Jack Wall is an American video game music composer. He has worked on video game music for over 20 games including the Myst franchise, Splinter Cell, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, and Call of Duty. Wall earned a degree in civil engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and, after a brief stint working in civil engineering, transitioned into music production. He worked with musicians such as John Cale, David Byrne, and Patti Smith, and, after performing increasingly complex production and sound engineering tasks, moved into music composition in 1995.
Wall at a Video Games Live event in 2009
October 24, 2008 Video Games Live performance with Wall as the conductor
Wall in 2010
Jade Empire is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare, originally published by Microsoft Game Studios in 2005 as an Xbox exclusive. It was later ported to Microsoft Windows personal computers (PC) and published by 2K in 2007. Later ports to macOS (2008) and mobile platforms (2016) were handled respectively by TransGaming and Aspyr. Set in a world inspired by Chinese mythology, players control the last surviving Spirit Monk on a quest to save their tutor Master Li and defeat the dark forces behind his kidnapping. The Spirit Monk is guided through a linear narrative, completing quests and engaging in action-based combat. With morality-based dialogue choices during conversations, the player can impact both story and gameplay progression in various ways.
The protagonist faces enemies during an early portion of the game.
The music, composed and arranged by Jack Wall (pictured 2009), was written to emulate Eastern musical styles while blending it with Western elements.