You mentioned that publishers get in touch with you once stuff is coming out. What have been recent standouts for you? Like where you have been playing a game and it has been like, okay, this works, I want this?
BioShock has some amazing sound and music. Assassins Creed II had some really fantastic stuff. We just put Uncharted 2 in the show, and that had some great stuff. But again, it doesn’t have to be a popular game. And Shadow of the Colossus, I am sure you have played that one.
Yeah, I have.
And again, financially, didn’t do so well. Was not a big commercial success, but the storyline and the characters and the interactivity and the score were all beautiful. So those are some of the ones that recently they have really stood out for me, and that we all have in the show now. Oh, the music to StarCraft II, which is coming out soon. We have been playing that music for two years.
That’s finally coming out next week, right?
Yeah. We have been playing Diablo III music for the last year-and-a-half. So we’re even playing games that aren’t even out yet.
So, as a last question: Let’s say a teenager, or a twentysomething kid goes to see a VGL show and decides, “I want to do that. I want to do what Tommy does. I want to do what Kondo-san does and make music for video games.” What’s the path there? What advice would you have for him or her?
It’s a great question. I formed a nonprofit organization about nine years ago called the Game Audio Network Guild. The letters spell out GANG. And the website for that is audiogang.org. Like I said, it’s a nonprofit organization. There are currently over 2,000 members who have signed up all over the world, representing 30 countries. It’s mostly professionals, but it’s people looking to get in the industry as well. It’s an organization that I founded because I wanted to spread information about–not only the creative aspects about what we do–but also the technical aspects and the business aspects as well. How do I get in the video game industry? What do I do? Where should I go? So joining GANG would be my first suggestion.
My second suggestion would be that the game industry is all about networking. Just putting together a demo CD or whatever and sending it to somebody in the mail? Don’t waste your time. Put together that demo, but meet the people face-to-face and put it in their hands. Have communication, like I did. Offer to do stuff for free, just for the opportunity to get your foot in the door.
So where are the best places to network?
Well, the Game Developers Conference is every year in San Francisco, in March. There’s The International Game Developers Association–another nonprofit organization–has groups all over the world. Meet the developers in your area, even if they are, say, smaller iPhone developers and get in with them now.
There are amazing books out there about game audio, too. Go on Amazon.com and type in “game audio” and you will get books like The Complete Guide to Game Audio by Aaron Marks. Alexander Brandon, who is the composer of the original Unreal series, has a fantastic book out there, Audio Processes. I forget the exact name of it. So, that would be my advice: networking, pick up the books, go to the events, and join GANG. And you should be well on your way. The hardest part of getting in industries like film and television is getting to the people who make the decisions, right?
Right. Definitely!
The good news is that, in our industry, that’s not the case. Getting to all those people is easy if you know what to do and where to go. If you are talented, you will get noticed and you will get work and you will be in this industry. By the way, that goes for everybody, not just musicians, but artists and programmers and producers and designers and marketing people and PR. If you show passion, that’s it. Passion and networking and talent, you will be in the video game industry.