Thief 4 or more idiotically called Thi4f (pronounced Thiaf) is coming to GDC. Paul Weir of Eidos Montreal will be giving a talk entitled "Stealing Sound: Generative Music in Thief." Given what this stealth based franchise does best, sound is an extremely important factor not only in being able to immerse yourself in the dark corners of the world, but audible game clues to aid in sneaking. The sonic scape of the games require intensive and careful layering of ambient noises, guards voices, the noise Garrett produces and being able to mix and meld them with the player still needing to able to tell what is what and where it came from.
Description: Innovative audio has been at the heart of the original THIEF titles and Eidos Montreal's new THIEF is no exception, this presentation will mark the first time that the game has been spoken about publicly. This talk will argue for the benefits of using generative music in games and will present a theoretical framework for its justification. Developers should more enthusiastically embrace alternative music models to resolve ongoing issues with linearity and to create a musical aesthetic that pushes away from the shadow of film. I will show our custom generative system (GRAMPS), demonstrate its key design features and suggest some best practice techniques. Ill also discuss how using a single person as the composer, sound designer and audio director on a AAA title can help create a unified sound field, blurring the lines between sound design and music.
