Subtension (WolverineSoft)

Subtension was created by 38 people across two semesters at the University of Michigan's WolverineSoft Studio. It is an educational case study of Subset Game's FTL: Faster Than Light, and takes inspiration from its game mechanics as well as other games in the genre. 

As a member of the fall 2022  three-person audio team, I made dynamic, eerie ambient level music and driving battle music for 2 levels, worked on sfx, helped edit the script, and organized and directed VO.  

In “Release the Dead”, creating a high energy battle musical layer over the ambient one was a challenge because the ambient track changes keys, yet the high energy battle music needed to sound good no matter when it was triggered.  I ended up relying on texture: I started with long, reversed percussive hits that swelled; automated them to rise in pitch repeatedly, while other bell like tones simultaneously descended in pitch; and finally I panned each of these ascending and descending sounds to move in opposite directions horizontally over time.  This crescendo of motion and sound creates a sense of increasing tension and impending doom.  The ‘battle’ track climaxes with one final sweeping riser and a massive anvil, timpani, and lingering metallic groaning and resonance.   These textures and percussive hits have pitch, motion, and intensity without interfering with the tonality of the choir, strings, or arpeggiation that make up the slow, ambient layer of the music.