Charting the Reach: The Music of Wildgate

From day one, we knew the music of Wildgate needed to be more than just some beats you blasted Zygloms to. Instead, we wanted it to make every match feel like the best sci-fi adventure you’ve ever lived through, complete with soaring themes, strange sounds, and the occasional trumpet that feels like it got lost in a time machine.

In this edition of CHARTING THE REACH, we’re warping straight into the making of Wildgate’s score with composer Maclaine Diemer and audio director Dave Shumway.

From the viral synth video that kicked it all off, to modular tracks, augmented arpeggios, and a full orchestra in Nashville banging out heroic motifs in four-measure chunks, this is how the Reach found its rhythm. 

STRIKING A CHORD

For Maclaine, working on Wildgate offered him a rare chance to write something fresh. Having previously developed longer, more traditional orchestral scores and audio for rhythm-action games, he was eager to bring strong melodies and vintage synths back into the spotlight. 

The connection to Wildgate started with a viral video. Maclaine had posted a video late one Friday night showing off a new (well, old) synthesizer he’d just bought, which exploded unexpectedly. That post caught Dave’s eye:

"Dave DMs me and says, 'Hey, I saw that video that you posted. I think it'd be a great fit for this project I'm working on if you're interested in pitching for it?' I couldn't type YES fast enough!" - Maclaine

 

A THEME WORTH HUMMING

What followed this initial conversation changed the world of Wildgate in harmonious ways. 

Asked to create a demo for what was then called "Project Nebula," Maclaine initially submitted two versions. The first demo was solid and well composed. But the second? It was emergent and adaptive, like the game itself—built in a single day after a lightning strike of inspiration (and a deadline extension, which was happily provided).

"I went into this fugue state... I had nothing at 10 in the morning and by 6 p.m. I had something that was done and that was version 2. Which is what eventually developed into the main theme!" - Maclaine

 

Maclaine's demo quickly became the foundation of the game's full soundtrack.

Blending orchestral grandeur with synth-driven texture, the core idea was simple: The music of Wildgate shouldn’t just sit at the edges of a match; it should tell the story of each run as you fly, shoot, and space crime through it. It would be equal parts dynamic and cinematic, but more than that...it would also be intentionally modular!

SPACE THAT SINGS

In a dynamic game like Wildgate, every run is different. A traditionally-written soundtrack locked to fixed cues wouldn’t cut it. Instead, Dave and the audio team challenged Maclaine to compose modular music—pieces that could stretch, shrink, layer, and shift depending on how a mission unfolds. This is a challenge in musical composition!

"I start with a finished cake, and then I have to pull it all apart into the individual ingredients... this will become a cake when we put it all back together, you know? It’s like doing everything backwards!" – Maclaine

 

To fit in with the modular and adaptive music systems, each of Wildgate’s Points of Interest (POIs) needed its own musical identity. Our team decided the game's initial POIs could fit into one of three families, or biomes: Coretech, Astral, and Alien Ruins.

Taking inspiration from concept art, Maclaine wrote individual music for these biomes, with each suite designed to be distinct, but still recognizably part of Wildgate.

 

 

CORETECH // TRACK 4 - ACCORD DERELICTS

 

"That kind of shabby, space cowboy human tech kind of visual representation... a chugging synthesizer sound that is an extension of the main theme... anytime there's a trumpet playing a melody, it has a delay and like, these sort of crazy washy effects modulating it, something you don’t normally do to traditional orchestral instruments."

 

 

ASTRAL // TRACK 5 - LUMINESCENT ROOTS

 

"You're in a giant tree, all you hear is oboes, bassoons, marimbas. You know, wooden things!... but even those instruments are treated in a different way... with lots of effects layered on top of them."

 

 

ALIEN RUINS // TRACK 6 - THE PRECURSORS

 

"An almost vocal type sound that's happening... it almost sounds like an animal or a creature sort of crying in the distance... It feels alien. The ruins also felt like a temple or cathedral to me, so there are organs and choirs and things meant to inspire awe."

 

 

This modularity also extended to one of the most difficult challenges of the soundtrack...

SHIP COMBAT // TRACK 7 - ENEMY SIGHTED!

"It was just kind of like that was the kitchen sink piece of music... ship to ship battle might take so many different paths, might be so many different lengths of time... all the building blocks add up to 7.5 minutes , which is a long piece of music, and then I had to break all that up in ways that could be mixed and matched depending on how long a battle lasts." – Maclaine

 

 

The result is a reactive music system that doesn’t just track what’s happening—it reacts to and helps shape your experience, whether that’s a short POI in an abandoned piece of Core Tech, or a 20 minute long ship battle!

LIVE FROM NASHVILLE

The orchestral elements of the soundtrack were recorded live in Nashville.

This decision was driven by our desire to put real people, along with their experience and skill, at the centre of everything. As a team, it was important to us to have every note of Wildgate's score played by actual musicians. (Shout out to Ocean Way Studios!)

 

We had a crazy two days where we recorded a lot in a short amount of time. And, and they just nailed it... It's just truly magic." - Maclaine

 

Orchestrator Evan Rogers worked closely with Maclaine and Dave to translate digital mockups into readable scores, while engineer Jason LaRocca captured the sessions.

 

"Those moments with the orchestra is what makes the hours and hours of sitting alone, doubting yourself... It's what makes all that worth it." - Maclaine

 

THE ONLY PRESCRIPTION IS...MORE MUSIC!

In many multiplayer games, music can be minimal, servining as simple bookends or static ambience to a world or scene. Wildgate is certainly a multiplayer game, but it's also a cosmic, chaotic, slightly-too-loud rollercoaster ride through the unknown...

And it needed a soundtrack that could keep up!

 

"The aim of the game was not to make a multiplayer shooter, it was to make the best space adventure that you ever had with your friends." - Dave

 

 

From the beginning, Maclaine and the team wanted to do something different.

The goal? Make the music match the energy and sense of adventure woven throughout every piece of art, special effect, and gameplay system. The result was a score designed not just to underscore action, but also to evoke story —your story. Whether you're winning, losing, or tilting, the rhythm of the Reach is right there with you.

 

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