What Austin Wintory learned while composing the music of Stray Gods

gamedeveloper.com:

Composer Austin Wintory has a secret that might surprise you. For years, his work in games like Journey, Assassin's Creed Syndicate, and Aliens Fireteam Elite has consisted of sweeping scores populated with orchestral swings and emotive choirs. You'd be forgiven for thinking his musical passions were strictly inspired by cinematic soundtracks or the symphony.

You'd be wrong. Wintory's secret is this: he is a giant musical theater nerd.

If you're familiar with the premise of Summerfall Studios' Stray Gods, that may not surprise you. It's a unique experiment of a role-playing game—it's a choice-driven murder mystery that's also a full-length musical. And even though it's about the Classic Greek pantheon, there's more of Sondheim, Fosse, and Lloyd Weber in this game than Hades, or God of War.

To hear Wintory tell it, a game like Stray Gods is something he's been waiting for a long time. Buried in his past are a number of musical projects. He and some friends once staged an unauthorized musical inspired by Buffy the Vampire spinoff Angel, and a decade ago Australian musical trio Tripod (who joined him to work on Stray Gods) staged an evening-length musical with Wintory's deep collaboration.

So when he teamed up with Summerfall to make music for Stray Gods, he knew he'd be able to bring one of his great passions to the world of video games. But he also knew it would be a daunting project—any video game score demands close collaboration with developers, and making a musical would practically mean he was stepping into the roles of level designer, narrative designer and more while doing the work of composer.

That's no easy feat. But Wintory was glad to share some of what he learned by taking on those additional tasks—lessons that