work and story. While I think temp
music is a great communication tool
when you are helping someone real-
ize their creative vision, a good com-
poser has a creative vision of their
own.”
Acree notes that it is impor-
tant to enable the music to coexist
with the game’s sound design. “In
the case of game cinematics where
there will actually be a sound mix,
sometimes I’m lucky enough to sit
down with the sound designer and
the director and talk about what will
be happening and where. Sometimes
I get to hear work in progress sound
design that allows me to make ad-
justments, which is great. A lot of
the time, though, I have to use my
imagination and try to steer clear of
the obvious competing moments.”
“I really like The Chosen but I
also chose to develop it further with
Destiny,” remarks Acree. “When I
put together an early promo of the
soundtrack, something was miss-
ing. It started big and never had a
chance to revisit that theme that had
kicked it off. When the time came
to finalize the score for the Varèse
Sarabande album, I knew I had to
make the best presentation of the
music possible, so I wrote Destiny
as a bookend piece.” The score has
been given a unique opportunity to
reach more listeners. “It’s actually
one of the first game soundtracks
to be released on a predominantly
film music label, which I think is a
sign of the increasing acceptance of
game scores in the mainstream.”
The project had a personal sig-
nificance for the composer. “Shortly
before I was hired, my father was di-
agnosed with terminal cancer. I was
spending a lot of time in hospitals
and dealing with some really heavy
stuff that could have easily derailed
me. But I knew I had to stay focused
on the work whenever I could. It’s
what my dad would have done. One
of the things that appealed to me
about getting to write a Chinese
fantasy score for Revelation was the
fact that my dad loved the Asian cul-
ture and I grew up around it.” Acree
adds, “It’s fitting that it’s also the
last score I got to play for him.”
P
ho
t
os
c
o
ur
t
esy
of
N
et
Ea
se
Ga
me
s
A mighty beast bares its menacing teeth
Dangerous foes lurk around every corner
Players engage in massive online battles & multifaceted quests
