MAGIQUEST IS NOW OPEN!
If you’ve seen some of my vlogs during 2020 or read some of my posts for the past year, you’ll know that I’ve been mentioning a “huge side project” that was under NDA for quite some time. Well, I’m thrilled to be able to finally say the game is OUT! I was hired by Great Wolf Lodge to create all of the audio for their update to MagiQuest! Compose new music, create new sound design, help edit voice overs and implement it all into a new game engine. This was a massive side project for me that helped me learn some really valuable skills and was a pure joy to work on! Below you can see a pic montage featuring just some of the characters you’ll come across in MagiQuest.
To start, we decided to create a suite of centralized themes. The main theme was first and other core themes quickly followed – menu/UI theme, combat theme, victory or game over theme, etc. Having these core units set in place gave me a basis for any spin off sections. Area A may have a spin off of the main theme’s instrumentation while area B may incorporate fragments of the melody and so on. This also allowed me to tie a red thread through key moments of the game so it would feel unified and help tell the story. As we continued production, we were able to pull from these core themes to create more material very quickly. In many ways, this felt like what composers do on TV shows – where many seasons of a show can be based around a centralized set of music.
A UNIQUE PROJECT
This is a unique first for me because most of my projects are either films or video games on mobile and/or consoles. This is my first chance to get work with physical objects, designed sets and a resort setting. These factors present a fun and challenging puzzle to solve so our game is effective and engaging. Due to Covid-19, I wasn’t able to travel out to the site unfortunately. Thankfully, my key contact provided lots of great videos and feedback on how things felt and sounded in the physical space. He was truly my eyes and ears on-site. We had to make some design decisions that differed from the norm so our game audio would be clear and loud enough to combat audio from other, nearby stores, crowds and features as well as the size and echoes of main resort area itself.
The game is played with a MagiQuest wand that the player points, moves and waves around key objects and spots around the resort. This is how the player collects, uses and interacts with the characters and objects in the world of Vellara. I really am excited to get to travel out and get to experience MagiQuest in person soon! It is currently only at the Manteca site. Other Great Wolf locations currently have the older version of MagiQuest.
CHECK OUT SOME OF THE GAME HERE
I can share some of the music and videos from the game so I put together this short playlist. First off is a montage of three in-game scenes that feature three characters:
- Foli, who’s your guide and first contact in the world of Vellara.
- Beraxus, who helps you and is one of the builders. He also makes GREAT Dad jokes in my opinion!
- Finally you get a sneak peak of one of your enemies – Charlock. She’s a fierce dragon who hates to be cold.
After the montage, you can hear the Main Theme, the Logo/Idle Theme and then finally the Battle Theme. More may be added to this playlist as time and such allow.
QUOTES
Here’s what two of my co-workers had to say about working with me on MagiQuest:
This may be a bit long but it’s hard not to gush. Bringing Nate on was one of the single best decisions I made during this entire project. Nathan handled all of the music composition and sound design for our game, and I couldn’t be happier with the results and our collaboration.
He captured the essence and spirit of our experience with a wonderful main theme, and then used that as a platform to explore the other aspects, characters, and elements of our world. His music underscored all of our scenes and gameplay sequences with a range of emotion and excitement – from big bombastic moments to gentle, soothing lullaby-like passages.
He also dug deep to craft a unique palette for all of our sound effects and interactive elements – it both complemented the pieces he’d written and also resulted in memorable mnemonic cues that will stick in our players’ heads.
Most importantly, Nathan became a true member of our team during our collaboration together. He is flexible, communicative, and very easy to work with. I always loved being surprised by what he had to share with each delivery. It was just a very pleasurable and successful experience from beginning to end.
Jordan Itkowitz, Director, Creative Kingdoms at Great Wolf Resorts, Inc.
It was an absolute pleasure to work with Nate. His professionalism and enthusiasm rank amongst the top of anyone I have ever worked with. Not only did he exceed all expectations with his composing and sound design, he really went the extra mile to immerse himself in an engine and custom suite of tools that he was unfamiliar with to deliver a top notch final product. I highly recommend his work, and look forward to more opportunities to work with him in the future!
Alex Schacherl, Technical Designer, Creative Kingdoms at Great Wolf Resorts, Inc.
So that’s MagiQuest! It was a whirlwind of a project and I had an absolute BLAST helping out on it. If you’re local to the Manteca Great Wolf Lodge location, go check it out in person! I hope you dig it!
OTHER NEWS
I had the pleasure of doing some of the sound design for an indie short film called King Chong. It’s just as charming and silly as it sounds! Seriously! This film made me laugh pretty hard and then I took a double take at the main actress. You see, I’m a fan of MTV’s The Challenge and Cara Maria Sorbello is on that show. Don’t judge me. I had no idea she would be in this film when I signed on. So now I can proudly say “I’ve worked on a project with Cara Maria. Well… ya know, not directly.” 😛 Tim Smyth did a wonderful job putting together a fun, humorous and charming short film and I hope you enjoy it. You can watch the film here:
GETTING ON SPOTIFY
Final bit of news here – I’ve been slowly putting some of my stuff on Spotify and the like as well as creating new singles. Much of the work I do is owned by the companies that hired me. Meaning I cannot release the music to stores and streaming services like Spotify, Pandora and Bandcamp. But some of it, I CAN. You can hear some of my new music here. More and more music will be added to these store and streaming platforms as time allows. Below is a Youtube video of my latest piano single:
WHO AM I?
Nate Madsen is a 15 year industry vet who’s work has been in games, films, taught college courses and has also performed and recorded in various settings on both piano and saxophone. He’s been with SciPlay for 4+ years and has been running Madsen Studios LLC since 2005. Some of his freelance projects include SkateBird as well as providing sound design, mixing and mastering audio FUNimation anime trailers. On the weekends he likes to be very still and watch the grass grow. He’s considering taking up the bagpipes and really enjoys craft beer. There’s also the chocolate addiction and the Dad jokes collection. He’s currently living in Austin, TX and his is favorite color is green. He’s also trying to increase the number of push ups he can do at one time. You can get in touch with him here: https://madsenstudios.com/contact/