In the latest of a series of video documentaries going into the development of Starfield, Bethesda Game Studios Audio Director Mark Lampert and Starfield Composer Inon Zur had a chat about Bethesda’s approach to soundscapes across its open worlds and how the unique sound of its new space-faring adventure came to be.
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In particular, Lampert talked about how the addition of space exploration changed up the approach for the music when compared to more grounded games like Fallout and Skyrim.
“We don’t have control over how the player chooses to experience the game, so our sense of scale had to be totally readjusted in making a game on a planetary surface as we’ve always done before, and now, where you have these very vast distances against this black starry background,” he said. “It is a blank canvas and a massive playground and all the pieces are there for you to write your own story.”
Lampert continued on about how the music accompanies the player in all of Bethesda’s games, sometimes without the direct control of the composer.
“The music has a funny way of playing the right chord change at the right time, and a lot of that just happens at random,” said Lampert. “You look over the valley at just the right moment and that just happens to be when this one chord change happens… that feels scripted and [it’s] not.”
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Zur chimed in that the music in Starfield is just one part of the whole experience, and that some of his best work is the music that players don’t notice right away because they’re so engaged with the action. Of course, players everywhere won’t have a chance to dive into Bethesda’s latest game until much later in 2022. Starfield is still scheduled to hit Xbox and PC on November 11, and Bethesda will surely have plenty more information about its next big IP before then.