Inside Star Citizen: Alpha 4.0 - Music of Pyro

Transcript — every row opens the video at that moment

1. 00:00:01

   I'm going to ask you the easiest question in the whole world, Pedro. What does music mean to you? Uh music for me, since I was very young, is like uh like breathing. It's been a good friend over uh many years. I couldn't imagine myself living without creating music. It's just extremely important to me. Uh jump points majestic dreamy

2. 00:00:49

   and adventurous. I was seeing the concept art very first concept art uh for a for quite a long time, and it was very special. It was It was not just a like a click and you were there. It was like uh an event by itself. And I think it certainly does it in a very beautiful way. And I wanted music to feel exactly the excitement that that I feel when I look at it for the first time. I tried to portray the music as if you were going to a different state of matter.

3. 00:01:42

   When you are in the jump point, music becomes suddenly more synthetic and more the sense take over the orchestra. I wanted people to feel you're somewhere else that where laws of physics don't really apply. Since I was a kid, I really loved hearing CDs of the old classics from Beethoven etc. But also from synth. So, I tried to make kind of an homage to the old school synth scoring.

4. 00:02:39

   It just made sense to use that on on a jump point. Make it very epic. Trying to condense my whole life experience into one place. We believe that having one single track for a planet it's it's not enough. When you get out of Quantum and you see a planet just like a sphere. We thought that would be great if it was

5. 00:03:30

   like just a very small stinger just telling you what you're about to expect. As if an echo of the soul of the planet. Making sure that you understand you are in the outskirts of Pyro one. We wanted to be ambiguous. So, the music should be feel always ambiguous because you don't know what to expect when you go down there. What will come up when I land and get out of the of the ship? If it's peaceful and there's no danger and there's nothing threatening you, then the track that I created, which is very, you know, peaceful and beautiful depending on the

6. 00:04:19

   planet, should come up. So, so it's like a three-stage approach. It's kind of almost like you're in a cinematic experience uh going going down to the surface. When I saw Pyro 3 for the first time, I thought it was absolutely beautiful planet. I really loved it. It's kind of strange, right? That you are in a supposedly dangerous system with such a beautiful planet. This is the planet where I believe we

7. 00:05:15

   should merge orchestra with synths and and and vocals. And just create a classy but modern experience. There's some eerie sounds in it, but everything very subtle. I don't want people to feel, "Oh, this is so beautiful." Or is it so scary? And then eventually the music may come into that. Part of four.

8. 00:06:14

   Part of four is a bit more alien, beautiful, and free. I want people to feel slightly uneasy, but still admire the beauty of part four. And make sure people understand we are in a very alien world. The way I did it was very smooth orchestral, very simple, and just trying to give the players like a cathartic experience. Just be there and admire the art that was done for that world. And then in the second part of the

9. 00:07:05

   track, I'm a pianist, so I tried to use the synth, but in a pianist way, which is not so often used. Because many times when you hear a synth, either they are doing very long lines, like the old classics, or arps, which are automated arpeggios. And I tried to do it just freely, without any tempo. Just me playing the synth. I love the result. I want people when they go to Pyro for the first time, I want people to feel that it's a completely new system, and it's a beautiful system.

10. 00:07:55

    It's probably some of the best art I've seen for a planet in any game. I wanted it to be experienced. I hope I hope people enjoy that. I want music just to be a companion to your adventures in in this new in this new system. So, what did we learn this week? Well, that depends. If you've never played Star Citizen before, you've learned that Pedro is our amazing composer for the persistent universe. That his work brings depth and emotion and the very essence of life itself to every adventure you undertake. And that his work gets more dynamic and ambitious every year.

11. 00:08:42

    If you have played Star Citizen before, well, you've known all this after playing for the first 5 minutes. And we're just here to show some appreciation to the maestro. For Inside Star Citizen, I'm Jared Huckaby. Thanks for letting us share the people and process of game development with you. We'll see you all here next week.