Projects | Max Duggan Music

Hey! My name is Max Duggan. I’m a video game composer, film composer, and songwriter from Chicago.

Some of my most notable projects include my ongoing work writing procedurally generated music for Mini Metro, in collaboration with Disasterpeace, as well as audio contributions to Outer Wilds: Echoes of The Eye, and A Short Hike.

My music has been featured in over 40 film festivals internationally and on Amazon Prime Video. I've shipped games on Nintendo Switch, Playstation, Xbox, Steam, and Apple Arcade.

I write a lot of cozy indie game music. I’d call my primary style "indie orchestral" and love blending electronic elements with live string sections and writing adaptive music in games.

You can check out some of my work down below as well as on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube :)

Mini Metro

Composer | Video Game

I worked alongside Disasterpeace writing procedurally generated scores for Mini Metro.

Mini Metro's audio system is incredibly reactive to the gameplay. Each time you play the game, a new version of the soundtrack is generated based on the decisions of the player.

Alongside writing scores in game, I composed an EP using Mini Metro's audio system for Spotify and Apple Music called "Reflections of Mini Metro".

Mini Metro is a strategy game where you route subway systems with levels created from real life cities.

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Playstation, Apple Arcade, Steam

Outer Wilds: Echoes of The Eye

Audio Assistant | Video Game

I did some assistant sound work with the sound designer Akash Thakkar in the early stages of Outer Wilds: Echoes of The Eye.

I traveled to various nature spots field recording ambiences and sound effects to build a sound library that Akash could utilize when designing the final sounds of the game.

Platforms: PS4, Steam, Epic Games, and Xbox One

A Short Hike

Remixer | Video Game

I composed an official remix for the song "Boat Buds" in Mark Sparling's soundtrack to A Short Hike alongside sound designer Eric Moen.

It's an incredibly charming and cozy exploration game.

A Short Hike is one of my favorite games of all time! It was an honor to get to get to work on this remix.

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Playstation, Xbox One, Steam

Paradise Marsh

Audio QA | Video Game

Paradise Marsh is built with a procedural audio system.

I worked as an assistant to Disasterpeace doing multiple play throughs of the game in order to find glitches in the audio system so they could be refined for release.

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Steam

Sun King

Composer | Feature Film

I composed an orchestral score for the movie Sun King. It was so much fun to work on this!

It toured film festivals winning awards across the United States and now resides on Amazon Prime Video.

The film follows a man who believes he is the reincarnated soul of King Louis XIV as he embarks on an epic journey.

Platforms: Amazon Prime Video

The Investigator

Composer | Short Film

I composed an ambient synthesizer score for The Investigator!

It was my first film to play in theaters and very close to me. We ended up winning best animated film at Chicago's Premiere Film Festival.

It's an animated poetic interpretation of a chilling speech from the TV show The Expanse.

Soluz

Composer | Video Game

I wrote the soundtrack and worked with the developer to build an adaptive audio system for Soluz.

It's a very calming little puzzle game for mobile.

The gameplay builds a soundtrack as you traverse through each puzzle.

I composed an ambient score to play independently of the gameplay and then attached piano notes to various actions determined by the player.

This allows the player to inevitably create melodies while puzzle solving through each level.

Platforms: iOS, Android

Perception

Composer | Short Film

A charming short film by Brandon Lopez that was heavily inspired by the nostalgia of early Gamecube games.

I composed a chiptune/ EDM inspired soundtrack using synths to model those from retro games.

Abiosis

Composer | Short Film

A beautiful short film by Logan Himango. It illustrates the beginnings of life in an imaginative sense through the lens of human anthropomorphism.

I composed an ambient soundtrack for Abiosis.

I utilized a variety of felt pianos and synthesizers to convey the emotions behind different characters in a matter of musical sound design.

Windfall

Artist/Composer | EP

A live string orchestral EP written with Eric Moen! This was my first Spotify release and is very special to me.

We wrote this to be reminiscent of the video game soundtracks we heard growing up with each song being a different part of the progression through the story characters follow in old JRPGs.

Hometown is our opening town theme, Starlight reflecting leaving home for the first time, Olive Coast is our beach/ coastal theme, and Windfall is the end credits :)

Cerulean

Artist/Composer | Single

This is the singer-songwriter side of my writing style.

I wanted to combine the live string sound that I use for my video game scores with my own vocals and indie acoustic guitar style.

Cerulean’s a reflection on some memories from Edgewater, Chicago.

Some Evanston Beach

Artist | Single

A song I wrote as a tribute to my late father about the thought of seeing him again someday.

Some Evanston Beach has a more lofi sound.

It was recorded initially as a voice memo in an apartment back in Chicago.

I had a studio session with Disasterpeace months later where we were working on a video game project.

I played him this single while we were waiting and he used an AI stem splitter tool to allow us to isolate the guitar from my voice memo.

We then spent a two hour recording session together using phone microphones to capture my vocals to keep the aesthetic of the initial songs and I released the song shortly after.

It was incredibly spontaneous and one of the most fun days of my life.

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