I just finished a retro video game score for Demon's Hymn 2: Prelude of Night. Will Tice of unTied Games decided to take on the LOWREZJAM challenge again this year and make this 64x64 pixel sequel to the original Demon's Hymn. It's an incredibly ambitious game for just 2 weeks of work. For my soundtrack, I started with the same sound palette of church organ and ghostly synths as the first game, and I introduced more orchestral (but bitcrushed) instruments like French horn and alto flute.
At the end of February, I joined in on the Train Jam - a train ride from Chicago to San Fransisco filled to the brim with game makers. The goal of the train jam is to team up and make video games during the 52-hour ride. In the end, 80 games were finished! You can play them all here.
Since there were so many of us composers, I thought it would be fun to put all the music in one place. We created 63 songs, so I divided them up into five albums, all free to download on Bandcamp.
It's finally here. Four years and 166 episodes later, we've arrived at the finale of the Composer Quest podcast. Before I get too sappy about it, I want to let you know what you'll be in for in this monster episode. It rounds out the end of my world tour, after my journey home to Minnesota. This episode is definitely one for the fans; most of my interviewees in this episode have been prior Composer Quest guests, and I ask them what they've been up to. I don't want to give away too much about how the episode unfolds, but I am really excited for you to listen, when you have 4 hours and 42 minutes to spare.
If you've ever thought about moving to Los Angeles to pursue a creative career, today's episode will give you a glimpse into that world. I talk with six creators about what it takes to turn art into your job, while staying motivated and creatively fulfilled.
From pig racing to public-access TV, this three-hour episode chronicles my adventure around New England. I talk with four different songwriters about their process, and I co-create two songs from scratch along the way.
Composer Bryan Schumann has embraced self-imposed deadlines; he's been consistently making at least one "thing" every week in 2016 and blogging about it. In this episode of Composer Quest, we talk about what he's learned from this experiment. Bryan also talks about his eco-friendly music projects, like a bike-powered electric band and his future solar-powered recording studio.
A few weeks ago, I got to participate in a very fun live composing event at GlitchCon, called Game Music Melee. Three of us composers got up onstage to write video game music on the spot, based on game suggestions from the audience, in JUST 30 MINUTES. Not a lot of time. Emily Reese of the Level with Emily podcast hosted, and after two rounds of composing, she interviewed us about our process. It turned out so cool, I wanted to post it as this week's Composer Quest episode.
Video game composer Lena Chappelle worked her way into the game business by starting as a quality assurance tester. Now she's both designing and writing music for games like Guild Wars 2. In this Composer Quest interview, Lena shares some of her music and creativity tips, including her method of composing songs during her bus rides. She shares how to write a good melody, and how her experience as an author has influenced her musical storytelling. I also ask Lena about her perspective as a transgender woman in the video game industry.
Eleven new games were finished during our Gamer's Rhapsody and Composer Quest game jam in October. Here are the games that have been posted publicly.
I'm excited to say that over 70 people have signed up for the "I Barely Survived That Game Jam" game jam. We have SIX CONTINENTS covered, including participants from Brazil, Taiwan, Australia, South Africa, Norway, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Macedonia, India, UK, Canada, and the US. After forming teams based on everyone's skill sets, it looks like we'll have 17 games in progress this week. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!