Tides of Nun

Tides of Nun

Nicholas Adams

Abstract

Writing music for role playing games (RPGs) is becoming more relevant in the current day than it has been in over 15 years. In the past few years there have been several massive releases such as Baldur’s Gate 3 and, more recently, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 just to name two of the most recent original titles garnering mass recognition. It is clear that this genre of video game in which large scale stories are told across tens or even over one hundred hours is beginning to make a strong comeback and will likely race to the forefront of gaming as it once was during the late 2000s and early 2010s. During times like this, it is wise of enterprising composers to hone the skills necessary to write for these types of games as not only are there going to be more jobs for composers on AAA sized productions, but behind the industry leaders there will soon be smaller companies vying for the consumers’ time between major releases who will also need several hours of music each. This paper aims to explore the topic of the music for this specific medium through use of some games that personally touched me musically and played a hand in inspiring the composition of my piece Tides of Nun which is set to an AI generated trailer for a non-existent epic fantasy RPG set in ancient Egypt. By analyzing the music of these games and how it applies to my composition, I hope to inspire the thought in others that this music especially must be approached from a narrative perspective framed by the expectations of the genre both historically and those created by more modern trend setters.

Publication Date

7-1-2025

Campus

Valencia (Spain) Campus

Keywords

composition; transcription; video games; analysis; orchestration

Tides of Nun

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