In case you’ve been locked in a recording studio – Spore is a new video game that simulates the evolution of creatures from single-cell organisms through the space age. Ambient music artist and superproducer Brian Eno played a significant role in the development of the game’s music.

“In the first phone conversations with him, he really got the idea that the music was always changing, that it would be procedural, and he was really excited about it,” said Kent Jolly, audio director for Maxis/Electronic Arts. “Within a week of talking to him, without having set up anything, he sent us a full CD or more of stuff, and some of it was made right then, not just things he found on his computer, which was pretty amazing.”

There is some more traditional music in Spore (Jolly compares the Eno compositions to his 1983 album Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks), but those songs also mutate.

“I’m interested in the idea of games creating original music,” adds Jolly. “It allows you to write interactive music in ways that are very difficult to do when you’re licensing music.”

Last year, we brought you some great video of game creator Will Wright and Brian Eno on generative systems.

Here’s the whole enchilada – their Long Now discussion of Spore and generative music and gaming.

They touch on all sorts of topics, but it includes great discussions of generative processes and ambient music, fractals, compression in natural systems, parasites in spore and all sorts of other good stuff. (including the secret of amphetemine ambient music!)

Will Wright is an American computer game designer and co-founder of the game development company, Maxis. He is best known as the original designer of groundbreaking computer games such as SimCity, The Sims and Spore.

Brian Eno is a musician, composer and producer of audio and visual landscapes. Eno’s synthesizer work and electronic manipulation of audio textures was first featured during the early 1970’s as a founding member of Roxy Music. His solo and collaborative musical compositions with John Cale, Robert Fripp and David Bowie have been in circulation world-wide over the last 25 years. Eno has produced records for numerous artists including U2, David Bowie, Jane Siberry and performance artist Laurie Anderson.

via AudioLemon

Will Wright and Brian Eno On Generative Systems

Will Wright and Brian Eno On The Spore Metaverse