Wilbert Roget II

Events, Game Music, Music Production

2018 PAX East composer panel “Maestros of Video Games” Announced

March 6, 2018 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on 2018 PAX East composer panel “Maestros of Video Games” Announced Share this

PAX East has had an ongoing series of panels the past couple of years that invite composers of AAA and indie games to panel and discuss the intricacies of making music for wildly popular games. This year’s event is going to be no different, inviting several big-name composers from all over the game music industry to come speak to con-goers and answer questions.

The 2018 PAX East composer panel “Maestros of Video Games” will feature the following music star lineup:

Kristofer Maddigan
Cuphead.

Wilbert Roget, II

Call of Duty: WWII, Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris.

Cris Velasco
Dauntless, Overwatch, Resident Evil 7 biohazard, Bloodborne, God of War.

Darren Korb

Pyre, Transistor, Bastion.

Tom Salta

Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, Killer Instinct Season 3, Halo: The Fall of Reach, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.

The panel will be moderated by Emily Reese, award-winning radio host and producer of “LEVEL with Emily Reese” podcast. Following the panel join the composers for a meet & greet / autograph session at the Queue Room from 6:30pm-8:00pm. For information on PAX East visit: http://east.paxsite.com/.
Game Music

Call of Duty: WWII Original Soundtrack by Wilbert Roget Now Available

November 6, 2017 | Brenna Wilkes | 1 Comment Share this

The soundtrack to thew newly-released installment of the Call of Duty franchise, World War II, composed by the award-winning Wilbert Roget, II (Lara Croft and the Tomb of Osiris, Dead Island 2) is now available for purchase and download.

Roget composed the 21-track soundtrack, which he notes in an interview with Heavy.com was significantly different from composing for previous games.

“There are certainly various trends in military scores set in this era – heroic trumpets to symbolize the bravery of the soldier, snare drums used in action moments, solo violin to underscore the fear and agony of civilians caught in the conflict. But it was important that we made up our own vocabulary of signature sounds, to give our game a more personal, relatable feel.“

The soundtrack was arranged by David Shipps (Titanfall 2) and performed by the Nashville Scoring Orchestra, who also performed the music for Destiny 2 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. The Call of Duty: World War II original soundtrack is currently available through iTunes and Amazon. You can also preview the soundtrack on Roget’s Soundcloud.
Game Music, Indie Music

Go Behind The Scenes with Wilbert Roget II on Scoring ANEW: The Distant Light

February 28, 2017 | Ryan Paquet | Comments Off on Go Behind The Scenes with Wilbert Roget II on Scoring ANEW: The Distant Light Share this

A little over a week ago OSV reported on the launch of Resonator Game’s Kickstarter campaign for Anew: The Distant Light. Gamasutra recently posted a video interview with composer Wilbert Roget II on his work, you can find their original post here.

The interview is conducted by Jeff Spoonhower who is the Art Director for Anew: The Distant Light. Jeff and Will discuss how they came together on the project, their working relationship, where they find creative inspiration, and much more. My favorite segment was “Using themes to convey emotion” and the composer’s non-traditional thoughts on how to approach the alien theme. You can find the full index of the video interview below:

Video Index:

0:17 – Introductions
0:45 – Initial contact, starting up on the project
6:00 – Musical inspirations, influences on the game
14:08 – Giving yourself enough time to create something unique
19:10 – Using themes to convey emotion, and to tell a story
24:45 – The working relationship between developer and composer
29:50 – Art inspiring music, music inspiring art
37:40 – What we like to listen to
41:15 – Reaper composition workflow demo

The Kickstarter campaign is still ongoing and there’s still time to support what sounds like an incredible soundtrack to a compelling game. You can find the whole details of the campaign here which at time of writing is just about two thirds funded.

What did you think of the interview with composer Wilbert Roget II?
Game Music, Indie Music, Software

Anew: The Distant Light has launched a Kickstarter Campaign!

February 17, 2017 | Ryan Paquet | Comments Off on Anew: The Distant Light has launched a Kickstarter Campaign! Share this

Last year I wrote about my most anticipated video game soundtracks coming out in 2017, and Anew: The Distant Light was at the top of my list. On February 14, 2017 it launched a Kickstarter campaign to help get the game the additional funding it needs to be released.

The music for the game is composed by Wilbert Roget II, who has done the music for for hit games like Lara Croft and Temple of Osiris, Dead Island 2, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Monkey Island Special Edition. He also released the excellent anime inspirational album Beyond Libra which OSV reviewed here (It’s awesome). You can listen to another lovely track from the score above called “Lullaby” that features some fantastic piano.

Pledge levels for the game start at $1, there’s 200 digital copies of the game available at $14 (109/200 left at time of writing), and $34 will get you a digital copy of Wilbert Roget II’s soundtrack, along with some other sweet extras. Physical CD fans like myself can snag a copy of the CD by pledging $89 for the Collector’s Edition of the game.

The campaign’s goal is $30,000, and they’re already more than a third of the way there! You can find the full details of the Kickstarter campaign here.

Check back with OSV soon for more on Anew: The Distant Light and composer Wilbert Roget II. Is this a Kickstarter campaign you’ll be backing?
Featured, Game Music, Indie Music

2017: My Most Anticipated Video Game Music Albums

December 14, 2016 | Ryan Paquet | 4 Comments Share this

I love writing about soundtracks I’m excited for, and usually do it following E3 every year. You can read my most recent list of most anticipated soundtrack following E3 2016 here.

This past year I’ve learned about a number of soundtracks that are in the works, and I’ve collected a list of them for you. I know 2016 isn’t over yet but let me know what you think, and please let me know about all of the great upcoming album’s I’ve missed!

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Game Music, Indie Music

Anew: The Distant Light to be scored by Wilbert Roget II

July 5, 2016 | Ryan Paquet | Comments Off on Anew: The Distant Light to be scored by Wilbert Roget II Share this

Anew: The Distant Light is an upcoming indie game for PC and various consoles being developed by Resonator Games. Wilbert Roget II who was behind the wonderful anime inspired album Beyond Libra, will be composing the music.

We have the amazingly talented Wilbert Roget, II scoring the game (Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, Dead Island 2, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Monkey Island Special Edition). Will is writing an amazing 20th century orchestral-inspired score for us, so if you are into Bela Bartok, John Adams, and Jerry Goldsmith – you’ll appreciate it. We recently won the Audience Choice Award at the Developer Showcase at Phoenix Comicon, and were also accepted into the Microsoft and Sony developer programs earlier in the year. The game is still in development and is planned for an initial launch on PC later next year.

Jeff Spoonhower
Art, Animation, Sound, and Narrative Lead

Resonator Games has also posted an incredible Pre-Alpha Gameplay trailer that to me looks like Earthworm Jim, Super Metroid, and Image Comic’s Black Science had a baby.

What do you think of this first excerpt of the soundtrack? Is Anew: The Distant Light a game you’re looking forward to next year?
Anime, Indie Music, Reviews

A True Anime Sound: Beyond Libra (Review)

April 21, 2016 | Ryan Paquet | 1 Comment Share this

OSV originally brought news of Wilbert Roget II’s kickstarter campaign to fund the mastering and release of his anime inspired Beyond Libra back in November of last year. The Kickstarter campaign was a success slightly doubling its modest goal of $1500. So what is Beyond Libra? Simply described by the composer Beyond Libra is a massive collaboration album inspired by Japanese anime composers such as Yoko Kanno and Joe Hisaishi. Pop, orchestral, and world influence. The album which was 8 years in the making featuring a stunning amount of talent and songs in over 5 different languages.

So come hear my thoughts on Beyond Libra in my full review of the physical album 13 track album which was released on March 4, 2016.

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