Anyone here does work for videogame music? Wheter is mixing, composing, etc. I thought the other day that it would be rad to compose a vg soundtrack.
Videogame music
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ze kink
THE BLACK WIZARDS
No, but I've got some friends who work in the industry doing coding and stuff, and I know one guy who does sound design. It's not exactly very glorious judging from the stories I hear from them, though the really love what they do. I certainly don't know whether the music business is any "better" though. You just tend to work in a cubicle on headphones instead of a studio.
Personally I love a lot of the original chiptune stuff, especially NES stuff. A lot of it is quite genius in how they've circumvented the limitations of the hardware. I also like some of the more recent composers like Yasunori Mitsuda.
Personally I love a lot of the original chiptune stuff, especially NES stuff. A lot of it is quite genius in how they've circumvented the limitations of the hardware. I also like some of the more recent composers like Yasunori Mitsuda.
I've done a few remixes of older nes stuff but no paid work.Not really looking to get into the gaming industry, but I love games and the old nes music.
Currently looking into it, actually. It's been my dream for years.
The industry is extremely hard to break into without knowing the right people, though - unless you're the master of the universe or some shit, good luck applying into one of those companies. Not only that, but they mostly only make mobile games around here and no AAA; I can only imagine what it's like abroad.
If you're like me and don't have your foot in the door, the best way I can think of (if you think your stuff is worth the effort) is to create an indie game with your music in it, then greenlight it to get the name around. If your idea is really good, you could try crowdfunding it. I'm actually writing a story for a game myself, although that's not just to get my music out there - the fact that I've been making soundtrack music is mostly just convenient.
At least that way, you have all the artistic freedom you want. It doubles as a negative side as well - it can easily become an eternity project like the solo albums a lot of us try to write. Best to find at least a few other people to form a team, and trust your instincts. You don't want your kick-ass music in a game that's horrible in every other sense.
The industry is extremely hard to break into without knowing the right people, though - unless you're the master of the universe or some shit, good luck applying into one of those companies. Not only that, but they mostly only make mobile games around here and no AAA; I can only imagine what it's like abroad.
If you're like me and don't have your foot in the door, the best way I can think of (if you think your stuff is worth the effort) is to create an indie game with your music in it, then greenlight it to get the name around. If your idea is really good, you could try crowdfunding it. I'm actually writing a story for a game myself, although that's not just to get my music out there - the fact that I've been making soundtrack music is mostly just convenient.
At least that way, you have all the artistic freedom you want. It doubles as a negative side as well - it can easily become an eternity project like the solo albums a lot of us try to write. Best to find at least a few other people to form a team, and trust your instincts. You don't want your kick-ass music in a game that's horrible in every other sense.
Nuno Filipe
You talkin' to me?
huge yuzo koshiro fan here, I read some time ago some of these limitations about composing to 8bits and 16 bits and it´s quite awesome to know how they did fantastic soundtracks in a really awkward software with odd codification.
nezvers
Beast
I've been asked to make chiptune (because I love it and tend to use it a lot in my EDM project) for indie developer, but they was on question mark about getting game actually done (Super Meatboy style).
I can't say it's been my dream but I have always thought that it would be cool if I made tracks for a video game that a lot of people enjoy. I just started to think, how would it be if I make it serious...I have a bunch of neat ideas written that can be applied to video games, like 50 almost finished songs that I've done for fun since I was 17 and now I'm 21 and they are mainly influenced by big name composers (uematsu, koji kondo, motoi sakuraba, yasonuri mitsuda, mostly japanese guys). No one has listened to them and I think it would be a shame if I do nothing with those. I also though that I could make my own game like you say but I have no knowledge or an idea of how to start one or where to look to partner up with like a development team or something.
Like you, started doing these things at 17, now 29. I have so much stuff lol. VGM is what I wanted to do from the get go. I said don't go there but it's an expression. Do you have any contacts ? Do you code ? Do you have a degree in music composition ? If not, don't expect to be hired by a company at all, don't expect a steady income, don't expect anything, saddly. Work your way though indy games if you can, if you do not care about the money then it'll be easier to step on the ladder. But climbing up is damn hard and slow and insecure. hehe
I'd say just make an album or a 'set' as techno people like to call them and put that up on a host or itunes or what-have-ya, promote it to video game developers and if it's good you might get a deal if you're lucky. Being an Austinite, I know a few game devs actually, working for both big and small dev houses. My brother went to college to learn game development 
He's Dead, Jim
Member
Not me, but Gunface from The Red Chord has a video game music side project:
[youtube]0l93QPBlB3g&list=PLRkB9PgajsWlwgdJP0yonE1Yocqdi557J[/youtube]
[youtube]0l93QPBlB3g&list=PLRkB9PgajsWlwgdJP0yonE1Yocqdi557J[/youtube]
egan.
daylightdies.com
I work on game dialog and have a few shipped AAA's. I can confirm that the business is incredibly competitive. A game studio with 100 guys on staff might have 2 audio guys and then outsource to an outside composer or potentially outsource everything and just have the in house team set the parameters for the outsourcers and (likely) handle the final implementation.
You definitely don't need to know how to code, but learning WWise and/or FMod radically increases your employability and also give you control over the final product (poorly implemented great sounds sound poorly).
The bottom line is few studios have in house composers and no one is hiring guys without a track record so you have to get out there, work on mods and indies and network and try to build a name for yourself. Video game music - like film music - isn't about what you like as it's about meeting the needs of the client. The more flexible and varied you are as a composer the more you'll be able to meet those needs. Unlike film, it's increasingly interactive so you need to have an understanding of how interactive music works in a non-linear medium (it's not just the old boss music model).
Like anything it's a combination of networking your ass off, building a name and getting lucky.
You definitely don't need to know how to code, but learning WWise and/or FMod radically increases your employability and also give you control over the final product (poorly implemented great sounds sound poorly).
The bottom line is few studios have in house composers and no one is hiring guys without a track record so you have to get out there, work on mods and indies and network and try to build a name for yourself. Video game music - like film music - isn't about what you like as it's about meeting the needs of the client. The more flexible and varied you are as a composer the more you'll be able to meet those needs. Unlike film, it's increasingly interactive so you need to have an understanding of how interactive music works in a non-linear medium (it's not just the old boss music model).
Like anything it's a combination of networking your ass off, building a name and getting lucky.
I've been thinking of creating a sort of online portfolio of the best stuff I've done on Soundcloud or such. That might work for you as well, then just try to get that around so people will listen to it.
For me, I have this problem that's kind of ridiculous if you think about it, yet still valid; I've been wary of posting stuff on Soundcloud or somewhere else because I'm afraid someone would steal my music and use it on some production, then possibly even sue me, having claimed it as their own work. That's right, thing like that has been known to happen before. It could really be a problem if you're unable to properly get your name around.
I guess the best insurance would be to keep the project files and put a watermark into the files or something. Any other ideas?
For me, I have this problem that's kind of ridiculous if you think about it, yet still valid; I've been wary of posting stuff on Soundcloud or somewhere else because I'm afraid someone would steal my music and use it on some production, then possibly even sue me, having claimed it as their own work. That's right, thing like that has been known to happen before. It could really be a problem if you're unable to properly get your name around.
I guess the best insurance would be to keep the project files and put a watermark into the files or something. Any other ideas?
That's why I haven't uploaded anything. I've even refrained myself from posting a "hey guys how's this song" because of that. I have seen that some folks that do compose have a lot of their work and early ideas on their own sites, but sometimes they upload on bandcamp, youtube, soundcloud, etc. Something that I noticed is that some of them have their early songs on like game flashes and apparently they give the music to the flash author for free so their name appear on the game's credits. I kinda hate the idea of giving away my stuff for free but it looks like there aren't many options. That or building a reputation in some community where people are checking out songs all the time and I guess that nobody will care about you until you have uploaded a good ammount of work and people will start recognizing you, kinda like this forum. I'm not sure but I think that sites like bandcamp protect you from people stealing your work and claiming it's theirs. I'm going to ask some guys and ask how they started so I can get an idea, and if I get answers I'll post here.
egan.
daylightdies.com
The point of having demo tracks and montages online is to demonstrate your skill and variety. The point is not that anyone is going to license a particular track for their game. The likelihood of theft is low and the likelihood of theft by a legitimate party (i.e. a business with money) is pretty much zero. The bottom line though is that if you won't post demos and won't do spec work then there is no chance you are going to break into games as a composer. Honestly if you're so fearful of having a couple of pieces stolen I suspect that you either aren't prolific enough or are too cherishing of your material to write for client driven mediums like games and film where stuff will constantly get rejected, thrown out or rewritten.
^ perfect
I never understood why someone would be afraid to get his/her music "stolen".
Did that ever happen to anyone in this era where you have all the files to prove your work, prove your own sound, even through many styles, etc.
perfectI never understood why someone would be afraid to get his/her music "stolen".
Did that ever happen to anyone in this era where you have all the files to prove your work, prove your own sound, even through many styles, etc.
Hmm... You're right, I think the trick is just to do more and avoid getting too attached to the stuff. Thanks!
^
I never understood why someone would be afraid to get his/her music "stolen".
Did that ever happen to anyone in this era where you have all the files to prove your work, prove your own sound, even through many styles, etc.
It does happen, though admittedly it's pretty rare. But dickbags like that exist as long as there's a way to illegally rip someone's music, and there's been a couple of cases where the stolen work's rights are claimed by those stealing dickbags.
It's true that it probably isn't too realistic a scenario to really fear. Sure would suck to have to go to court over something like that, though.
Mago
Austrian Blech Machine
Most of the music stuff I dig is stuff I would never be able to come up with to begin with.
Like Jeremy Soule for the Elder Scrolls 3 to 5. Dayum.
As said, I imagine that industry to be pretty similar to movie score composers. I bet it's pretty pretty tough in there.
Like Jeremy Soule for the Elder Scrolls 3 to 5. Dayum.
As said, I imagine that industry to be pretty similar to movie score composers. I bet it's pretty pretty tough in there.
egan.
daylightdies.com
Killer attitude. I didn't mean to come off dickish it's just a "your own worst enemy" situation. I recommend trying to write a little something every day and throwing up little tidbits. You need to demo a style range and also an ability to write great themes but you don't need to post complete pieces (though you obviously need to be able to write them).
Put yourself out there. There is a ton of game stuff going on in the nordic countries so I bet you can find an opportunity on an indie.
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