The 7th Guest VR Dev Update: Not With A Whimper... But With A Scream!
[Article copied from Steam to save you a click]
This week’s dev update comes directly from the mind behind our eerie and atmospheric audio director, Jonathan van den Wijngaarden, and a special note & video from The Fat Man - original composer of iconic 90s The 7th Guest PC Classic.
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'Working on the 7th Guest VR has been an exciting experience. When the team at Vertigo approached me first, I felt both excited and slightly intimidated! The original game is such a legendary title and still holds a very dedicated fanbase even today. From the very first moment I’ve felt doing right to both the iconic work done by George (Sanger) and to the fans would be my very first goal.
It quickly became clear that we’d be retelling the original story while adapting it for modern audiences and not in the least; the new platform. Music and sound should also follow this direction, and to me it felt doing a literal remake of the soundtrack would not do justice to this approach (also; it didn’t feel right to ‘redo’ the work done by George for the original). Instead I wanted to capture the essence and feel of the original music and make this the center of this new score.
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That said, George’s work obviously was a huge source of inspiration and many of the original themes and motifs return. I made a selection of the original themes that to me felt most memorable and used those as a starting point for writing the new material. All music is adaptive in nature, which allows us to transition to a different variation once you solve a room.
The original had a very interesting blend of styles and instruments and I really wanted to bring this back in order to establish a unique sound. We have an incredible group of musicians lending their talents to this score; Lara Ausensi on vocals, Frank Klepacki on drums, Hannes Frischat on cello, Nathan Madsen on saxophone and even The Fatman himself on guitar and vocals! ’
And now, a special word from The Fat Man.
George, what can you tell us, as the original composer of The 7th Guest, what was your reaction when you heard that Vertigo Games was planning a VR remake of this iconic game?
‘“About time!” It’s a perfect fit. The original game introduced a million or two players to the world of content-rich games, of CD-ROM’s, of General MIDI music, of digitally recorded sound and music and some cutting edge FMV. The game’s atmosphere of exploration, immersion, and puzzle solving was just right for introducing new technology, and I can see it onboarding a lot of folks into VR in the same fun, cool, SCARY way.’
Back to you Jonathan!
‘Thanks George! We also made sure the house feels alive in terms of sound design and weird noises. There are quite some chilling ambiances throughout that are very surreal in nature at times. Everything works towards something that has the player on edge, not knowing what to expect next - to me this is what made the original game so impactful. Last but not least, seeing the volumetric video come to life with music, sound design and voices was a very cool experience. A lot of effort went into making this all work, hats off to the tech team for solving that puzzle!’
Follow Jonathan over on: Instagram
You can hear George 'The Fat Man’s original tunes for The 7th Guest here: thefatmanandteamfat.bandcamp.com
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