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The following interview delves into the creative process behind the soundtrack for “Jagged Alliance 3” with the talented composer who brought its world to life through music, George Strezov. From the moment he was approached to work on the project, his excitement was palpable, fueled by fond memories of the original game and the prospect of crafting a score reminiscent of the iconic action films of the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s. In this interview, he shares his journey, from initial reactions to the final composition, offering insights into his creative methods, the instruments and styles that shaped the soundtrack, and the collaborative efforts that made the music of “Jagged Alliance 3” a standout element of the game. Let’s dive into the mind of a composer whose work is now in contention for the World Soundtrack Awards.
What was your initial reaction when you were approached to compose the soundtrack for “Jagged Alliance 3”?
Hello and thank you for inviting me for this interview! I have worked with Haemimont Games (the developer of Jagged Alliance 3) on multiple projects like Victor Vran, Surviving Mars and Stranded: Alien Dawn. When they called me in for a meeting at the office and told me they were doing a new installment in the Jagged Alliance series I got so excited I couldn’t sleep that night! That was one of the first tactical strategy games I played when I was young! Moreover, when we discussed the musical style we spoke about action films of the 80s, 90s, early 2000 – all those film titles that I myself as a soundtrack nerd knew by heart. Creatively this was a dream-come-through project for me.
Can you walk us through your creative process for composing the soundtrack for “Jagged Alliance 3”? How did you start?
Of course! This was actually a process that took a few years of development; at first we wanted to go into a more contemporary direction – a blend of synthesizers and orchestra, but after a while we found out that this is not the “soul” of Jagged Alliance 3. We had many creative talks with Boyan Ivanov (one of the creative directors of the game) and Brad Logston (producer on the side of THQ Nordic) where we discussed film and game soundtracks, what works for our game and what doesn’t. Soon we decided that we’re going to do a more classically-oriented soundtrack, focusing mostly on the power of the symphonic orchestra. I had already written some music (about 30-40 minutes) which then I had to rearrange for the new style and still keep the emotion and energy.
I was lucky that I started working on this at the early stages of the game development which allowed me to test and try different things, compose while looking at concept art. I’m a visual composer and have written film music for more than half of my life already, so I always need something to push me creatively – that’s why for me artwork is incredibly important. In this regard I had lots of help from both Boyan and Nelson Inomvan (art director for Haemimont Games) and they provided screenshots and concept art even at the very early stages of development. Later on they’d do video captures for me, we would play the game together.
Actually here’s a funny story about the creative process – I have a PC at home where I would play a dev version of the game, but when I’m at the studio I’m using a Mac Pro… so I wasn’t able to play the game on it while at the studio! I decided to get a PC laptop and play while writing the music. After a couple of cues I suddenly was like “Hang on, why am I writing all those tracks in the same key?”. Turns out this was the background humming noise of the laptop ventilators which somehow subconsciously guided me to write in that tonality! The great thing about writing music for games or films is that every time you get to be creative and explore new territories.
Were there any particular instruments or musical styles you focused on to capture the atmosphere of “Jagged Alliance 3”?
Yes, one of the key elements that for me is connected to the Jagged Alliance sound is the timbre of the marimba. This is a pitched-percussion instrument made of wooden bars that are hit with mallets and resonate within tubes of different sizes. For me this was something which I heard when I was young and asked myself “What is this, sounds pretty cool!”. As I’ve said before we really wanted to focus on the performance of the symphonic orchestra, but to get that action-film vibe I incorporated the electric guitar, the tom-toms from the drum kit (which are in some ways a “cliché” for that 90s action scores). Also since the game takes place in the made-up country of Grand Chien in Africa, I wanted to get some slight ethnic flavours as well.
Did you collaborate with any other musicians or sound designers on this project? If so, how did their contributions influence the final score?
Yes, when I first started working on the soundtrack I worked closely with my good friends Hristiyan Georgiev and Kiril Georgiev. Kiril is responsible for all guitar recordings in the score and helped me get exactly the sound of the guitar that I wanted. I used part of the upfront budget to order custom-built West-African flutes for Hristiyan, who is a brilliant ethnic woodwind player. He played all the West-African flutes, some kaval performances and other winds. Later on I invited a group of fantastic players – brothers Kiril and Nikola Petrov – who are just amazing percussionists. They performed all the djembe and percussion parts in the game, Nikola also played all the marimba and snare drum solos (some of which I’ve written needlessly complicated :)) while Kiril performed the timpani.
The end process of the soundtrack production is the one composers enjoy the most and this is going outside of our studios and having people perform our music. I was lucky enough to have Four For Music Ltd. in Sofia, Bulgaria, as well as Musa FILMharmonic Orchestra in Prague, Czech Republic; both those ensembles are the orchestra that you hear in the game soundtrack. And last but not least – Joseph B Arthur in Johannesburg helped get some mind blowing vocalists and a shocking kora player that created the ethnic side of the soundtrack. Overall – a big talent pool with people from three different countries that poured their hearts out in the music I’ve written! What an experience!
How did your experience with previous video game soundtracks, like “Surviving Mars” and “Victor Vran,” influence your work on “Jagged Alliance 3”?
Writing music for me is a huge responsibility – especially when it comes to games. When you’re working in film music things are a bit different because you have something on screen that is “real”. Even if most of it is shot on green screen you still have performances that create the illusion for the viewer that what’s on screen exists in the “real” world. When it comes to games I guess for me gamers go into that experience knowing that they are playing a game which is not “real”. However, I think the most important job for every creative person on a video game project is to make the gamers forget that they are experiencing something unreal. In the case of Surviving Mars for example – the goal was to have the music create such a vibe and it will be so immersive that you – as a gamer – will forget for a while you’re here on Earth and instead “teleport” there on Mars tweaking the robot builders yourself.
I sure made mistakes and there were things I wish I would have done differently – maybe I’d have made Victor Vran’s music slightly more unique and not so abstract/ambient? These are I guess the questions that every creative person asks themselves. Surviving Mars taught me one thing – it’s incredibly important not only to write good music, but also think about “dressing” that music in a way that is unique and interesting. I tried to do that approach for Jagged Alliance 3 – exploit a specific harmonic language, use specific orchestration approaches that are different from, for example, some of the film scores I’ve done previously.
Were there any specific scenes or moments in the game that inspired you musically? Can you share an example?
Yes – and actually this was one of the things that made me think about some other directions for the soundtrack. Let me explain! When I was playing the early versions of the game there was one test map which was a liberation of a village – that’s the fight for Ernie Village for those of you who played the game. So I fought the bad guys with my mercs a couple of times, focusing only on the battle track experience – at that time all the battle tracks I’ve written were quite bombastic and more suitable for boss fights, not for your “casual” fights – and I was thinking about creating some “cerebral battle tracks” that are not so dynamic and epic. However every time I fought the bad guys and won, the villagers were… happy.
I’ve liberated their village and they were cheering up my team of mercenaries! So that got me thinking – maybe we should do something special when that thing happens? I took a slight gamble and contacted a friend of mine, composer Dominik Scherrer; at that time he’d recently recorded a group of African musicians for his score for Amazon Prime’s “The Widow”. He was gracious enough to forward the details of JB Arthur, who got this amazing group of musicians from Johannesburg. They recorded some folk songs which I later on arranged in the style of the game; and one of those tracks – “Magcina” – is what you’d hear when you liberate Ernie village. Thankfully my gamble paid off and everybody on the team loved the idea of getting more ethnic music in the game!
The music of “Jagged Alliance 3” is in contention for the World Soundtrack Awards. How does it feel to have your work in competition for a prestigious award?
Absolutely surreal. Within that list I see names of fellow composers that I absolutely adore, a lot of friends that I had the pleasure of working with in the past. Being part of that list is definitely a dream-come-true and something I’ll remember for the rest of my life!
As a composer, how do you measure the success of a video game soundtrack? What indicators do you look for?
Thank you for this great question! You know, often people say that the best film music is the one that you remember but you don’t hear while you’re watching the movie. I wonder what it is that makes a video game soundtrack successful? Maybe the most important part for me is how much the soundtrack delivers the hidden parts of the setting and atmosphere. In the case of Jagged Alliance 3 you see the visuals of Grand Chien, but do you feel the country? When you’re walking through the jungle can you “hear” and “feel” the atmosphere? When you liberate the village do you feel the joy of the villagers? When you participate in a combat, are you pumped up enough to be inside that battle yourself, even though it’s a turn-based tactical game?
These were the questions that I asked myself. And truthfully – only the gamers could possibly give the answer to how the music impacted their gameplay. I’m not specifically talking about adaptive music – it can be linear music, but locked to the style and aesthetic of the game. I myself have a specific feeling of being inside a vast field whenever I hear the music for World of Warcraft’s Westfall territory. It is just perfectly aligned to what’s happening out there on the screen, and also that’s a beautifully written piece of music. Combine that with great gameplay and you’ll create an unforgettable experience!
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Thank you for reading! You can learn more about George Strezov here.
