It was recently announced that music publisher and custom music producer, Unisonar, would be releasing the music of Honor of Kings for the first time internationally. Honor of Kings, which was developed by TiMi Studios, a subsidiary of Tencent Games, is one of the biggest games in the world and it’s safe to say the score is on the same magnitude, with rearranged themes from power players such as Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe featured. There have been a number of creatives that have been part of this score, award-winning sound designer and music director Hongfei Zhao being one of those. Hongfei serves as the Audio Lead of TiMi Studios Audio Center and was the music director for the game. We decided to speak with him and learn more about the creative process for Honor of Kings, read the exclusive interview below. Honor of Kings Original Game Soundtrack, Vol. 1 will be released digitally on January 25, 2020.
-While Honor of Kings was being designed, at what point did you start commissioning music for it?
We got started on music at the beginning of the game’s design. Honor of Kings was being made as a game with a strong attacking style and a fast tempo – games were meant to last 10 minutes at first, so it was a very different approach from the traditional multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA). So when we designed the music, we pursued sounds that fit with that pace – Chinese ethnic and sounds to pump you up, with an emphasis on percussion, brass, bass and synthetic sounds.
-During the scoring process for Honor of Kings, what was your communication process like with the game’s composers?
Many of our composers work on their own, so we communicate via phone, email or sometimes face-to-face. Some composers, such as Thomas Parisch, have professional teams who can assist in our communications and make our work easier. Our approach is to start with a short MIDI version, normally no more than a minute, then adjust until both sides think it’s good enough to move on.
-There are many different composers on Honor of Kings. How did you make sure that they all had a cohesive vibe, since they all weren’t scoring in the same room at the same time?
Honor of Kings is a major piece of commercial work and needs a lot of content – a lot of related content. It was a challenge. So the first thing we did to help was set up style guidelines for the Honor of Kings music. Top level, we wanted Asian fantasy, Chinese ethnic and sounds that pump players up. We wanted to connect these three together in a new manner.
For example, the music of Jixia College, it was designed from the top-level world view, all the way to various disciplines, and then to the specific heroes. This music carries common themes and motivations that all composers can follow and for the audience to feel.
-Hans Zimmer wrote the first set of Honor of Kings music with you all. Were you the one coordinating this? If so, what was this process like with him?
We worked as a team on this and prepared detailed instructions, including a brief with the length and purpose, as well as the desired feelings we wanted players to experience from it. We had mood boards, sample videos and other content too to help him understand our aim. We hoped this helped him understand our game better. Hans gave us several pieces of music, MIDI but with a high degree of completion. We shared feedback, and then Hans would make adjustments and that’s what led to the current Honor of Kings music. We also made orchestral recordings at Abbey Road Studios.
-What made you decide that you wanted the game’s score to have a Hollywood style orchestral vibe? Why not another genre?
Honor of King’s is a 5-versus-5 multiplayer game with many heroes coming from Chinese legends. We defined it as an Asian fantasy epic, so the feeling of Honor of Kings is similar to Western epics, featuring fighting, friendship and fast tempo. These are all the elements that you hear in modern Hollywood music for Western epic storytelling. We wanted to have our own characteristics and style, but as a whole, we wanted to learn from Hollywood and use this as our foundation.
-Were you the one having the early talks with the game creators, with them conveying what they wanted the game to sound like? Was this Hollywood style orchestral their first choice?
The development team initially thought we should look to Japanese music, like Sawano Hiroyuki, to help set up these moments when the players are really getting pumped up for the action. But we were able to convince the team we needed a style more representative of a Hollywood epic score, such as the work of Hans Zimmer, which we think worked out to all our benefit.
–How did you decide which composer was going to score what sequence?
We researched a lot during the early development stages, focusing on the MIDI versions rather than recorded music. It helped us better to hear the composer’s skills. We assessed which composers were most suitable for Honor of Kings and continue to do so today. We looked all over the world to partner with talented composers who could expand on the music for Honor of Kings.
-How would you divide those game sequences down?
We have so many different scenes that require music, such as the login, the lobby and PvP play, but each of these pieces needed to be made in different ways. Music that’s going on during fighting can’t affect a player’s thinking and operation, but it still needs to be there in the background. We worked with Jeff Broadbent and Matthew Carl Earl specifically on our music for PvP. We would spend considerable time on both the mixes and production to assure it’s right for players. As for theme music, we’d have them produce pieces ranging from 3-to-5 minutes, so we had choices.
-TIMI Studio Group was the first adopter of Wwise as an audio middleware for mobile games in China market. Can you tell us about how this came to be?
TiMi Studios, as a whole, is very forward thinking with new technology. We’ve used FMOD and Wwise – we might also use CRIWARE middleware in the future. It took me some time to learn Wwise and now I’m incredibly effective with it. We see middleware as a powerful ally that allows for improved audio design with less effort.
-You first started off as a composer, sound designer, audio lead at Tencent. Out of all these jobs you have had, which one do you think helped you learn the most about the video game music/audio world?
The role of Audio Lead gave me an opportunity to really grow and learn. Our team is really strong, so leading them offers me a more strategic perspective to think for the overall product and capability development. As the lead, I’m offered the chance to learn more about games, different compositions as well as new audio design concepts and products. This role has been a great way to learn and understand game soundtrack and audio design.
ABOUT HONOR OF KINGS:
Honor of Kings is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) developed in 2015 by TiMi Studios, a subsidiary of Tencent Games. The game is known for its fast-paced tempo and strong attacking style of play. Heroes are divided by classes including Assassin, Mage, Warrior, Tank, Marksman, and Support. Honor of Kings rapidly became one of the most popular games in China and has been the premier mobile MOBA since its release.
I have always enjoyed playing video games and am a programming team lead for a video game company. I co-founded Gaming Cypher because I enjoy the gaming community and would like to provide the best news service around. Feel free to ask me any questions and I will make sure to get back to you quickly.
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