Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons

Entrant Company

ArenaNet

Category

PC Game - Best Music

Client's Name

-

Country / Region

United States

Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons was set in the mysterious continent of Cantha, a land inspired by East Asian culture and tradition, especially Korean, and that inspiration guided the development of the game's original score. Traditional Korean music (gugak) is almost entirely unrepresented in all of Western media, let alone games. Our intention was to incorporate it respectfully and honor what makes it unique from other traditional East Asian music that is well represented in popular culture. We brought in experts on Korean culture and music to consult and contribute to the soundtrack. Our goal was to accurately represent the rhythms, melodic structures, and performance techniques of the unique instruments found in gugak music. We did our best to represent each of them and write idiomatically for them, adapting the orchestral and electronic elements to support them rather than use them as gloss over the top of a generic Hollywood "fantasy Asia" sound. We worked with soloists based in Seoul, including performers from the National Orchestra of Korea, a traditional ensemble founded in 1995 by the South Korean governement, as well as those on the cutting edge of modern gugak fusion, pushing their ancient instruments into the future.

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Credits

Lead Composer
Maclaine Diemer
Composer
Andi Roselund
Featured Artist
Joyce Kwan
Composer
Michael Choi
2022
NYX Game Awards - Blind Fate: Edo no Yami
grand
winner

Entrant Company

101XP Limited

Category

PC Game - Indie

Country / Region

Cyprus

2022
NYX Game Awards - Asterigos: Curse of the Stars
grand
winner

Entrant Company

Acme Gamestudio, Ltd.

Category

PC Game - Best Narrative

Country / Region

Taiwan

2022
NYX Game Awards - Frozen Flame
grand
winner

Entrant Company

Dreamside Interactive

Category

PC Game - Best Visual Art

Country / Region

Georgia

2022
NYX Game Awards - Angry Birds Journey
grand
winner

Entrant Company

Rovio Entertainment Corporation

Category

Mobile Game - Best Audio Design

Country / Region

Finland