McConnell can I block you just now I can't believe I blocked Paul cartright on big shout out to Paul cartright uh for that one Paul is a dear friend Paul has worked with both of us independently and he's also along with several of our other musicians recorded on quite a few of the actual scores uh here tonight so he's interwoven with this uh magical art form as much as any of the rest of us very exciting you did a hell of a job bringing together all these musicians hey I'm just here to wave the stick they're the ones doing the hard work so it's it's a shout out to them so so we got one more yes we have one more if if that one was selfish for you in some ways this one is selfish for me I I this franchise I love and it's one of those that I could never have

imagined that I would be a part of um I remember walking into the audition and I remember being one of those that just fingers crossed please let me be in this and I had no idea what it would be like not only to be in that game but also what that game would go on to mean to so many people um but there's one specific moment when we were making the game that we all looked at each other and we knew this was going to be our favorite moment and it was completely born out of the genius imagination of our director um Ken LaVine for BioShock Infinite so I'm glad that you included this in there and this is one that I'm going to selfishly jump in on as well because it's one myor for this one uh I have nothing else to say than that uh this is this is uh how we're going to send you all off again thank you so much for coming massive love Paul cartright please come on stand up um in the back in our Woodwinds Laura and travia and Kristen Nas Superstar win players Rob kex on the piano and from the San

Francisco Conservatory of Music this fabulous Orchestra please everybody again my thanks to Ashley Corgan uh and the folks at GDC for inviting me to do this and for Brian Schmid the president of the game audio Network Guild for recommending me for this I I really I'm having the time of my life I love coming to GDC it's always my favorite week of the year but this kind of made this year a bit unusual so I'm just over the moon so we're going to send you off with one of my most treasured pieces of video game music in the history of this medium this came out the year of my first release and I was just in awe I couldn't believe that uh my little game Flow was alongside the unbelievable artistry that was Bioshock incidentally this is also by far the

most difficult music that we're going to be playing here tonight so preemptive amazing shout out to our awesome [Applause] Orchestra I [Music]

oh [Music] oh [Music]

e [Music] will The Circle Be Unbroken by and [Music] by by and by there's a better home [Music] a in the

[Music] sky sky there are L ones in the glory who de for we of to miss will you close your earthy will you [Music] Jo [Applause] C being un broken by

by oh by by there's a [Music] better in the sky Lord in the sky in the sky oh Lord in the sky thank you all for coming thank you Troy

Baker Darren Corb Ashley Barrett Peter McConnell there's also some of you whose music was in there tonight here in the audience I'm not sure if Enon Zur is here Jean Robert mats and others lots of love to all of you to the entire game audio Community uh thank you that's our talk don't forget to fill out your evaluation forms and uh enjoy the rest of GDC thank [Applause] [Music] you [Music]