The Game Composer’s Blog

Game music, a matter of life and death.

Soundtrack of the Month #3: Donkey Kong

I missed last month’s soundtrack review (strange how a wedding can derail work like that!). So I’ll be doing two this month. For August’s title, I decided to go with Donkey Kong.

We had some friends over last night and watched the delightful documentary King of Kong which chronicles the pursuit of the Donkey Kong high score world record. I highly recommend the movie. It was very well made and captured the highs and lows of a somewhat peculiar obsession. It was actually quite a bit more dramatic than I was expecting. How these guys can get 1 million+ points in Donkey Kong, I’ll never know. My high score is in the low 20,000′s.

Anyway, having just fired up MAME and played some DK, I was surprised how well done the music was. The melodies are extremely shallow (3-note and 5-note tunes endlessly repeating, ouch), but what really stands out is how the game employs a very early example of dynamic music. Pick up a hammer and the music switches to hammerin’ music. Get low on time and the music switches to the low-time loop. Finally reach your girlfriend and the victory music kicks in. It even has a love theme or two.

The sound effects are very happy and rewarding, but they also serve to become the music itself. Because the melodies are so short, the little melodic barrel and girder jump sound effects actually become part of the music themselves. The player not only controls Mario, but also the musical soundscape. It’s pretty cool. Donkey Kong was an important step forward in the evolution of video game graphics, having a visual character all its own, but it also employed some forward-thinking audio implementation. The music itself is ultimately below-par, but the way all the sounds work together to draw the player into the game is impressive.

Verdict: Not Too Shabby

September 10, 2008 Posted by | Reviews | , | 5 Comments

TSN… #5: TSN hire your friends as voice actors.

…hire your friends as voice actors.

Your friends I’m sure are very anxious to try their hand at voice acting. Maybe one of them does a decent movie trailer voice (“In a wooorlld…”). But unless you live in Hollywood and your friends are indeed actors, thank them for their offer and search elsewhere for voice talent. This of course isn’t a hard and fast rule. Maybe a couple of your friends have acting experience and can indeed bring a great performance to the table. But in general, recording your friends or relatives is a bad idea.

One of the signs that the game industry still has a lot of growing up to do is that the quality of voice acting is all over the place. We need to think professionally about voice acting and hire professionals. Don’t have money for voice? Well, why not??  Find some. Developers, don’t think of voice as an afterthought. Plan on hiring the best talent you can. If the entire game is unfunded, you can still search for new voice actors looking for work. They’re probably coming straight out of college looking to find some work and will do the job for royalties or simply credits. They’ll gain experience and you’ll record someone serious about voice acting who is familiar with the issues involved. Yes, inexperience can mean trouble so that’s why you should educate yourself about voice acting.

Also, keep in mind you may find a great voice actor, but that doesn’t mean he or she will be right for the role you are looking to fill. Most actors’ voices can only sound natural in a particular range. You need to find the right voice for the character. Be picky, there are many good professional actors to choose from and they know that they aren’t right for every role. It’s all just a part of casting. If you loved working with a particular actor in the past, don’t get caught trying to use him or her for a role they just can’t do. Their voice can only stretch so far. That’s no good for anyone.

A good book to check out is The Art of Voice Acting by James Alburger. The book is full of great advice about the actual craft of voice acting. Practice voice acting yourself. Get some scripts and read through them. Experiencing voice performance yourself is a wonderful way to gain an insight into how to communicate with the actors you will hire in the future. Also, practice recording voice. Find out how to create the best, most natural-sounding, voice you can. Mic types, mic placement, plug-in settings, etc. Get familiar with all of it so when the time comes to record that $300/hour performer, you can get straight to the good stuff.

And the bad stuff? I’ll leave you with a hilarious site that shows what can go horribly, horribly wrong when you hire amateurs to do a pro’s work: Audio Atrocities

September 9, 2008 Posted by | Thou Shalt Not, Voice Acting | | 4 Comments

Do you need an agent?

So you’re just starting out as a game audio specialist. You’ve met some people, sent out some demo CD’s, maybe even gotten a gig scoring a game (for credit or royalties). You feel like your foot is in the door, or maybe a toe at least. But then, weeks go by and you’re still waiting to hear back from all the other developers you’ve written. Your inbox sits sadly empty. Months go by. The game you poured your energy into has fallen apart. Turns out it was never really in serious production, despite the optimistic producer’s reassurances. Now you’re back to square one. Maybe there’s an easier way to get into the business?

What’s this then? There are game composer agents? Well, heck, that’s your ticket to stability! All you need is someone out there promoting you. Give them a cut, and the rest is history. Nothing but Grammy’s and leather jogging suits in your future.

Not so fast.

Let me just put this out there. You don’t need an agent. Actually, you shouldn’t even want an agent. Not to say you’ll never want an agent, but when just starting out, it’s wiser to have something much more valuable. A day job. Continue working on your craft. Continue to meet fellow game developers. Your game composition skills always need improving, but chances are your business skills need even more improvement. Once you’ve gotten a real foot in the door, some paying gigs or some decent press, the agents may come looking for you. And then, you know what? You might not need them. Why give them a share of the cut? Yes, they do valuable work in keeping contracts coming, but since you’ve been independently honing your business acumen, you should be able to take care of that yourself.

Does having an agent on your side make you more employable? Not necessarily. Yes, it says someone values you enough to want to get a piece of your action. But it also may imply you aren’t able to get the gigs on your own. Is work that hard to come by on your own? I really don’t know the answer to whether or not an agent really helps a composer’s career. I suspect there is a point between moderate success and extreme success where an agent may be able to help get your name out there. Many agents have connections that are very valuable. They have built relationships that would take you years to develop. They can give you a sort of shortcut to begin scoring bigger games.

However, bigger AAA games aren’t the only game in town. Casual games are huge business. Consoles and PC are offering a mind-numbing amount of new opportunities for composers. The paying work is out there. You just have to commit to becoming as good of a businessperson as you are a composer. An agent is certainly not required to make a living in the risky world of game dev if you commit to doing the ground work yourself. And, it’s kind of fun. It’s rewarding to land your own contracts.

If you’ve got the talent to back up your marketing, you will find your way in this business. That’s the big question. It’s not whether or not to get an agent. It’s whether or not you’ve got the talent. As long as you do the leg work, work (and, later, agents) will come. That’s why having a day job is more important than having an agent early in your career. You’ll learn valuable business skills and also find out the brutal, or beautiful, truth about how far your talent can take you.

All that being said… any agents out there who happen to be reading this, I’d love to hear from you!

September 5, 2008 Posted by | Career Advice | | Leave a Comment

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