Shadowrun: Hong Kong Update #16, $804,892 and Counting

Music and sound design are the subjects of the latest update for the Shadowrun: Hong Kong Kickstarter campaign. The write-up is penned by audio director and composer Jon Everist, who already provided new tracks for Shadowrun: Dragonfall – Director’s Cut. Here’s a snippet:

Hong Kong, wow, what a location! Like many cities in the Shadowrun Universe, it’s a place of extreme contrasts. There’s the mega rich encroaching and crushing the poor, neon corporate buildings a mile high next to 3000 year old temples. There’s magic, there’s tradition, Yin and Yang, Qi, and nightmarish and otherworldly forces. I love that Shadowrun is a mashup of old and new, the timeless and the futuristic, the spiritual and the physical.

My approach to the music for Shadowrun: Hong Kong will mirror this dichotomy. There will be organic, acoustic instrumentation with classic, Chinese elements set against dread-future deep synths and driving electronic rhythms and soundscapes – imagine the expressiveness of a live cello set against the crackling of a gritty sawtooth bass and space in the soundtrack to tune your ears to the environment.

I’ve been involved in the Hong Kong campaign since day one so I’m working hard everyday to weave a cohesive, compelling, and immersive audio narrative into our story arc. My goal is to make the audio a unique character while supporting the story. I’m going to continue showcasing individual characters (like in Glory’s Theme) by creating unique motifs for them and situations they find themselves in. We have some exciting new tech we’re hoping to implement which will also allow us to incorporate adaptive music and sound design that reacts to in-game situations and how you choose to play.