Entering Video Game Composing Business, I'm working on a project for free, next step?

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2 comments, last by keithmoore 13 years, 12 months ago
I'm composing a full soundtrack for a French RPG called La Fugue Orpheline (the runaway orphan). I'm having a great time compoing for it and will be working on it for a long time. However, I'm looking for a faster paced project. I'm a sophomore in college and a history major. Check out my battle theme here: www.insa-creajeu.sup.fr I sent out sample tracks to video game companies and my resume. However, I'm betting they're just going to ignore it. I've sent messages on my YouTube site and various YouTube users- that hasn't been working either. I think networking will be my best shot at getting anything. Suggestions? Samantha [Edited by - titanicpiano14 on April 25, 2010 6:41:55 PM]
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Quote:Original post by titanicpiano14
I'm composing a full soundtrack for a French RPG called La Fugue Orpheline (the runaway orphan). I'm having a great time compoing for it and will be working on it for a long time.


Sounds fantastic, I'm glad that you've found a project you can be passionate about and learn from!

Quote:Original post by titanicpiano14
However, I'm looking for a faster paced project. I'm a sophomore in college and a history major.


I'd recommend looking into smaller casual games if you're looking for fast(er) development cycles. These smaller games can give you a chance to try various approaches and build up your resume. Are you only looking to score music or would you want to do other elements of game audio like voice overs and/or SFX?

Quote:Original post by titanicpiano14
Check out my battle theme here: www.insa-creajeu.sup.fr


You have some interesting musical ideas but I really think you need to invest in higher quality samples. This will help the delivery or presentation of your music. It could also be how the audio was formatted for this video. After getting more samples experiment with reverb, delay and other DSP plug-ins to see how you can give more polish to your music's sound. With regards to the actual composition, it's fairly repetitive. Does the game have a file size limitation or could you possible branch this idea out some more? It would be interesting to see what happens when you added in percussion, brass and expanded on the choir-strings idea.

Quote:Original post by titanicpiano14
I sent out sample tracks to video game companies and my resume. However, I'm betting they're just going to ignore it. I've sent messages on my YouTube site and various YouTube users- that hasn't been working either. I think networking will be my best shot at getting anything.

Suggestions?


Keep trying! Networking takes a good while so the best thing to do is just keep at it. Always try to better your craft, reach out to new clients and peers and constantly strive to make the best impressions possible. After a while you'll start to build up a positive reputation.

Thanks for sharing!

Nathan

Nathan Madsen
Nate (AT) MadsenStudios (DOT) Com
Composer-Sound Designer
Madsen Studios
Austin, TX

I am interested in composing classical and jazz for games, like soundtracks. I can do either jazz or classical. For the project I'm working on now, I post Mp3 versions of my orchestrated comps to www.humyo.fr, a file transfer server.

The programmers put the song into the game and loop it. It's like a 50 second piece.

The version I have sounds better than the version in the demo video, in terms of quality. I don't know what the programmers did when they looped it. They also started somewhere in the middle of the song when they placed it in demo.

I've emailed my resume and some mp3's to game companies, but will most likely be ignored.
While the Internet is handy for promotion (I'm here too!) I've found better results through networking in person. I live near San Francisco, where there are a number of game designer networking events at local pubs. Talking to people has gotten me more gigs and better word of mouth. If you have similar events in your area, I'd check them out.

Then there are the bigger events like GDC and such, which I haven't done yet...but it sounds like I should. ;)

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