The Game Composer’s Blog

The Game Composer’s Blog, one year and counting…

They said it couldn’t be done. They said it was a fool’s dream. But on June 18, The Game Composer’s Blog turned one year old. And they were all proven wrong. “They” are, of course, the voices inside my head that encouraged me to play more Grand Theft Auto rather than sit down and write an occasional blog. But I silenced them. Usually.

Some interesting facts:

Most searched-for terms to get to my blog:

1. game composer, game composers, games composer – Makes sense.
2. 22.1 surround sound, 22.1 surround, 22.1 sound – Really? The post where I talk about 22.1 surround sound was meant as a joke, but apparently there are loads of people out there who want to be surrounded by an obscene amount of speakers. Well, more power to them.
3. guitar hero (and many variations thereof) – Popular, fun game. Not too surprising.
4. Peggle (victory) music – Seems that lots of people were turned on to Beethoven thanks to Peggle. This is a good thing, even though I am not in favor of how they used the Ode to Joy in the game.
5. Seinfeld theme (piano) – I am not a fan of Seinfeld’s theme song and talk about that in an early post, but there are a lot of people out there who are just dying to play it on piano or get it on their iPods. Odd…
6. composer games – Different than the other combinations of these words. I think people are clamoring for a game that enables the player to be a composer. Sounds cool to me. Hope somebody makes one.
7. GTA 4 – I do love its soundtrack and it was a Soundtrack of the Month awhile ago.
8. Wii music (and many variations) – Please, stay away from this game… unless you are 4 years old, then only play if Animal Crossing is not available to you.

And what have been the most popular posts?

1. Winter Wonderland – Harry Connick, Jr. sheet music – Maybe I should give up this game composing nonsense and just be a music transcriber. It is a great piece, though. Interesting fact: the sheet music was free but I asked for a donation. Ratio of downloads to donations so far? 100 to 1. Maybe the donation model isn’t so great…
2. The minute loop and the Shepard tone. – I compare the minute loop to the Shepard tone. I think it works…
3. 22.1 Surround Sound. Whoo! – Really, I don’t think you need 22.1 surround (or surround at all).
4. That darn Seinfeld theme. – Dweep bop bee doop boop bop, doo bop…
5. How to break into the game industry as a composer. – Glad I could help some of you out there with this one. Be sure and check out Part 2 which I posted last week.

Total number of posts over the year: 75, or about one every 4.9 days. I’m going to try to increase that total over the next year. Thanks to everyone who has commented or emailed regarding various posts. Glad to know I’m not just talking to myself and I’m enjoying having this outlet.

And on we go to year two…

June 22, 2009 - Posted by thegamecomposer | the blog | game music