We were lucky to catch up with Nga Weng Chio recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, NGA WENG thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
Last October, I went to GameSoundCon with the scholarship sponsored by The Game Audio Diversity Alliance. It was there that I had the pleasure of meeting Alex Brandon, the Audio Director at Frost Giant Studios. During our conversation, Alex mentioned a composer role for the upcoming RTS game Stormgate, sparking my interest. I took the opportunity to introduce myself and pitch for the project. Two months later, I heard back from the team and was confirmed to be the composer for one of the game’s three unique factions. In Stormgate, a faction represents a playable army as well as the lens into the culture and backstory of a culture, each with their own unique sound.
Stormgate has been an immensely fulfilling project, providing a huge creative space for me to explore. Frost Giant Studios was founded by veteran game development leaders who helped create some of the most acclaimed and best-selling PC games of all time including Blizzard Entertainment’s WarCraft® III and StarCraft® II. I am super honored to be a part of such a distinguished team.
We wanted to create a unique sound for the faction. I was provided with concept art and the faction’s history to inspire the music. We experimented with vocals, aiming to capture the essence of the alien race and convey their unique society and culture through music. It was like reading the script of a movie, and my mission was to tell the story of the faction through music. I met with the Frost Giant team at GDC, and I received some extremely positive feedback regarding the music I’ve created, which gives me a lot of encouragement and affirmation. Working alongside Alex, who was vice president of the G.A.N.G. many years ago, has been a wonderful experience. As one of the lead composers for “Stormgate,” I create the unique soundscape for the Celestial Armada. The essence of the soundtrack and gameplay will be showcased in the Showreel section. My responsibility outreach simple composition – but also music supervision on the overall music direction. Working alongside the Audio Director and the talented team at Frost Giant Studios, I crafted a distinct musical identity and culture for the Celestials world.
Celestials Armada are high-tech angels, with a combination of the bio-mechanical and mechanical units. I was provided with the art concept and faction history as the inspiration for the music. It was like reading the script of a movie, and my mission is to tell the story of the race through music. I want to give a hint of humanity as well as future technology. I made use of a solo soprano voice, wanted the voice to be organic as well as electronic, so I requested a Bulgarian type of singing, which uses chest tone without vibrato. After the recording, I processed the voice with plug-ins such as Portal and Soundtoys crystallizer, to make it sound robotic. Besides using vocals, I’ve also used soft synthesizers, such as Gravity, Elysion and Omnisphere for the pulses and drones, to hint technology. Organs were processed and used at the back to give an outer-space feeling. I’ve also recorded some world instruments such as Xun, the Death Whistle from Africa, Glass Armonica and Medival Horn, to add more texture to the music.
Through trial and error, and with Alex’s guidance, I developed a soundscape that reflects the Celestials’ crystalline, immortal and intimidating nature. The interactive structure of the soundtrack mirrors the gameplay, transitioning from exploration to combat, which was essential given the players’ immersive experience according to the roadmap dynamic system.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Born in Macau, Nga Weng Chio (“Weng”) is a game/film composer who currently resides in Los Angeles. She is one of the composers in the all-star composer team for the highly anticipated RTS game “Stormgate”, developed by veterans from StarCraft II & Warcraft III at Frost Giant Studios.
Her music for Stormgate – Celestial Armada received tremendous positive feedback from the community, entering the World Soundtrack Awards. Working closely with Penka Kouneva, she contributes to projects such as Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV. She is actively in the orchestration team of Nolan Markey working on projects such as League of Legends, Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Vox Machina, contributing to various blockbuster franchises. Besides, she contributed to the music team for orchestration and booth assisting of Steve Jablonsky for Borderlands Movie based on the video game franchise. Prior to relocating to Los Angeles, she gained early industry experience as an assistant composer at Shanghai NetEase Games. Her achievements as a young composer have been recognized by the industry, with honors that include selection for the Society of Composers & Lyricists Mentorship Program, Composer Diversity Collective, and Game Audio Network Guild’s Audio Source Magazine, among others.
Beyond video game scoring and orchestration, she’s deeply engaged in scoring for films, with credits spanning feature films and over 30 short films and animations screened at prestigious festivals, including The American Pavilion at Cannes, the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, and the Montreal International Animation Film Festival, with releases on Apple TV and Amazon Prime. As an accomplished classical pianist, Weng holds Piano Performance Diploma as a Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music. Weng’s musical style reflects her rich cultural background and artistic versatility, brilliantly fusing the unfamiliar with the familiar.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Fusing musical elements from a particular culture into a score has always been my vision in composing. I love to combine traditional elements with different modern genres to create a new soundscape that aligns with the storytelling. Coming from Macau, I am hugely influenced by the diverse culture. Since Macau was once a Portuguese colony, there has been a lot of European and Portuguese influence on music and architecture. Besides, Chinese temples, culture, and music are also a huge influence in Macau. Growing up with classical music and Hong Kong pop music, these elements have been a mark in my composition journey, encouraging me to fuse the unfamiliar with the familiar.
In terms of incorporating traditional Asian music elements, I classify it into three different levels. Each of them aligns with the storytelling th with the prompt/vision. The first way I do this is simply using traditional Asian instruments, such as Guqin and Erhu from China and shakuhachi and Shamisen from Japan, etc. to incorporate into the orchestral score. The second way is in terms of musical choice, combining the vertical and horizontal aspects. The vertical aspect is the harmony, and the horizontal is the scale and melody. For example, Chinese music has an entirely different concept of harmony, they do not have a theory for harmony but more on the relationships between notes. There are five pitches, known as the pentatonic scale (gong, shang, jue, zhi, yu) which aligns with the “five elements” in Chinese culture. Through the pentatonic scale, the hexatonic scale and heptatonic scale are derived. In Western music culture, the tonality and harmony system are different. So, I would combine Chinese melodies in Chinese scales on top of Western harmony, this is one way. Another way is to combine scales and harmonies from different cultures and make it into a new system, as well as using different traditional instruments in the score to add more cultural colors to it. Either way works in terms of incorporating elements or motifs, but it should align with the vision of the story to create a unique music tapestry.
In the grand tapestry of my dreams, I aim to write music that touches the deepest side of people’s heart. Besides serving the narrative, I hope my music can be influential to the community, be genuine and embrace people’s souls. I envision establishing my own composing business that not only thrives but also becomes a positive force within the community. My diverse cultural background and my identity as a female composer imbue me with a unique mission — to infuse fresh, diverse sounds into the world of scoring. As I strive to become a renowned composer, my ambition transcends personal success. I aim to inspire and guide others in the future, especially the younger generation.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Building my audience on social media has been deeply connected to networking and mentorship. I believe that as composers, we are our own business, and building relationships is crucial. Networking has played a vital role in my career development, allowing me to expose myself to the community and seek opportunities to offer my services. It took a lot of courage to start, as I was an introvert when I first came to the U.S. However, after a year of “training,” I shifted towards being more extroverted. Now, every networking event I attend leaves me feeling “charged” and motivated.
For anyone starting to build a social media presence, I’d encourage persistence and resilience. Being a composer is a risky, challenging path, and I’m still navigating my way. Out of every 100 connections or emails, only a few might respond, and maybe one or two will lead to real opportunities. But I believe that luck is proportional to hard work. The more dedicated you are, the more likely people will notice. I remind myself to stay prepared for when opportunities come, work with 200% effort, and never give up.
While there may not be a formula for success, perseverance definitely brings you closer to your goals. I’m grateful to all the industry professionals, composers, and friends I’ve met along the way—they serve as my role models and continue to inspire me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ngawengchio.com/
- Instagram: weng_composer
- Facebook: Nga Weng Composer
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nga-weng-chio-%F0%9F%94%9C-gamesoundcon-740267287/
- Twitter: ngawenggamemx
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/__Eemid_VBY?si=MZV8OI-i04wRV6KY
Image Credits
Frost Giant Studios, Christian Amonson