Interview with Kirill Pokrovsky, Divine ,Beyond Divinity and Divinity 2 Composer
Kirill Pokrovsky is a Russian composer working on music for the Belgian developer Larian Studios, creators of Divine Divinity and Beyond Divinity games and for both of them he reciaved honorable IGN "Outstanding Acivement in Music Award.
His music styles include Slavic intonations as well as the traditions of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov can be heard in his work. We caught up with Kirill to find out more about his passion for music and specifically, composing music for games.
Music4Games: The next progression of the successful Divine Divinity has significant game play hours loaded with enough subplots, quests and RPG features to keep one immersed in the divinity universe indefinitely. How did this enormous depth of game design affect your scoring process, and how many minutes of music did you ultimately deliver?
Kirill Pokrovsky: Well, I definitely didn't count the time, but it is the truth that a bigger score will not become repetitive. We didn't make an agreement about time, I just think that, before music is real-time rendered (is this a nightmare for multimedia composer ?a larger score is a solution.
M4G: Can you describe some of the musical components and textures we can expect to hear with this latest game release? Kirill Pokrovsky: Lute, you can hear a lot of lute. I usually combine real instruments and synthesizers, in this way, that it's not too obvious where I have used synthesizsers and where I didn't. Synthesiser pads add the deepest and the most psychedelic elements into a score. You have to be very careful not to make it sound too electronic though.
M4G: With so much acclaim and fan base attached to this title, how do you maintain musical continuity with a follow up title like this? Do you set musical boundaries to coincide with its predecessor, or do you take the artistic risk and go with something completely different? Kirill Pokrovsky: This time I added more fat symphonic elements and choirs. I definitely tried to stay stylistically close to Divine Divinity, it's a logical thing. But I took a certain liberty in getting more orchestral, since I had the possibility to do it at that time. I was anxious about it, but every one in the team liked it, so I went on.
M4G: When were you first introduced to video games? Kirill Pokrovsky: As you know, I was born in the Soviet Union. Before the "Perestroyka," western technologies and computers were not common, nevertheless I can recall seeing an Atari console with tennis games and later even Pacman. This console belonged to a lucky son of a diplomat, who brought it to Moscow from abroad. (There wasn't any music in these games, as far as I can remember). Later, in the beginning of the nineties, I had an Atari computer. Mostly, I used it as a idi sequencer, but of course there were a lot of Atari games. Although music was very basic at these times, I do remember thinking of it as an important part of the playing experience.
M4G: You were on the forefront of rock, spearheading one of the first successful rock groups in the Soviet Union when this music genre was finally permitted to exist commercially in the late 80's. Being a composer in the video games industry you are also on the vanguard of the biggest financially grossing entertainment medium to date. Is this down to timing, or do you have a specific music agenda you're mapping out to go forth and conquer?
Kirill Pokrovsky: You mention me being a rock musician back in Russia. Well this was a very exciting experience, especially if you take into account, that we started way before the Perestroyka and that all this was forbidden in Russia. We became more and more popular later on and played on gigantic stages, for 50 000 people. The bands I was playing in still exist in Russia and they have a huge number of fans. (check it out at http://www.aria.ru/
Since I met Swen Vincke (the founder of Larian Studios) I realised, that computer games are the rock 'n roll of the 21st Century. The entire setting is similar and the tiny international crew of Larian studios feels like a rock band.I think this year a lot of doors will open for me and in addition to this, there are plans for a new huge project at Larian and this time I will definitely try out some of the newer technologies or at least a new way of how music is going to be presented in a game.
M4G: The republics of formal Soviet Union are currently on the rise, establishing themself as a growing hub for game development and publishing. What is your impression of this type of growth in interactive entertainment from your part of the world?
Kirill Pokrovsky: Russia is huge, and it's full of human resources. With the post communist shock behind us, we can see a new mentality growing. It's not completely western, because it's based on a cultural foundation left by the previous generations. I can tell you that knowledge, art or science were cultivated under the Soviet rule, although heavily censored. Now we have young people who will buy a new computer with their first money, not funky clothes or a special bike. Access to the internet is more important than television cable. With such a big choice of graphic designers or programmers it is just a matter of organisation, to pull out an impressive project. Although organisation is a problem in many cases, and let's not forget that we are speaking about imported technology or cultural archetypes, we can suspect an appearance of something typically Russian, Russian style, specific style as Manga became typically Japanese. There is plenty of material in the Russian history and the Russian mythology to develop interesting story lines and worlds.
M4G: You made an album a few years back entitled "Brugge," named after the city where you now reside. Tell us about this music release and how your environment inspired you compared to that of Eastern Europe?
Kirill Pokrovsky: During the first years of the Perestroyka, we were touring in Belgium and one of the first destinations was Brugge, where we were left, without supervision, (because our ideological bosses wanted to do some shoping:) Walking at night through Brugge, experiencing such a kind of beauty (it's so different from Russian old architecture). After having a good Belgian beer, the city left an unforgettable impression on me. I was immediately inspired and the next morning, I started to write a title track in my head. During the work on Divine Divinity I was staying in Ghent, another old medieval town. You can't imagine: an extremely nice background to work on music for a fantasy universe. Every stone of these old streets breathe the history.
M4G: Larian Studios, the company who developed both Divine Divinity games are also based in Belgium. Were you privy to significant game play and character development from inception with both games? Also, what type of creative license were you granted?
Kirill Pokrovsky: Although not so popular, my belief is that business and friendship is not so difficult to combine. We are pretty much friends with Swen, even though of course, there is some distance and subordination. The collaboration between the composer and the director is not that uncommon. Take, for example, Steven Spielberg and John Williams. I also try to see the whole picture and feel the process from the developers point of view, as much as Swen is trying to understand my needs. Such a big amount of work that is done in such a short time, with few very productive, hardworking positive and passionate people is unprecendented, for my opinion. As long as the Divinity universe will expand, I hope to stay a part of it.
M4G: Were there any particular snags or unexpected obstacles that you encountered with this game that made you better at say, implementation or composing from an unforeseen experience?
Kirill Pokrovsky: I think all composers will be asking for the same things - more time, more resources, and more people for support - I won't be original anymore. About implementation, I can say that it is sometimes funny and surprising to see that a piece of music is working better on another location than previosly intended ,or location is changing and story goes completly another way -he -he ;)
Interview by Rusty James
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