Inon Zur Interview

RPG Codex has conducted an interview with Inon Zur, the man who orchestrated the music in quite a few RPGs, including Icewind Dale II and possibly even the upcoming Lionheart. Check it out:

Q: Would there be anything that you find particularly challenging about composing a musical score for a computer (role-playing) game?

A: Unlike TV or film, music in games has to describe a situation and not a specific scene. Since there are no pictures you need to accompany you have to come up with your own idea of what to describe. This is a task that I find quite challenging and equal almost to free writing. The other challenging aspect is that the music for a game will have to repeat many times throughout the game. So, you have to come up with something complex enough not to bore the gamer after a few times, but also to be catchy enough to help the gamer get closer and familiar with the game.