With the evolution of Albion Online taking place and Lands Awakened arriving next month, the Albion Online team uses this week's new dev talk to explore the music of Albion. New music is coming to affect the flavor of the game too.
Senior Audio Designer Marie Havemann takes us through how Albion's music is planned and how they’ve decided to change it now, five years since the original soundtrack was recorded. Over the past year, Havemann and original composer Jonne Valtonen recorded new music with Prague's FILMharmonic Orchestra for the game. Combat and bosses, cities and starter towns, and hideouts all have updated new music. The tutorial also gets new music, along with the Destiny Board. The former, intended to feel like the beginning of a journey.
In combat, the soundtrack is designed to adapt to threat level, with the percussion kicking in the more danger there is. The combat music is also dynamic in how it plays in PvP versus PvE situations.Boss themes are flexible, with three possible ones playing based on threat and type of the mob. Overall, it's part of what the Sandbox dev team wants with players exploring the world and each region feeling unique and worth exploring. The full open world will be shaped by music in new ways.
Cities will also see their themes refreshed, with some keeping the existing theme, and others getting entirely new ones tuned to the element of regional identity. Thetford, for instance, has a theme to convey magic and mystery, with wisdom and nature coming through. The cold mountains surrounding Fort Sterling inspire its new theme's chill and strength.
Finally, there are now musical themes and melodies for Hideouts. These are intended to feel like home, somewhat upbeat, and simple melodies but calm to start. When you upgrade a Hideout, the theme will then get an orchestral theme.
For more, see the Albion Online site.
