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    Indiana Jones and Great Circle composer Gordy Haab on scoring Indy's latest adventure

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    By on THENEXUS
    Indiana Jones and Great Circle composer Gordy Haab on scoring Indy's latest adventure

    By most accounts, MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle captures much of the magic found in the whip-cracking adventure hero's best-loved adventures. Famous video game voice actor Troy Baker (The Last of Us, BioShock Infinite) channels early 1980s Harrison Ford as Dr. Henry Jones Jr., as players engage in a story that takes the archaeologist to ancient sites around the world. Set in 1937, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle takes place during the sabbatical year between Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as Jones once again tries to hunt down a priceless artifact before it falls into the hands of power-hungry Nazis.

    TelaRantof Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Critics praise the game's cinematic style, and it's hard to imagine anything Indiana Jones feeling authentic without music steeped in John Williams style. Fortunately, composer Gordy Haab is an expert on the subject. Haab has written musical scores for some of the best Star Wars games already made, including the rebooted Star Wars Battlefront games and Respawn Star Wars Jedi series. As he did with Star WarsHaab adopted an approach Indiana Jones and the Great Circle this involved mixing his own style with Williams' and incorporating Williams' iconic themes when appropriate.

    TelaRant spoke with Haab about his work on Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. The composer discussed his approach to new and old themes, the difference between musical score Indiana Jones and Star Warsand how the experience on this project related to his first video game gig. Haab also shared his thoughts on the game's rave reviews and whether he knows anything about a sequel.

    Gordy Haab Discusses His Complete Journey to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

    The composer's first video game soundtrack was for a different Indiana Jones adventure


    Indiana and Gina riding a boat towards a ruined stone building in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

    ScreenRant: Todd Howard produced this, and I know he's wanted to make an Indiana Jones game for about 15 years. How early did you get involved and did he give you a lot of guidance personally?

    Gordy Haab: I definitely got guidance from Todd, but usually through a sort of surrogate, if you will. [I worked with] the audio director at MachineGames, this guy Pete Ward, who is fantastic and also a fantastic musician. We were able to really collaborate and I got Todd's thoughts and feedback through him.

    The project had probably been in production for about a year before they started looking for a composer, which is actually pretty early for a video game. Sometimes production schedules span over five years or so, so getting to year two is relatively early. I've been on the project for about three years, which is fantastic. This meant that I had the luxury of time to really absorb the story and narrative, create new themes, fail a few times, create new themes, fail again – it gave me the opportunity to really sculpt the thing over time and make it it something I was proud of.

    I saw that the score for your first video game was an Indiana Jones game. Was there anything you wish you had done better in this, that you should do here?

    Gordy Haab: Everything [Laughs]. So my first video game was Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, and I started that game because I had written the music for a five-minute Star Wars fan film called Ryan vs. It was just two of my friends and they were fighting with lightsabers. They choreographed the whole thing, but they were just in their regular clothes, in a factory, fighting with lightsabers. That's the only thing that had to do with Star Wars, but they wanted this epic Star Wars-style soundtrack. I wrote it for them and someone at Lucasfilm had seen it and they were looking for a composer for an Indiana Jones video game. That's actually how I ended up getting my first game.

    I was thrown straight into the deep end, so to speak, coming into a beloved franchise like Indiana Jones and having to learn to swim really quickly. AND [I was navigating] everything that came, [like] the nervousness of knowing how big the franchise is and what fans would expect. I have to cut my teeth on this.

    But fast forward almost 20 years later, and I've had a pretty storied career in games, most of which fell into existing big franchises like Indiana Jones or Star Wars. Throughout my career, I learned to deal with this pressure a little more. I also learned how to lean more on my personal aesthetic and reserve legacy themes, for example, only for the perfect moments [and] don't just use them as a crutch to lean on.

    I've learned a lot since then. I'm still very proud of that score I wrote – I think it was appropriate for the time in my career – but I feel like I've definitely evolved musically and also in the way I deal with the fan and franchise pressure that comes with working on something like Star Wars or Indiana Jones. The way I've learned to approach this is to remind myself that I'm also one of those fans I'm trying to please.

    I approach it from the perspective of, as a fan, “What would I expect to hear from a composer writing the music for this?” For me, it has always been something new, original and creative, but it also has enough to grab hold of and make you feel part of that world you love so much. That's been my approach in this game, as well as in the Jedi: Survivor and Fallen Order games. That's always my opinion: do something original, do something that's really me, but season it with just enough to remind everyone where they're at.

    You're one of the best at taking the colors of John Williams' music and turning them into something else. How different is Indiana Jones John Williams from Star Wars John Williams in terms of what you're extracting?

    Gordy Haab: It's interesting. I can be very technical about this, harmonically. There are a lot of big differences, but ultimately what I think makes Indiana Jones so unique is its ability to not take itself too seriously. There's a playful nature to it, and I really enjoyed getting into it. Obviously there are also very serious moments, but there is always this other side, which is not taking yourself too seriously. And in some cases, when you want to amp up the comedy, you purposely take it seriously, even if it's not serious. It kind of accentuates the comedy a little.

    I like that there's a bit of comedy in Indiana Jones. I think he's just waltzing through life, bubbling up and finding himself in stupid situations. [It’s] something I can totally relate to as an adventurer, I love traveling the world and experiencing crazy things, and I find myself in stupid situations all the time. It's like, “I can identify with this character. There has to be some fun involved in the music that accompanies it.” I think that's what John Williams managed to capture and I hope I did too.

    Haab shares his favorite topics and talks, revealing character traits through music

    “The Great Circle” Theme Has Plenty for Music Nerds to Appreciate


    Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Gina pointing a gun and saying "Go to hell!"

    There was a moment early on that I loved, when we were getting a sense of where Indy is at this point in his life, and you get into the Marion theme a little bit. What did you want to convey about him as a character?

    Gordy Haab: The game is set between Raiders and Last Crusade. It's just the result of a separation, probably a very sad one, between Indy and Marion. I wanted to give his character some depth, because I think everyone has experienced this kind of loss in their lives. Leaning into it a little bit and making him feel more human, I think, was the key. [With] using Marion's theme, for example, I didn't want to hit myself in the head. I just wanted to subtly weave it in to create some emotion so you can feel the internal struggle that Indy is going through. I wanted to make sure it still felt like a new relationship that had ended without making it sappy or too sad. It's really more of a melancholy approach. It was important to address this without going too far, so you only hear it a few times, but when you do, it's like you're in a powerful moment. That's what it required, I think.

    Gina is instantly a perfect character for this world. What did you want to convey with her theme?

    Gordy Haab: Something that John Williams has always done when writing the themes for the love interests in various films – particularly Indiana Jones, and a little bit of Star Wars as well – is that they always have this kind of beautiful, soaring theme. But I saw this character differently. I saw her, in many ways, as a kind of parallel to Indy. She's kind of tough and adventurous too, so I wanted it to be more exciting and fun with a bit of banter, but also just a hint of what could be a love interest between her and India.

    Do you have other favorite original themes from this one?

    Gordy Haab: There are a few. The opening track of the soundtrack is aptly titled “The Great Circle,” but there is a theme to the Great Circle. This is something that really nerded me out when I wrote these themes: following the concept of the Great Circle itself. The concept is these points around the globe that connect and when they do, they create this Great Circle that can open up these kind of magical powers.

    Musically, I wanted to have individual tones, somewhat pointillist, that traced a contour that, eventually, closed, tied together and repeated. For all the music nerds out there, it's these intervals of a single note going up a sixth, then down a third, then up a sixth, then down a third, almost creating steps. It ends up hitting all possible notes on the chromatic scale before going back and creating this Great Musical Circle. Conceptually, I wanted to do something nerdy like that. I always love leaning into that kind of thing.

    Then there is a theme that is on the soundtrack called “The Flood”. It's the big exaggerated dramatic choir theme and that kind of thing. There is always a great score in each of the Indiana Jones scores. The Ark theme, for example, had this inspiring element. I wanted to make sure I had something that had that inspirational element and really leaned into choral and grand sounds. It was really fun to work on this.

    Haab shares how gameplay aspects influenced his musical choices

    The composer had to navigate scenes, adventures and puzzle solving


    Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Indy, Gina and Locus tied.

    There are a lot of cutscenes in this game – it's like a movie – and the music also comes up a lot when a puzzle is being solved or when you first enter a new area. He did [elements like] that affect how you approached this game compared to others?

    Gordy Haab: Yes. Like you said, in these scenes, if you put them all together, you end up with a feature film that actually has a fantastic story.

    The idea of ​​marking anything – movies, games, television, whatever – is to stay out of the way of the story, because the whole point is the narrative. With such a good plot, it almost wrote itself in a lot of ways, so I kind of approached it like writing a movie.

    But then for the gameplay itself, it's very environmental. I wanted to set the tone for the environments, so like you said, when you enter a new environment, there's music that comes with that kind of theme to the environment immediately. This is something that [came] after studying the soundtracks of the Indiana Jones films. It's as if each new opening scene has some kind of musical expansion that puts you in place, time period, and moment, so we wanted to make sure we had that as well.

    For puzzle solving, it was a good balance to make sure we still feel the weight of having to solve that puzzle and feel the environment we're in, but we're not distracting ourselves from having to actually figure it out. puzzles. Writing the puzzle song was a tricky challenge to do everything the song was supposed to do without getting in the way of this puzzle-solving moment.

    “We’re all nervous”: Haab reflects on nervous anticipation of fan response

    “No one really knows how things will be received”


    Indiana Jones holding lighter in the Great Circle

    This game got a very good response. It's getting amazing reviews and people are loving it. Compared to the other games you've worked on, what was development like for you? Did it seem like it would be as well-received a game as it was?

    Gordy Haab: [Laughs] Good question. It was very peaceful. The whole process was very smooth, but with all the games I've worked on, no one really knows how things will be received. We are all nervous. When you're playing in a sandbox as big as Indiana Jones or Star Wars or Harry Potter or something… even Halo. When I worked on Halo, I thought, “Man, you're working on something that already has a built-in legacy.” There’s an automatic nervousness that says, “Oh my God. What if the fans don’t like it?” This was always present throughout the production, but we really enjoyed [the process]. We were having fun, and in the end I think the reason it was so well received is because we had fun with it.

    And there is a lot of fun in the game. Sometimes it's serious, but it's also ironic, it pokes fun at itself, and it's fun. Those are the things, in my opinion, that make Indiana Jones so great – the fact that it's kind of self-referential and laughs at itself. The fact that we were able to capture that, I think, is a big part of its success. But I will say that no one expected [it]. We all expected it to be so well received, but I have had experiences where we expected great results and then everything was completely frustrated. This happens too, so we didn't know what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised by the reception it received.

    The developers purposely ignored Indiana Jones and 2023's The Dial Of Destiny

    “It had the potential to have an effect”


    Indiana Jones rests his forearm on a ship in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

    Indiana Jones and the Fate Dial was released not long ago while it was in development. Did any part of this, including the answer, have any effect on this game?

    Gordy Haab: It had the potential to have an effect, but we actually intentionally ignored it. With this game we had our own narrative, it was something that was thought out and agreed between several parties and everyone was very happy with it. Yes, of course, a movie will come out and it will have some impact on your expectations, but at the same time, we thought, “We have something great here. Let's simply ignore any noise, whether positive or negative. Let's just stay focused, keep [the] put on the blinders, stay the course and try to play the game we wanted.”

    By doing this, we were able to create a story that doesn't have much reference to that. It fits into its own timeline, nestled, in my opinion, between two of the greatest films ever made – Raiders and Last Crusade – and I feel like it fits perfectly into that world. So that was our goal – just to stay the course.

    Will there be a sequel to Indiana Jones and the Great Circle?

    “There is general hope,” says Haab


    Indiana Jones alongside a nun in the Vatican.

    I know a DLC will be released at some point, but do you know if there are any ideas for a sequel? I feel like every time an Indiana Jones project comes out it might be the last, so I have to ask.

    Gordy Haab: I don't know if there's a plan for that. I know there's a plan for DLC, but I think there's a general hope that [a sequel] can happen. You never know how things will be received. In this case, it was very well received, so I think it probably sparked some interest internally to see where we can take the franchise. So maybe, but I don't know the right answer and I wouldn't want to say the wrong thing. But yes, my hope is that we get a sequel.

    About Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

    Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is an action-adventure game from MachineGames. Players take on the role of Indiana Jones (played by Troy Baker) as he races across the world to stop dangerous forces from harnessing the power of the mysterious Great Circle. The game takes place in 1937, between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

    Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is now available on Xbox Series X | S and PC. The soundtrack can be streamed on digital platforms.

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