Below 10: A Developer Profile
Larian Studio's: Kirill Pokrovsky
Set in an all new fantasy universe,
Divine Divinity takes the player on a fantastic quest in a
land torn apart by corruption and dark magic. Throughout his
journeys the player will get the chance to develop his character
as one of six character types and meet a variety of people
and fantastical beings. By combining the best features of
the RPG genre, and introducing a lot of new features, Divine
Divinity will appeal to both hardcore and new RPG players.
Below 10 is a series of developer profiles where we try to
establish a small profile by asking less than 10 questions
to a team of developers. This edition features Kirill Pokrovsky,
who is responsible for the music in Divine Divinity.
1) Tell us about yourself. Who are you and what do you
do at Larian Studios.
I
am a retired rock-star. Yes, you can call me like this.
Back in the USSR I played in this legendary rock band ARIA.
This was the first really heavy band in the Sovjet Russia,
just before and also during the Perestroïka. Every
teenager in the country knew about our band. I don't know
how much recordings we exactly sold - because it was still
a state company (Melodia) - , but I've heard it was some
millions. We were the biggest band fore some time and we
were playing in the biggest sport-arenas all over the country.
We were young and we did stupid things, so we split up just
on the peak of the wave. Some of my friends now live in
Amerika. The drummer on the other hand lives somewhere in
the Wallonian (Liège) part of Belgium. And others
carried on the band ARIA (http://www.aria.ru/eng/ie/index.php)
and others continued with a new band Master (http://www.rusmetal.ru/master/).
You can visit their sites and read the story and see that
they are still very popular over there in Russia.
So once, in the beginning of the 90's, we had a tour here
in Belgium and recorded a song in a little studio in a village
near Ghent. The man who run this studio told me joking-wise
"If you ever need a job come over and work with me".
When the band split up I was very frustrated and I wanted
to change my life, to go somewhere and do something completely
different. So I came to Belgium to work in this little studio
and we also wanted to make a band, but realities of life
are so over here in this way that all musicians have a daily
job and it really takes a long time to become something
professional. My friend's wife had a second child and he
had a lot of work. He had to stop working for the band but
also to run his studio. I was facing two possibilities -
to go back to Moscow or stay and try to do something different.
It was a time to remember that I had quite a musical education.
Not only I studied composition in the Conservatorium in
Moscow, but I also played oboe and saxophone and piano of
course, because my mother was a piano teacher and I've heard
the classical music from my early age. But I was a keyboard
player in a rock band, not a classical pianist. I composed
a program of romantic songs for the piano and I started
to practice very hard, sometimes 8 to 9 hours a day, to
be able to play it myself.
I recorded an album called "BRUGGE" (http://www.kirill.pokrovsky.yucom.be/main-frames.htm)
and I became a concert composer/pianist. I was dressed like
a penguin, but I always had a couple of synthesizers, a
computer (Atari). I also did some productions and played
in several bands - you can hear my music in some movies
and television productions and even in commercials.
I met Swen ("Lar" - project leader "Divine
Divinity") at this time and he simply showed me that
computer games are the closest thing to rock-n-roll. And
it's still true. Now it's simply unbelievable, but it all
started in Swen's modest flat in Ghent with a couple of
computers. The only available technology for the game music
was midi, so we had to become midi-experts and it also sounded
different on different sound cards. There was this mysterious
'Fatman' in America who monopolized all the things and defined
the sound, so you had to ask his permission to use an organ
or a flute sound. And afterwards I had a wave table synthesizer
card with more realistic sounds and general midi, so I could
imitate the orchestra and stuff. Then there was also the
Redbook audio and music became just like you wanted to record
it in a studio with life instruments and choirs and stuff,
with CD quality. Now we are speaking about interactive music
or even real time rendered music.
So I think, we've been pretty much through the evolution
of game music with Swen. Off course during this period I
composed a lot of material, that's why many pieces didn't
make it to Divinity, but you will find them later on on
audio albums.
I love to be here in Larian studios, lately even more and
although I always mess things up and burn the food in the
oven in our kitchen. They can even tell you a million stories
about me being messy and absent-minded. Anyway I think they
love me and keep me like a charm for good luck. ;)
2) What is your typical working day like?
It's not a 24 hours cycle. It very much depends on the
amount of caffeine in the blood. It is the only drug I use,
I even stopped smoking ! I am really glad there is a clock
and calendar in my PC and that I have a telephone, so I
don't get completely lost in time. "Is it already February
?!?"
I'll love you till the deadline.
3) What did you want to become when you grew up?
I hope I didn't grow up yet ! I really hope it!
There is nothing more boring than these grown ups
4) What are your favourite games and what are you playing
now?
I have a very addictive personality. If I will start playing
a game, I know my character... We have a very impressive
collection of videogames here in Larian Studios. I got a
big monitor lately and an accelerated video card.
Please no games for me now... after the release.
5) Where does your inspiration come from?
I really like acoustic instruments and I play piano a lot
but PC becomes a musical instrument on it's own and a sampler
and a recording studio in one single unit with all this
effects and a mixer. (If you just have the right soundcard
and connect descent speakers to it.)
It's absolutely wonderful. Once sound is inside it stays
digital of course and if you wish it can stay inside of
your machine 'till the last moment, including postproduction
and stuff. For example I have this one piece of software,
I can't tell you what, because there are a lot of snobs
out there in the audio world, and I abuse it completely.
So I use it not for what it was made. It's a very simple
program but it's very intuitive and inspiring, but I know
from many big producers that they also secretly use it along
with" Protoolls". But mostly, to tell you the
truth, I am inspired by my workaholic mates here in Larian
Studios where I spend more and more time lately just trying
to understand this incredible phenomena. They are amazing
people and Swen is still a mystery for me, he has so much
life force and he is doing this work, sometimes very routine
work day by day with so much energy.
Lately the atmosphere even became very warm and friendly,
what is unusual in the end of a project when everybody is
so stressed.
6) What is the coolest feature in Divinity for you?
Besides all this very detailed graphics and story, I love
the sounds and ambiances a lot. We have two sound designers
- Ilya and Stefaan - and they are
Amazing. Sometimes I hear what they do and I simply think
they are the best in the business. They also are perfectionists
much more than I am and they are
very helpful with all this technical stuff, levels, decibels
and compression. They always find time to show things even
if they are busy like hell.
7) Which feature that hasn't made it into Divinity is the
one you will miss most?
Multiplayer.
8) How did you get into the gaming business and do you have
any advice for anyone seeking a position in that business?
Everybody here in the office knows that I like movies and
film music a lot. My father was a film director back in
Russia and I always liked to be among the creative people
and the very dedicated people. I have my concert carrier
as a solo pianist/composer and I play sometimes - now and
then - even some jazz and stuff, but I hope to grow together
with Larian into something bigger like this big composer
figure.
Of course I don't have all this qualities, but I can advice
you the following:
a Have a lot of patience.
b Learn every day.
c Don't be jealous.
d Don't be greedy.
9) Is there anything you would like to add?
"Life is just like a box of chocolates
"
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