High Score 2023
Saturday 30 September - Sunday 1 October in Melbourne
In-person conference and live stream featuring top composers, sound artists and industry pros from games and music
Panels, demos, workshops, networking, legal advice, A&R and more tailored to music creators of all levels
Limited time: High Score Scholarships - apply by 7 September 5pm AEST.
High Score is where music creators, game developers and industry professionals connect and explore the important role that music and audio play in game design and experience.
Join us Saturday 30 September & Sunday 1 October at LCI Melbourne in Collingwood – or on the live stream. Tickets are on sale now!
Drawing on a theme of "Tools of the Trade", this year’s High Score is focused on building deeper relationships with existing tools, finding new skills and putting everything to the test creatively, technically and practically. Whether your craft is composition or songwriting, sound design or foley, audio engineering or technical implementation – High Score has something for you.
Returning as hosts are ABC’s Good Game Spawn Point and Double J radio presenter Angharad 'Rad' Yeo and ACMI curator and award-winning videogame journalist, Jini Maxwell.
Opening the conference will be the legendary composer, Yoko Shimomura (Kingdom Heart, Final Fantasy XV, Super Mario RPG, Street Fighter II), discussing her 30+ year experience with the medium of game audio and composition.
Australia’s own Christopher Larkin (Hollow Knight, TOHU, Outfolded) will close out the conference with his experiences creating and refining a distinctive sound and production approach.
Panels and discussions on diverse topics include:
- Foley design with Sony PlayStation's Joanna Fang and Blake Collins, who have worked on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, God of War Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West.
- Audio and sound for mobile games with Jayde Marter, Katarzyna Wiktorski & John Guscott
- Deep dives into the soundtracks of: Dredge, Broken Roads and Justice Sucks
- The first presentation of The Australian Music in Games Benchmark by Dan Golding and Brendan Keogh for Creative Australia
Plus...
- Hands-on demo rooms to try out gear from our sponsors Ableton, FMOD and Native Instruments
- Networking time
- Book 1-on-1 meetings with industry bodies, Arts Law Centre of Australia & Australian Guild of Screen Composers
- and so much more!
Don’t miss the chance to network and connect, try out software and hardware or learn from local and international speakers on skill development, aesthetic design, and the structure of the ever-changing games industry.
- $70 earlybird in-person ticket – EXHAUSTED!
- $120 full price in-person
- $25 live stream
High Score is presented by APRA AMCOS, in partnership with Creative Victoria, and is part of Melbourne International Games Week.
Event info
Saturday 30 September – Sunday 1 October 2023
LCI Melbourne - 150 Oxford Street, Collingwood VIC 3066
Early bird in-person ticket: $70 (limited quantity) - EXHAUSTED!
Full price: $120
Includes full program, catered lunch, morning and afternoon tea and Saturday evening networking event
Live stream only: $25
High Score stream will be available on demand for all ticket buyers for a limited time.
Please note, you must be 18 years or older to attend the in-person event. No age restrictions on the live stream.
Sponsors & Supporters
LCI Melbourne Campus Accessibility
LCI Melbourne is committed to providing a welcoming, inclusive and accessible campus, space and venue. Our services and facilities are designed to make your experience comfortable and enjoyable.
What to expect
LCI Melbourne’s campus is designed to be accessible for all (and D.D.A compliant). All levels have lift access, large halls and doorways, and non-gendered bathrooms. In some areas with limited lift access, ramps or chair lifts located nearby facilitate entry.
Where there are entries to the building that may have limited access, an alternative entry with wheelchair-friendly access is available.
If you’re in need of further assistance or have any questions, please contact LCI Melbourne’s team who are more than happy to help by providing information regarding our spaces and accessibility.
Contact: [email protected]
Live Stream and On Demand Accessibility
Contact [email protected] with any questions
Program
| Day 1 - Saturday 30 September 2023 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Time | Gallery (live streamed) | Loft |
| 8:00 - 9:00 | Registration | |
| 9:15 - 9:30 | Welcome to Country & Official Opening | |
| 9:30 - 10:30 | OPENING KEYNOTE: In Conversation with Yoko Shimomura Yoko Shimomura + Host: Angharad 'Rad' Yeo Interpreter: Alexander Aniel A discussion on creativity, technicality and tenacity as displayed through Shimomura’s long successful history in video game music | |
| 10:30 - 11:30 | Morning tea | |
| 11:30 - 12:30 | PANEL: Big Things In Small Packages: Sound for Mobile Jayde Marter, Katarzyna Wiktorski & John Guscott + Host: Angharad 'Rad' Yeo Our panel discusses the challenges, strengths and creative solutions needed for creating music and sound design for mobile games. | PRESENTATION: Working Relationships - Composer & Assistant Simon Hanna & Natalie Jeffreys + Host: Jini Maxwell Simon Hanna and Natalie Jeffreys unpack some of their work and methodology on recent projects including digital trading card game, Gods Unchained, and illuminate the workflow between composer and assistant. |
| 12:30 - 13:30 | Lunch | |
| 13:30 - 14:30 | SPEEDRUNS: 1 Concept, 5 minutes Alex Aniel | Fernando Pepe | Talia Raso | Ben Houghton | Broghan Blackshaw | David Mason + Host: Angharad 'Rad' Yeo Each speaker has 5 minutes to fully explain their most important industry tip – will they get through it in time? | TECH MASTERCLASS: Comparative Problem Solving Mika Cornelius & Zander Hulme + Host: Jini Maxwell Audio experts Mika Cornelius and Zander Hulme compare and contrast how they solve problems when designing game audio - and share the tips and tricks they've learned |
| 15:00 - 16:00 | Afternoon tea | |
| 16:00 - 17:00 | TECH MASTERCLASS: Into the Weeds – Effective Foley Design Joanna Fang & Blake Collins + Host: Angharad 'Rad' Yeo Joanna Fang and Blake Collins from Sony Playstation walk us through the play and the work of intelligently creating foley for games. | THE SOUND OF: Justice Sucks Mitchell Pasmans & Nick McDonnell + Host: Jini Maxwell Join us as we breakdown the soundtrack to the hit tactical vacuum action game, Justice Sucks and discuss how to effectively exploit 90's nostalgia for fun and profit. |
| 17:00-17:30 | Close of Day 1 | |
| 18:00 - 21:00 | Networking Event @ Music Market | |
| Day 2 - Sunday 1 October 2023 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Time | Gallery (live streamed) | Loft |
| 8:30 - 9:00 | Arrival Morning Tea | |
| 9:30 - 10:30 | PRESENTATION: The Australian Music in Games Benchmark - presented by Creative Australia Dan Golding & Brendan Keogh + Host: Angharad 'Rad' Yeo The Australian Music in Games Benchmark 2023 is the first comprehensive study of who makes music for games in Australia, what opportunities exist for them, and what barriers they face. In this session, the study's authors will give the first public overview of the data, the report's findings, and their recommendations for what needs to come next for the Games and Music sector. | |
| 10:30 - 11:00 | Break | |
| 11:00 - 12:00 | PANEL: Game Royalties - Where, What, How? Cameron Lam, Martin Taylor & Marie Foyle + Host: Angharad 'Rad' Yeo From commissioning agreements, licenses and syncs, through to registrations and cue sheets: APRA AMCOS and ArtsLaw give you the lay of the land for game music royatlies, locally and internationally. | TECH MASTERCLASS: Audio Production in Broken Roads Timothy Sunderland + Host: Jini Maxwell Audio Lead at Drop Bear Bytes, Timothy Sunderland, showcases the tools and methodology for a clear and effective soundworld to compliment the upcoming game Broken Roads. |
| 12:00 - 13:00 | Lunch | |
| 13:00 - 14:00 | THE SOUND OF: Dredge David Mason & Mika Cornelius + Host: Angharad 'Rad' Yeo David Mason and Mika Cornelius unpacks the expertly crafted score and sound design of indie fishing game, Dredge. | TECH MASTERCLASS: Unpacking The FMOD Toolbelt - presented by FMOD Aaron Edwards + Host: Jini Maxwell When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail – but what else can a hammer do? Join FMOD’s own Aaron Edwards as he unpacks his favourite audio tools and shows their conventional (and wildly unconventional) uses. |
| 14:00 - 15:00 | Afternoon tea | |
| 15:00 - 16:00 | PANEL: Making the Team Chris O’Neill, Fernando Pepe & Jayde Marter + Host: Angharad 'Rad' Yeo Our panel discuss the process of building out a team, leading it, and how to make a good first impression when applying to join one. | PANEL: Experience Design - Game Audio beyond PC & Console Jacques Foottit, Paris Buttfield-Addison & Troy Innocent + Host: Jini Maxwell Our panel talk to the ambient, immersive and meaningful experiences they've created and the role of sound in enhancing those experiences |
| 16:00-16:15 | Break | |
| 16:15-16:25 | PRESENTATION - LCI LCI Melbourne, a progressive art, design and creative industries education institute, is a proud host and sponsor of High Score 2024. In 2024 LCI Melbourne is launching Interactive Design as a major within our unique Bachelor of Design Arts degree, and we are excited to support Australia’s games and music creation communities. | |
| 16:25 - 16:30 | Break | |
| 16:30 - 17:30 | CLOSING KEYNOTE: How to create unique videogame soundscapes using a simple set of building-block techniques Christopher Larkin + Host: Angharad 'Rad' Yeo Chris will talk about his own experience of discovering and sticking to a limited set of core techniques for designing game audio, while navigating the oversaturated market of feature-rich software and plugins. | |
| 17:30 - 17:45 | Close of Day 2 | |
Session Info
ARTS LAW SESSIONS
Day 1 - Meeting 1
LAW CHAT: Learn your rights and how you can stand up for them.
Arts Law is holding a day of free legal chats exclusively for High Score attendees. You'll have the opportunity to ask a lawyer any questions you've ever wanted to know about your artistic practice, the law and how to safeguard your arts business and set yourself up for success.
These chats are happening on the first day of High Score - Saturday 30 September. Free 30-minute chats available between 12pm-5pm.
Spaces are limited so book now by emailing [email protected] with the subject line 'High Score Law Chat' and Arts Law will get back to you directly to confirm your booking details.
AUSTRALIAN GUILD OF SCREEN COMPOSERS (AGSC) SESSIONS
Day 2 - Meeting 2
As part of High Score the AGSC will be running chats with screen composer Brett Aplin. Brett is an ARIA nominated, AFI/AACTA and APRA award winning screen composer with extensive and varied credits across drama, documentary, feature film and children’s television. He is a senior member of the AGSC and will provide you with information on the guild and answer questions about screen composition from his extensive experience working in the industry for a number of years.
Brett will be available on Sunday 1 October for free 20-minute chats between 10am-5pm.
Spaces are limited so book now:
https://calendly.com/agsc/highscorebrettaplin
This year at High Score we invite you to explore all four levels of the LCI Melbourne campus. Uncover your own new experiences, treasures, and tools of the trade! Our sponsors have set up a number different spaces including:
CMI
The Library
CMI presents THE LIBRARY, chock full of new gear and toys to play with, including the newly released Komplete Kontrol S-Series M3 Keyboards from Native Instruments.
Ableton
The Studio
Ableton welcomes you to THE STUDIO, to tinker, experiment and explore in real time with Ableton's software suite.
Day 1: 14:45 - 15:30
Sound Design with Ableton Push
In this workshop composer and sound designer Matt Ridgway will discuss ways in which the features of Ableton's new Push can be used in composition and sound design. Throughout the day, participants will have the opportunity to get hands on with Live and Push, receive advice and have questions answered.
FMOD
The Workshop
FMOD invites you to THE WORKSHOP! Come and meet the team behind FMOD & check out what's new in our 5.1 surround sound demo area. We'll be showcasing the latest workflows in FMOD as well as quick start tips and tricks if you're new to the FMOD family.
Day 1: 10:30 - 11:00
FMOD: Open Forum
We'll be opening the floor to questions from the audience in a classic AMA! We'll be talking about interactive music, spatial audio & more
MESS
The Archive
The ARCHIVE (presented by MESS) at High Score will feature a few gems, both old and new from the MESS collection.
A featured instrument will be the EKO Computerhythm Drum Machine.
With only 15 known to currently exist, this famed machine provided the beats for likes of Jean Michelle-Jarre on his breakthrough two LP’s Oxygene and Equinox.
Day 1: 10:30 - 11:00
Introduction to MESS | MESS Staff
What is MESS? Find out more about the Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio, what we do and how we help artists create new and unique electronic sound.
Day 1: 14:30 - 15:30
Old Machines, New Tools | Byron J Scullin
In this talk, MESS co-director and co-founder will take you through some of the techniques you can use to take what we do in software and apply it to your hardware or the unique machines from the MESS collection.
Speakers
Yoko Shimomura - Keynote
Shimomura’s name is one of the most recognised in video game history, and her compositions are some of the most beloved. Since graduating from Osaka College of Music in 1988 as a piano major, she has contributed her music to some of the most renowned video games, such as those within the Kingdom Hearts, Mario & Luigi, and Street Fighter II series. After working at Capcom and Square Enix for much of her career, she now continues to compose for games through freelance work, and is the lead composer on the recent Square Enix flagship titles Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III. (photo credit: OSAMU NAKAMURA)
Christopher Larkin - Keynote
Christopher Larkin (he/him) is an establish composer and sound designer for video games and the moving image. His work and achievements include the score and sound effects for hit indie title Hollow Knight, evocative indie point-and-click Tohu, and music for Cannes World Film Festival award-winning VR documentary Thin Ice VR.
Angharad Yeo - MC/Host
Angharad 'Rad' Yeo is an award-winning television presenter, video game critic, technology journalist and one of the hosts of technology podcast Queens of the Drone Age. She is also a host of ABC ME's Good Game Spawn Point, and Double J's Weekends. Her other credits include ABC Science's Elevator Pitch and Rad Experiments, and ABC Listen's How Games Play Us.
Jini Maxwell - MC/Host
Jini Maxwell (they/them) is a curator and an award-winning videogame journalist. They work at ACMI, Australia’s museum of screen culture, where they specialise in curating videogames, As well as acting as lead curator on ACMI's centrepiece ehxibition, they recently curated Out of Bounds: Exploring The Limits of Videogames. Jini also works on game events, including Untitled Goose Game Live in collaboration with Orchestra Victoria, ACMI RMIT Games Talks series, and ACMI X WIP night, a monthly meetup for screen creatives to showcase their works-in-progress. Independently, they co-curate Gay24 films, a regular film night screening rare, radical and archival queer and trans films. They worked at Freeplay Independent Games Festival as a Creative Producer from 2019-21.
Aaron Edwards
Aaron Edwards (he/him) has been working in the international media scene for over 15 years as a composer, sound designer, music editor & audio programmer. He now brings those different perspectives together as Product Manager for FMOD.
Alexander Aniel
Based in Tokyo, Alex has worked in the game industry for over ten years. At Brave Wave Productions, he manages game composers primarily from Japan, connecting them with developers in North America, Europe, Latin America and other Asian countries, connecting these composers to their fans worldwide.
Ben Houghton
Ben Houghton (he/him) is a Melbourne-based composer and sound designer currently working on multiple game projects including “Call of the Golden Valley”, “Letters to Arralla” and “Site Unseen”. Ben specialises in adaptive music systems and brings a wealth of knowledge to game audio from years of producing and performing electronic music.
Blake Collins
Blake Collins is the Senior Foley Mixer at PlayStation Studios in San Diego. With a background in Film and Television spanning over 16 years, he teamed up with Senior Foley Artist Joanna Fang to establish the Foley Department at PlayStation in 2021. Together, they've worked on titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, God of War Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, and MLB The Show 23.
Brendan Keogh
Brendan Keogh (he/him) is a videogame industry researcher at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane. He has written extensively about the cultures of videogame production and consumption for over a decade.
Broghan Blackshaw
Broghan Blackshaw (she/her) is an Experienced Sound Designer at PikPok in New Zealand. Over the course of her career she has created hundreds of bespoke compositions for fun, video games, advertising, documentaries and other mixed media. Outside of games, Broghan works in several bands and co-owns a record label.
Cameron Lam
Cameron Lam (he/they) is Art Music Lead at APRA AMCOS taking care of composers and writers in the genres of Art Music (Classical, Jazz, Sound Art, Experimental and Improvised Music). He has also been the curator of High Score since its inception in 2017, focused on fostering skills development, and building connection with the Australian (and global) game audio community. They are also a composer, producer and artistic director focussed on cross-artform collaboration with music and the curator of the Australian Art Music playlist on Spotify.
Chris O'Neill
Senior explosion engineer, creature creator and music meddler at PlaySide Studios. Chris' time in audio has seen him cover an eclectic variety of areas; everything from Paramount and DC universe mobile titles through to live installation pieces and projects for Google, Square Enix, and IBM. His personal highlights include remixing 'Snake Eater' for Metal Gear Solid V, designing audio for the BBC's first ever VR documentary, and getting eaten by a T-Rex as the voice of the 'Trapper' class in Primal Carnage: Extinction.
Dan Golding
Associate Professor Dan Golding (he/him) is Deputy Chair of Media and Communication at Swinburne University, the host of Screen Sounds on ABC Classic, and an award-winning composer (Untitled Goose Game, Frog Detective, Mars First Logistics) and writer (Star Wars After Lucas).
David Mason
David Mason is a Māori freelance music composer and sound designer based in Aotearoa. David was the composer and lead sound designer for DREDGE by Black Salt Games. David specialises in orchestral and chamber music and sonic arts and has a Master’s Degree in classical composition.
Fernando Pepe
Fernando Pepe is a Brazilian sound designer and game composer with 12+ years of experience. He has worked on 50+ projects, recently leading the Audio team at Wildlife. He also teaches sound design and is a partner of Moonsailor Audio.
Jacques Foottit
Jacques Foottit is Co-Founder and Technical Director of DOTDOT, an award-winning creative studio that uses sound, art, hardware and software expertise to create innovative experiences both on-screen and in real-world environments.
Jayde Marter
Jayde Marter (he/him), a devoted Audio Director at PikPok, shapes gaming with acclaimed titles like "Into the Dead 2" and "Doomsday Clicker," lauded with a Play by Play Award. His multifaceted expertise, spanning composition, SFX, and music production, elevates collaborations with Callum, Kadington, Times x 2, and Burn My Shadow. Founder of "Burn My Records," Jayde champions talented artists, amplifying their unique voices. Rooted in a love for sound, he drives audio innovation, humbly embracing industry opportunities.
Joanna Fang
Joanna Fang is an Emmy award winning Foley artist and sound editor. After graduating from NYU Film in 2014, Joanna trained with acclaimed New York Foley artist Leslie Bloome at Alchemy Post Sound. Seven years and hundreds of credits later, Joanna transitioned into game development in 2021 and now works for Sony Playstation Studios Sound where she co-leads the development of their inhouse Foley stage with Blake Collins CAS. Her Foley spans across triple A titles, films, TV, podcasts, and theatre.
John Guscott
John Guscott (he/him) started out in game audio production in the early 2000s and is now an established Composer, Sound Designer, and Audio Director based in Melbourne, Australia. He has worked across many console, PC, mobile and VR titles and is currently the Audio Lead at PlaySide studios.
Katarzyna Wiktorski
Katarzyna Wiktorski (she/her) is a Polish-Australian pianist, composer, arranger, band leader and producer. Fusing improvisation, modern jazz, classical and film score influences, she creates emotional and ornate listening experiences for screen and performance projects. Since her 2020 releases, Kat has led multiple ensembles, collaborated with local artists and commissioned to create music for game projects, including a beautifully illustrated word game GUBBINS by Studio Folly.
Marie Foyle
Marie is an entertainment lawyer with extensive experience in film, TV and games, including bringing global TV brands and characters into the interactive games market. She is currently Principal Solicitor at Arts Law, advising on everything from games development to music licensing, 360 deals, management agreements and publishing agreements.
Martin Taylor
“Martin “Tain” Taylor (he/him) is currently taking the lead in research and data collection for the payment of music royalties in video games at APRA AMCOS and has twenty years of experience working with both major and independent record companies. He has been teaching arcade gameplay and history at events through 1989 Arcade Bar for the last four years and has a passion for passing this information on to the next generation of gamers. He is also an avid retro arcade gamer and, as well as competing in the Australian Battle Of The Arcades for the last five years, also set the Twin Galaxies world record for Metal Slug 2 on the Neo Geo. He has also been invited to be a commentator on successful world record high score attempts on Wonderboy, Sunset Riders, Point Blank 2 and Midnight Resistance.”
Mika Cornelius
Mika Cornelius (they/them) is a composer/sound designer based in Auckland, who has created sound design and music for video games, theatre, short films and podcasts. They are a sound designer for Dredge by Black Salt Games, an NZ-made fishing/horror game.
Mitchell Pasmans
Mitchell is Lead Sound Designer at Samurai Punk Studios where he strives to create fresh and distinctive noises for all Samurai Punk releases. He has received multiple AGDA Nominations in both sound and music for his work which includes KillBug, ScreenCheat:Unplugged and Justice Sucks.
Natalie Jeffreys
Natalie Jeffreys (she/her) is a composer, sound designer, and composer’s assistant. Most recently, she was Sound Designer for Every Hue of You, composed additional music for Season Three of The Rising of the Shield Hero alongside Kevin Penkin and Alfredo Sirica, and has assisted Kevin Penkin on several anime projects. In 2022, she assisted composer GrandPrizeBigFuzz on the online game Gods Unchained.
Nicholas McDonnell
Nicholas McDonnell (he/him) co-founded Samurai Punk in 2014 and has since worked on all of Samurai Punk’s games in various positions including Design, Art and gameplay programming. Nicholas is very passionate about ensuring high quality game feel in Samurai Punk’s games and making compelling, replayable experiences.
Paris Buttfield-Addison
Paris Buttfield-Addison is co-founder at Yarn Spinner, creators of the wildly popular narrative game development tool, and producer at Secret Lab, a game development studio based in beautiful Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Secret Lab builds games and game development tools, including the BAFTA- and IGF-winning Night in the Woods, and ABC Play School Games, Qantas games, and hundreds more. Yarn Spinner is used in tens of thousands of games built around around the world, including the award-winning A Short Hike, Lost in Random, Dredge, Frog Detective, Button City, among many others. Paris formerly worked as a software engineer, and product manager for Meebo, which was acquired by Google. He has a degree in medieval history, a PhD in Computing, and has written more than 30 technical books on machine learning, programming, and game development.
Simon Hanna
Simon (aka Grand Prize Big Fuzz) is an award winning Composer for video games, music artist & co-founder of Featherfall Audio. After winning AGDA Best Music award for Rite (2020), he has gone on to work with Immutable on Gods Unchained, Raini on The Lords of Light and most recently with The Lemur Conspiracy on Vactics.
Talia Raso
Talia Raso (she/her) is a sound designer and audio obsessor, enthralled by the effects of audio-visual cohesion in multi-sensory experiences. She has been a member of the audio department at PlaySide Studios since 2022 lending her work to such titles as Age Of Darkness, WorldBoss, The Godfather and Legally Blonde mobile games as well as the Dumb Ways to Die franchise. Talia has been working in audio engineering and audio post production since 2012, and has had the privilege to join some incredible teams on feature films, animations, documentaries and national advertising campaigns.
Taylor Hardwick
Taylor Hardwick is a PhD candidate at Swinburne University of Technology. Her research examines how Melbourne-based games events navigated the shift to online formats in 2020, with a focus on experiences of safety, accessibility. Her other research interests include games industries, games and fandom communities, and representations of gender and sexuality in popular culture.
Tim Sunderland
Tim Sunderland is a lifelong musician, having started playing at the age of 10 and producing music since 2013. He got his first gig making music for games when he joined Drop Bear Bytes in 2019, and is now Composer and Audio Lead on their upcoming RPG, Broken Roads.
Troy Innocent
Dr Innocent connects people and place through urban play. Working with the city as a material, his work reimagines the creative, linguistic, cultural, social diversity of our world/s via processes of ‘reworlding’. Innocent is founder of the RMIT Future Play Lab, Urban Play Network and creator of 64 Ways of Being.
Zander Hulme
Director of Australian game audio company Supertonic, Zander Hulme's (he/him) true passion is in designing and optimising interactive sound and music systems. Recently he was Audio Lead on 5 Lives Studios' Windbound – a sailing/crafting/survival game featuring sophisticated adaptive music and a menagerie of fantastical squeaking, roaring, and belching creatures.
