The Game Composer’s Blog

Competition… no big deal.

I have a confession. When I first started doing music for games I was annoyed whenever I heard about other composers working on games. But now that I’ve been in the industry for awhile and have had some success, the “competition” doesn’t bother me quite as much. And here’s why:

I couldn’t possibly work on every game out there. It’s true. Even though I like to work on as many projects as possible, I’ve come to realize that with the sheer quantity of games out there, it is preposterous to think there shouldn’t be other composers out there. That’s part of the reason why I started this blog. I want to help other composers in any way I can by sharing things I’ve learned in the industry. As the level of quality rises in game soundtracks, that’s good for all of us (assuming we can achieve at least that level of quality).

That’s part of the reason I felt at annoyed at other composers, however. The level of quality in game music was pretty low back when I first started. I was actually justified in feeling annoyed at many of the other composers because they had no business doing game music. They were buddies or brothers of programmers and designers who had a copy of Acid. Ugh. But sure enough, as soundtracks have gotten better, the “hacks” have started to be weeded out of the scene. There’s still much weeding left to be done, but we’re on our way.

All this is sounding a bit elitist. But I’d prefer to just call it “quality control”. It’s time to get rid of the unacceptable. Developers have a low tolerance for bugs in their games. They should have an equally low tolerance for bad audio. Let’s show them what we can do… not as “competition” but as “comrades”. The better we do, the more they’ll expect from us.

July 24, 2008 Posted by thegamecomposer | Career Advice | competition | Leave a Comment