Meet Martin Galway!

This is the first in a series of posts which will introduce you to the crew behind the development of Star Citizen.

Chris Roberts and Martin Galway go way, way back: they attended high school together in Manchester, England, and Martin was there in 1983 when Chris made one of his first commercial sales to Optima Software (Martin aged 17, Chris aged 15). After a few years at Ocean Software carving out his legendary status as Commodore 64 musician,Martin came to Austin in 1988 as a contractor, to help develop Times of Lore; two years later he returned permanently to take a job as Origin Systems’ Audio Director. From then on he was responsible for increasingly complex audio projects including sound effects, music and, as the Soundblaster took the market by storm, speech. Sharp-eared Wing Commander fans may recognize his voice as a Kilrathi in the original Wing Commander II demo! Martin’s audio work at Origin would go on to be an instrumental part of Strike Commander, Wing Commander III, Wing Commander IV and others. He headed up content creation on Origin’s first CDROM game, a port of “Ultima 6” to Fujitsu’s FM-Towns PC. To hold all the digital speech samples for the game, Martin’s PC had the largest hard drive in the building at that time - a whopping 320MB.

Martin joined Digital Anvil shortly after it was founded in 1996 and was responsible for the audio on all of their games, in addition to earning an on-screen screen credit in the Wing Commander film! Long a champion of getting ambient background sounds exactly right, the scope of his work can be best appreciated in Freelancer’s vast and varied universe… and his voice shows up once or twice, too! Martin’s fame predates his work on Origin’s classics, though: he may be the single best-known composer for the Commodore 64 and has a rabid following in that community. His “chiptunes” for that early system are known worldwide and are routinely sampled and remixed today.

On Star Citizen, he’s back in the sound engineer chair again, creating and mixing everything needed for the GDC Online demo shown on October 10th. It’s an incredibly complex task: something as simple as the sound the player’s boots make while climbing the ladder into the cockpit might require combining half a dozen or more samples. He’s already developed great ambient, directional noise for things like the UEES Paul Steed’s engines, so that they shift from speaker to speaker and fade away as your fighter passes around them. Its deep rumble confirms you’re in the presence of something gigantic. In short, every single sound you hear in the finished game will have over two decades of Wing Commander and Freelancer experience behind it!

Gameography Atomic Protector (1983)

Cookie (1983)

Daley Thompson’s Decathlon (1984)

Swag (1984)

Sabre Wulf (1984)

Yie Ar Kung-Fu (1985)

Hyper Sports (1985)

Kong Strikes Back! (1985)

The Neverending Story (1985)

Roland’s Ratrace (1985)

Mikie (1986)

Ping Pong (1986)

Comic Bakery (1986)

Stryker’s Run (1986)

Terra Cresta (1986)

Green Beret (1986)

Helikopter Jagd (1986)

Highlander (1986)

Hunchback II (1986)

Galaforce (1986)

Match Day (1986)

Miami Vice (1986)

Parallax (1986)

Rambo: First Blood Part II (1986)

Short Circuit (1986)

Arkanoid (1987)

Athena (1987)

Game Over (1987)

Rastan (1987)

Slap Fight (1987)

Yie Ar Kung-Fu II (1987)

Combat School (1987)

Crazee Rider (1987)

Wizball (1987)

Microprose Soccer (1988)

Times of Lore (1988)

Insects in Space (1989)

Ultima VI: The False Prophet (1990)

Wing Commander 2: Vengeance of the Kilrathi (1991)

Ultima: Runes of Virtue (1991)

Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992)

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1992)

Ultima: Runes of Virtue II (1993)

Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny (1993)

Strike Commander (1993)

Metal Morph (1994)

Wing Commander 3: Heart of the Tiger (1994)

Wing Commander 4: The Price of Freedom (1996)

The Kilrathi Saga (1996)

Starlancer (2000)

Conquest: Frontier Wars (2001)

Freelancer (2003)

Halo 2 Blastacular Map Pack (2007)

Call of Duty: World at War (2008)

Age of Booty (2008)

Disney Epic Mickey (2010)

Filmography Wing Commander (1999)

Dies ist der erste in einer Reihe von Beiträgen, die Ihnen die Crew hinter der Entwicklung von Star Citizen vorstellen werden.



Chris Roberts und Martin Galway kennen sich schon lange: Sie besuchten gemeinsam die High School in Manchester, England, und Martin war 1983 dabei, als Chris einen seiner ersten kommerziellen Verkäufe an Optima Software machte (Martin im Alter von 17 Jahren, Chris im Alter von 15 Jahren). Nach einigen Jahren bei Ocean Software, wo er seinen legendären Status als Commodore 64-Musiker unter Beweis stellte, kam Martin 1988 als Auftragnehmer nach Austin, um Times of Lore mitzugestalten; zwei Jahre später kehrte er dauerhaft zurück, um einen Job als Audio Director von Origin Systems anzunehmen. Von da an war er für immer komplexere Audioprojekte verantwortlich, darunter Soundeffekte, Musik und, als der Soundblaster den Markt im Sturm eroberte, Sprache. Sharp-eared Wing Commander Fans können seine Stimme als Kilrathi in der ursprünglichen Wing Commander II Demo erkennen! Martins Audioarbeit in Origin würde weiterhin ein instrumentaler Teil von Strike Commander, Wing Commander III, Wing Commander IV und anderen sein. Er leitete die Erstellung von Inhalten für Origin's erstes CDROM-Spiel, eine Portierung von "Ultima 6" auf Fujitsus FM-Towns PC. Um alle digitalen Sprachproben für das Spiel aufzubewahren, verfügte Martins PC über die damals größte Festplatte des Gebäudes - satte 320 MB.



Martin kam kurz nach seiner Gründung im Jahr 1996 zu Digital Anvil und war für den Ton aller ihrer Spiele verantwortlich, zusätzlich zu seinem On-Screen-Credit im Wing Commander-Film! Lange Zeit ein Verfechter des Ambient Backgrounds, kann der Umfang seiner Arbeit in Freelancers riesigem und vielfältigem Universum am besten geschätzt werden.... und seine Stimme taucht auch ein- oder zweimal auf! Martins Ruhm geht jedoch auf die Zeit vor seinem Werk über Origin's Klassiker zurück: Er ist vielleicht der einzige bekannteste Komponist für den Commodore 64 und hat eine fanatische Anhängerschaft in dieser Gemeinschaft. Seine "Chiptunes" für dieses frühe System sind weltweit bekannt und werden heute routinemäßig gesampelt und remixed.



Bei Star Citizen ist er wieder im Toningenieurstuhl und erstellt und mischt alles, was für die am 10. Oktober gezeigte GDC Online Demo benötigt wird. Es ist eine unglaublich komplexe Aufgabe: Etwas so Einfaches wie der Klang, den die Stiefel des Spielers beim Aufstieg ins Cockpit erzeugen, kann das Kombinieren eines halben Dutzend oder mehr Samples erfordern. Er hat bereits großartige Umgebungsgeräusche für Dinge wie die Triebwerke von UEES Paul Steed entwickelt, so dass sie von Lautsprecher zu Lautsprecher wechseln und verblassen, wenn Ihr Kämpfer an ihnen vorbeikommt. Sein tiefes Rumpeln bestätigt, dass du in der Gegenwart von etwas Gigantischem bist. Kurz gesagt, jeder einzelne Sound, den Sie im fertigen Spiel hören, wird über zwei Jahrzehnte Erfahrung mit Wing Commander und Freelancer haben!

Gameographie


Atomic Protector (1983) Cookie (1983) Daley Thompsons Decathlon (1984) Swag (1984) Sabre Wulf (1984) Yie Ar Kung-Fu (1985) Hyper Sports (1985) Kong Strikes Back! (1985) Die unendliche Geschichte (1985) Roland's Ratrace (1985) Mikie (1986) Ping Pong (1986) Comic Bäckerei (1986) Stryker's Run (1986) Terra Cresta (1986) Green Beret (1986) Helikopter Jagd (1986) Highlander (1986) Buckel II (1986) Galaforce (1986) Match Day (1986) Miami Vice (1986) Parallax (1986) Rambo: First Blood Part II (1986) Short Circuit (1986) Arkanoid (1987) Athena (1987) Game Over (1987) Rastan (1987) Slap Fight (1987) Yie Ar Kung-Fu II (1987) Combat School (1987) Crazee Rider (1987) Wizball (1987) Microprose Soccer (1988) Times of Lore (1988) Insects in Space (1989) Ultima VI: Der falsche Prophet (1990) Wing Commander 2: Rache des Kilrathi (1991) Ultima: Runes of Virtue (1991) Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992) Ultima Underworld: Der stilische Abgrund (1992) Ultima: Runes of Virtue II (1993) Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny (1993) Strike Commander (1993) Metal Morph (1994) Wing Commander 3: Heart of the Tiger (1994) Wing Commander 4: The Price of Freedom (1996) The Kilrathi Saga (1996) Starlancer (2000) Conquest: Frontier Wars (2001) Freelancer (2003) Halo 2 Blastacular Map Pack (2007) Call of Duty: World at War (2008) Age of Booty (2008) Disney Epic Mickey (2010)
Filmographie
Kommandant des Geschwaders (1999)

This is the first in a series of posts which will introduce you to the crew behind the development of Star Citizen.

Chris Roberts and Martin Galway go way, way back: they attended high school together in Manchester, England, and Martin was there in 1983 when Chris made one of his first commercial sales to Optima Software (Martin aged 17, Chris aged 15). After a few years at Ocean Software carving out his legendary status as Commodore 64 musician,Martin came to Austin in 1988 as a contractor, to help develop Times of Lore; two years later he returned permanently to take a job as Origin Systems’ Audio Director. From then on he was responsible for increasingly complex audio projects including sound effects, music and, as the Soundblaster took the market by storm, speech. Sharp-eared Wing Commander fans may recognize his voice as a Kilrathi in the original Wing Commander II demo! Martin’s audio work at Origin would go on to be an instrumental part of Strike Commander, Wing Commander III, Wing Commander IV and others. He headed up content creation on Origin’s first CDROM game, a port of “Ultima 6” to Fujitsu’s FM-Towns PC. To hold all the digital speech samples for the game, Martin’s PC had the largest hard drive in the building at that time - a whopping 320MB.

Martin joined Digital Anvil shortly after it was founded in 1996 and was responsible for the audio on all of their games, in addition to earning an on-screen screen credit in the Wing Commander film! Long a champion of getting ambient background sounds exactly right, the scope of his work can be best appreciated in Freelancer’s vast and varied universe… and his voice shows up once or twice, too! Martin’s fame predates his work on Origin’s classics, though: he may be the single best-known composer for the Commodore 64 and has a rabid following in that community. His “chiptunes” for that early system are known worldwide and are routinely sampled and remixed today.

On Star Citizen, he’s back in the sound engineer chair again, creating and mixing everything needed for the GDC Online demo shown on October 10th. It’s an incredibly complex task: something as simple as the sound the player’s boots make while climbing the ladder into the cockpit might require combining half a dozen or more samples. He’s already developed great ambient, directional noise for things like the UEES Paul Steed’s engines, so that they shift from speaker to speaker and fade away as your fighter passes around them. Its deep rumble confirms you’re in the presence of something gigantic. In short, every single sound you hear in the finished game will have over two decades of Wing Commander and Freelancer experience behind it!

Gameography Atomic Protector (1983)

Cookie (1983)

Daley Thompson’s Decathlon (1984)

Swag (1984)

Sabre Wulf (1984)

Yie Ar Kung-Fu (1985)

Hyper Sports (1985)

Kong Strikes Back! (1985)

The Neverending Story (1985)

Roland’s Ratrace (1985)

Mikie (1986)

Ping Pong (1986)

Comic Bakery (1986)

Stryker’s Run (1986)

Terra Cresta (1986)

Green Beret (1986)

Helikopter Jagd (1986)

Highlander (1986)

Hunchback II (1986)

Galaforce (1986)

Match Day (1986)

Miami Vice (1986)

Parallax (1986)

Rambo: First Blood Part II (1986)

Short Circuit (1986)

Arkanoid (1987)

Athena (1987)

Game Over (1987)

Rastan (1987)

Slap Fight (1987)

Yie Ar Kung-Fu II (1987)

Combat School (1987)

Crazee Rider (1987)

Wizball (1987)

Microprose Soccer (1988)

Times of Lore (1988)

Insects in Space (1989)

Ultima VI: The False Prophet (1990)

Wing Commander 2: Vengeance of the Kilrathi (1991)

Ultima: Runes of Virtue (1991)

Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992)

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1992)

Ultima: Runes of Virtue II (1993)

Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny (1993)

Strike Commander (1993)

Metal Morph (1994)

Wing Commander 3: Heart of the Tiger (1994)

Wing Commander 4: The Price of Freedom (1996)

The Kilrathi Saga (1996)

Starlancer (2000)

Conquest: Frontier Wars (2001)

Freelancer (2003)

Halo 2 Blastacular Map Pack (2007)

Call of Duty: World at War (2008)

Age of Booty (2008)

Disney Epic Mickey (2010)

Filmography Wing Commander (1999)