From God of War to Assassin's Creed: The Musical Journey of Winifred Phillips

This isn’t the only challenge Phillips has faced, however: she also wrote the score for 2012’s Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, an entry in a series revered for its evocative soundtracks. How do you retain your musical voice when contributing to a legacy defined by the music of other composers? Phillips was certainly aware of the high expectations. “I definitely listened to the music from the previous installments of the series, not so much to derive inspiration as to understand those techniques that the fans would consider to be iconic of the series as a whole. I was constantly aware of the large fan base of the Assassin’s Creed series, and their high expectations for the musical scores of these games. I didn’t want to disappoint them. While I knew that the setting of Colonial America would require a musical approach that diverged significantly from the previous entries in the series, I also wanted to employ instrumental approaches that would hearken back to the earlier games. For instance, I continued the use of synths, which had been established from the very beginning of the series.”

Assassin's Creed III: Liberation's setting required a style of music the series hadn't yet explored.

Yet while working on Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, Phillips never sacrificed her own style, and more importantly, allowed the game itself to be her primary stimulation. She says: “For most of my work on Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, I concentrated on the demands of the game for which I was composing music. Liberation needed to combine techniques and instruments from traditional African music with the classically baroque elegance of an affluent French society in the 18th century, and these styles had not been explored in previous Assassin’s Creed games. I focused on melding this classically European approach with strong world-music influences. In this sense, my music from Liberation had more in common with one of my previous game projects, Legend of the Guardians, which also combined classical and world-music influences. My music from that project won a Hollywood Music in Media Award in 2010, and I just won another HMMA Award for the music of Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation--so both projects were very exciting and fulfilling for me.”

Unsurprisingly, technology has changed the way composers bring their imagination to life. In the last 25 years, old-fashioned manuscript paper has been replaced by computers and expensive programs that allow musicians to quickly turn ideas into fully-orchestrated passages performed by virtual musicians. Phillips utilizes a number of programs vital to a composer’s livelihood, with Avid’s Pro Tools software leading the charge. But she’s also aware that synthesizers can’t always be a substitute for a live musician.

“Technology seems to have a way of challenging artists to find new forms of creative expression and expand the possibilities of their art,” Phillips says. “However, there can never be an actual replacement for live human beings in any art. My music for Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, for instance, includes a wide variety of live musicians, including accomplished African percussionists and vocalists, flautists playing authentic Mexican clay flutes, as well as my own live vocal performances. I try to incorporate live instrumental performances into all my projects.”

"Music has the ability to intensify the game-playing experience in many different ways."

Technology has opened doors that didn’t exist for composers before--and in turn, video game composers are finding mainstream recognition. Journey composer Austin Wintory was recently nominated for a Grammy award for Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media, marking the first time a composer was recognized for his or her work in a game. Composers that work in games have been recognized by the Grammys before; Civilization IV composer Christopher Tin has won multiple Grammy awards, for example. But never before has a nominated work been recognized for its appearance in a video game, making Wintory a trailblazer. And Phillips is excited to see where mainstream success can take her and her colleagues.

“I’m certainly eager for the work of game composers to be recognized--I think game music has been getting mainstream recognition more and more in the past few years,” she says. “It’s a very exciting time to be a game composer! The Video Games Live touring show routinely sells out in large venues all over the world, and game music albums are achieving impressive sales and climbing the Billboard charts. I’ve had several of my game music soundtracks released commercially, the latest being the Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation soundtrack, and the game industry continues to support the music of games by releasing soundtracks and drawing attention to the music in their latest releases. Actually, I think I’d most like to see the game industry as a whole achieve more widespread mainstream recognition as a serious community of artists producing meaningful work. That kind of recognition would be exciting for all of us!”

If you've played Little Big Planet on the Vita, then you've heard Phillips' compositions.

Where does leave the up-and-comer, though? As Phillips knows, breaking into game music requires specific knowledge and talents, and even if you’re already writing, it can be difficult to understand just how profound the differences are between games composition and composition for other media. The best way to learn is to experiment--and to use widely available resources to your advantage. Says Phillips, “A good introduction to [today’s various interactive models] can be attained by reading articles in Game Developer magazine and on sites such as Gamasutra.com. There are also several books on game audio that include information about interactive musical techniques.”

Ultimately, however, Winifred Phillips’ transition from game music fan to recognized composer gives hope to aspiring composers everywhere. “When I started out, I was in such awe of the people who make games. As a long-time gamer, I’d put game developers on a pedestal, and that made me very nervous when I eventually began to work with them. While my respect for the members of game development teams has only grown over the years, I now understand that they all struggle daily to achieve their artistic goals, just as I do. Moreover, I understand that my music can help them create the game they want to create. Music has the ability to intensify the game-playing experience in many different ways. That’s something I now try to keep in mind when I’m writing music for games.”