Winifred Phillips, composer for the Call of Champions game
I’m very proud and excited to announce that I composed the music for the Call of Champions video game, developed by Spacetime Studios!
Call of Champions is an awesome action game in the popular Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (or MOBA) genre. The game pits players against each other in exciting timed matches within a futuristic fantasy-inspired setting. The game was created by the team at Spacetime Studios, an accomplished group of top industry veterans (including developers responsible for the famous Wing Commander series and Star Wars Galaxies.)
Here are some of the very positive reviews that Call of Champions has received:
“Best Mobile Game, Pax Prime 2015!” Nick Shively, MMO Games
“The core gameplay premise is easy to pick up, yet it also contains a lot of strategic potential for more dedicated players… Call of Champions is the ideal way to get a quick MOBA fix!” Nate Hohl, Gamecrate
“So good, it’ll leave you wanting more” Keith Andrew, Trusted Reviews
“Colorful, creative, shiny and new… this game certainly has some solid value to it… It’s a blast to play!” Nathaniel Stevens, Digital Chumps
“Reminiscent of Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm… players will have a fantastic time challenging opponents, fulfilling daily missions, and leveling-up their characters… 4.5/5 stars!” Jessica Fisher, 148 Apps
“Four out of five stars!” Tom Christiansen, Gamezebo
“While the game is easy to pick up, there’s a surprising amount of depth here once you get a few hours in. Learning different play styles and figuring how to work best as a team is all part of the fun. Nine out of ten stars – gold award!” Harry Slater, Pocket Gamer
“5 stars!” Kate, AppsRumors
Below, you can listen to three full-length tracks that I composed for Call of Champions:
Spacetime Studios’ official announcement about the music of Call of Champions:
We at Spacetime Studios are firm believers in the virtues of expertly crafted music. A killer composition is crucial for setting the stage in any film or game, be it a drum-heavy thumper to pound the pulse or a delicate violin sonata to tug at the strings of the heart: that’s why we’re tremendously excited and humbled to announce our collaboration with acclaimed composer Winifred Phillips for the Call of Champions soundtrack.
Phillips has been honored with a wealth of prizes and awards for her work. Her sweeping fusion of jungle drums and epic, elegant dancing strings earned her a Global Music Award for her work on Assassin’s Creed 3 Liberation, while the whimsical, lilting music she carefully crafted for LittleBigPlanet 3 netted her a Hollywood Music in Media Award in 2014. For the Call of Champions score, Phillips joined forces with music producer Winnie Waldron, a long-time friend and production partner who has worked with Phillips on many games, including Twisted Pixels’ The Maw and the original God of War.
Phillips is also the author of A Composer’s Guide to Game Music, a lauded Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press text for aspiring video game musicians and established composers looking to make the jump to the interactive space. The book was awarded a Global Music Award Gold Medal for an exceptional book in the field of music and a National Indie Excellence Book Award for its balanced examination of both the technical and artistic concerns of the profession.
In the words of Spacetime Studios’ Chief Vision Officer and Call of Champions lead Cinco Barnes: “I’ve been hoping to work with Win for years, so to bring her on board for Call of Champions was a dream come true. Win contributed so much to Call of Champions, in ways we didn’t even anticipate… The scores she produced really brought our universe to life, and took the game to the next level.”
Said Ms. Phillips of her work on Call of Champions: “It was delightful to work with Cinco and the team at Spacetime Studios. I really think they’re building something special with [Call of Champions]… there’s a unique intersection of fantasy and future here, and I tried to create a suitably epic and dynamic musical score to match that, to wrap around that experience.”
Call of Champions to be featured in my GDC 2016 Presentation
I’ll be speaking about my music for Call of Champions during my talk, “From Total War to Assassin’s Creed: Music for Mobile Games” at this upcoming Game Developers Conference 2016. In my presentation, which was just announced by the Game Developer’s Conference, I’ll be discussing my work on several of my mobile/handheld projects, including the Call of Champions MOBA. Here’s more info about my GDC 2016 talk:
From Total War to Assassin’s Creed: Music for Mobile/Handheld Games presents tips for crafting effective music for portable gaming. In addition to her many console and PC titles, composer Winifred Phillips’ credits include six portable games (Total War Battles: Kingdom, Assassin’s Creed Liberation Vita, LittleBigPlanet Vita, Call of Champions, Speed Racer DS, Shrek the Third DS). Phillips will discuss the challenges inherent in composing music for the booming mobile games industry. By examining the structure of portable game design, Phillips will explore the role that music plays during “on-the-go” gameplay. Phillips will discuss useful approaches that allow music to accentuate portable gameplay while maximizing aesthetic impact and increasing player enjoyment. Through examples from both her own projects and other well-known titles, Phillips will address technical issues of audio fidelity and dynamic implementation, offering solutions that expand the utility of music in portable titles.
Takeaway
Through detailed examples from many successful titles, Phillips will provide an analysis of artistic and technical approaches that resulted in highly effective scores for mobile/handheld games. This discussion will provide attendees with practical knowledge that can be applied to their own projects.
Intended Audience
This session is for anyone interested in mobile/handheld games, interactive music systems and music implementation strategies. Simple approaches to scoring for portable games will be accessible to attendees at all levels, while more advanced attendees will appreciate the innovative solutions applied to problems related to memory, audio fidelity, and dynamic implementation.
Winifred Phillips is an award-winning video game music composer whose most recent project is the triple-A first person shooter Homefront: The Revolution. Her credits include five of the most famous and popular franchises in video gaming: Assassin’s Creed, LittleBigPlanet, Total War, God of War, and The Sims. She is the author of the award-winning bestseller A COMPOSER’S GUIDE TO GAME MUSIC, published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press. As a VR game music expert, she writes frequently on the future of music in virtual reality video games. Follow her on Twitter @winphillips.