Marc Straight joins us for our Game Time feature, delving into video games and everything that surrounds them to celebrate his debut album release ‘Beauty In Transience’. A dynamic collection of swelling drops and mellifluous cadence, this 9-track album is sure to pull at one’s heartstrings. In “Beauty In Transience,” Marc Straight lays his heart out on the table in a journey that began with the urge to progress melodically, and in due course evolved into a divine product of life’s uncertainties.
This Game Time feature highlights Marc Straight’s love for gaming, be sure to read below to see what he is playing, which game he is waiting for, and more!
What’s your favorite game soundtrack?
Shadow of the Colossus. Anyone that knows me would most likely guess Dark Souls or Bloodborne, which is totally fair, but honestly this soundtrack is endless inspiration. The song “Despair Filled Farewell” will always be the song I listen to to feel energized.
Which is your all-time favorite console, either current or from the past?
It’s a tie between the Playstation because it gave me Final Fantasy VII or the Switch because it keeps me sane during travel.
Do you follow any pro-gamers, and which esports teams do you follow?
For League of Legends, I support Fnatic and Team Liquid.
For Valorant, I have to support G2. A friend of mine used to work for them so I began to support them in solidarity but now I’m here because they’re great.Also, I really love watching Magnus Carlsen play chess.
What music do you listen to while gaming?
It depends on the game, honestly. If it’s a game with a defined soundtrack I try to listen to it only. However, when I play League of Legends I mainly listen to Hardstyle, hip hop or melodic dubstep. When I play Valorant I listen to atmospheric and relaxing stuff so I can hear audio cues but still vibe out. When I play Apex I pretty much only listen to liquid drum and bass and when I play Vampire Bloodhunt I listen to death music because I’m trash.
What was the first video game you remember playing? Which device/console?
Mortal Kombat for Super Nintendo… actually that explains a lot about me.
What are your top 3 games ever and why?
Shadow of the Colossus – I love boss fights in games and this game is literally JUST that which is amazing. However, it also leaves you with so many questions, emotions, and doubt about your actions while having barely any dialogue. The first time I fought Avion, the giant bird in the lake, I cried. a lot. The music paired with this creature not trying to hurt you but show you its perspective of the world it cares for while you kill it, almost as if it wants you to just appreciate why it cares for it so much really stuck with me and changed how I view games.
Hellblade – This game is the first time I think there’s been a mature depiction of negative mental health states in games. There’s obviously an incredible amount of fantasy to communicate the story but the core told a story of processing an abject amount of distress that had me hooked to do the entire game in one sitting. I love this game so much that I had their depiction of the triskelion tattooed on my forearm.
Dark Souls 3 – Anyone that knows me expected this to be on here. I really love all of the games FromSoft makes, however, DS3 was the first game that felt extremely comfortable for me. I’ve spent 300+ hours in the game through a bunch of different characters. I have one called Fashion Police making people have better-looking outfits, if they listen to me then I jump off a cliff because they now look good but if they refuse I kill them to teach them that in this house you get drip or get hit. I also have characters like Girthworm Jim and Mountain Dude that I made to co-op with friends and show them around and my own character Amon that I rp as a rogue abyss watcher hunting everyone down to stop the flame from being linked.
Console or PC? If console, which one?
I acknowledge that PC gaming is better for every technical reason known to humankind but I like playing on console. If I’m on my PC I’m going to end up working on something and not fully enjoying what I’m playing so I try to play on console to have more separation from that.
What do you think the biggest future gaming advancement will be?
More ease of understanding for new developers and better integration of augmented reality/ virtual reality.
As a developer, I started working on games during the mid/ end cycle for Unreal Engine where the educational resources were absolutely outdated so learning felt impossible. With UE5 being new, this is the single best time to get started learning how to design games. They’re pushing really hard to make resources, make them easy to get started, and really easy to grow your ambition with education from just making random stuff. I firmly believe that the ability creates the health of an industry from the most people having access to create so there are constantly new ideas and I think we’re really approaching that with the recent changes in UE and Unity.
On the side of virtual reality, there is so much that we know we can do but it doesn’t fully work at the level of our own ambition. Resident Evil VR was a good example of this because it shows just how clean a VR game can be but there was major drawbacks from motion sickness which is something you don’t normally have to give as much attention to in regular games. I’m really excited to see what VR/AR games can create once developers are more comfortable with the design needs.
What upcoming game release are you most excited for?
Nour: Play With Your Food because I’m making it with my best friend TJ Hughes.
Which game soundtrack would you want to have your music in?
It depends on context! I’d love to do something that could combine electronic music with orchestra, such as a game like Destiny, Ghostwire: Tokyo, or any game that Darren Korb works on.
I’ve also been really enjoying making promotional pop music for games like my recent work with Maplestory and Once More so I’d love to keep blending the worlds of pop and VGM.
However, my main goals for a full OST are to go back to my roots and make music for a horror game and also make some epic boss battle music for an RPG.
What are you playing at the moment?
An alarming amount of Elden Ring with a side of Valorant
What game do you think you’re best at overall?
I’ve won PVP tourneys in Dark Souls 3 so I’d say that and I’m above average in League of Legends but I don’t think you can be good at league you can just be less bad.
If you had to live in the world of the last game you played, what world would it be?
That would be League of Legends and after seeing Arcane… it depends on where I was born but probably yeah because then Katarina would be real.
Do you watch any gaming streamers/youtubers?
I’m really new to Valorant and Apex but I really like watching iiTzTimmy for both, however I have to shout out Dixon because he made me want to start playing Viper which is my favorite character in Valorant. I also watch streams when my friends are on like Lizzytomania, Charalanahzard, and Athyris
