Baldur’s Gate 3 has turned out to be one of the most successful games to have come out in the last decade. It has been celebrated and critically acclaimed in all aspects. And the composer behind the magical score of the game, too, does not stand back.
Until recently, Borislav Slavov was just the guy behind Baldur Gate 3’s music but the 2024 BAFTA Game Awards turned him into a celebrity. He stole many hearts with his heartfelt acceptance speech. He expressed his gratitude towards the team at Larian, who poured their heart into making the game and so did he. He explored new methods to approach the game’s score, considering its magnanimous scale.
Slavov’s relationship with Larian goes back to Divinity: Original Sin 2, which also mimicked the tabletop rules of the Dungeons & Dragons game that formed a core part of Baldur’s Gate 3. Though Divinity: Original Sin 2’s scale is not on par with Baldur’s Gate 3, it is still a widely celebrated RPG and has made Slavov an integral part of the team. Nevertheless, his work on Divinity: Original Sin 2 still couldn’t prepare him for the mountain he’d have to climb while composing for Baldur’s Gate 3.
The waterfall approach
Slavov found the identity of Baldur’s Gate 3’s sound after composing the first song, Down by the River, with elements such as heavy brass choirs and romantic harp passages. After setting the tone for the entire composition, he was relatively at ease with making further music for the game. He used this song as a seed to give birth to the entire composition.
Making a score for games is very different from making music for films or television. During the composition process of games, composers are tasked with making the entire score in advance of the final product being nowhere near completion.
Baldur’s Gate 3 took roughly 7 years to finish, and to get a jump on things, Slavov made the most of Larian’s open dialogue policy, where members were encouraged to communicate with one another.
He conversed extensively with concept artists and narrative designers to help him carve out his compositions. Commenting on his approach, he said:
Ideally, the music should be driven and inspired by the other elements in the in the game already. I started following the traditional waterfall process, where the music would come at the end of the waterfall.
At some point, our executive producer came to me and said, ‘we love the music, but you know what? I don’t think we’re going to make it if you don’t go ahead of the waterfall.’
By adapting to this approach, the composer managed to get out of his comfort zone and venture into the world beyond his waterfall. This posed a great challenge but was immensely rewarding towards the end. He had regular conversations with writers and directors, asking them hundreds of questions to stay ahead of time, ahead of the waterfall, and produce enough music to fuel the game from start to finish.
The winds shifted in Slavov’s favour
Larian released an early version of Baldur’s Gate 3’s first act for early access on October 6, 2020. This facilitated Slavov and other developers to reap the benefits of early feedback. Early feedback has been a helpful tool for Larian, especially during Baldur’s Gate 3, as it was one of the biggest game risks any studio had taken in a while.
A massive burden was lifted off of Slavov when he saw people appreciating the musical direction of the game. This gave him a lot of confidence to work on fine-tuning and enhancing the score further for its release 3 years later. Slavov, in favor of early strategy, said:
That’s why I’m behind the concept of early access, because we are willing to make changes, we are we willing to make iterations, we are willing to listen to what the people have to say. Early access gave me this opportunity.
Slavov contributed to the largely successful game of the last decade, and he managed to do so by being honest about his craft and being willing to explore new ways to approach his work.
