My first game soundtrack (Bionicle Heroes GBA)

Download Link: http://www.sendspace.com/file/uwptfx

My first game just made it to the shelves earlier this week (11/14), so I'm releasing the tracks I made for it. It's done in a sort of electronic style (they were looking for sci-trance, it turned out a bit different but hey), which is not something I'm really used to, but I managed to adapt to it by the time I finished up. I'm more used to writing melodic stuff, so it was a challenge in that way, and I finally blew off some steam at the end of the project by writing "The End Of The Invaders", which is a chiptune containing basically nothing but melody. Amazingly, it got put into the game, as BGM for a minigame.

Also, it should be noted that I upgraded the sample quality to get rid of the infamous "GBA hiss".

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Oh, sorry about the wrong placement, I haven't gone around My Stuff much recently. It's not really a gamerip, I don't really know anything about doing that, I just took my original modules and changed the samples up.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

For this and the current project I'm working on I used Modplug Tracker, and it was implemented into the game with Krawall (I think that's pretty standard with GBA musics). I've heard other tracker programs, like Impulse Tracker, are easier to use, but I started with Modplug, so it's hard for me to switch since I'm so used to the interface.

I recently found out that I may get hired for a DS game in the near future, in which case it would probably be MIDI + soundfonts, so I'm excited about that.

Oh, and I didn't come up with any of the titles to the songs, just to clear that up. I can't say I really care for a lot of them (A PAUSE in the Action, get it, so like when you PAUSE? Har har har. Josh, if you're reading this, I apologize ). I did like "Stoned Enemies", though. They actually changed that in the ingame sound test and I was quite disappointed. So I kept it.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Darkcomet72

lol earthy delights, can't believe you did that

Heh, neither can I. I was actually behind on a deadline and had just written that for the DoF, finding that it worked really well with the area. But I kinda wish I had taken the time to write a whole new piece. I won't be doing that again.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Vaeran

Can you tell us a little bit about the composing process? i.e., what guidelines they gave you, how much of the game/story they showed you beforehand, if they forced you to make any revisions or changes, etc?

Hey, sorry it took me so long to respond to this. I was given pretty much all the info I needed. This game has next to no story, but I got storyboards for the one cutscene The main guidelines they gave were a) more kick drum and b) less melody. I had started out writing in a more melodic style that I am used to writing in, but they were looking for a more futuristic, trancey sound, so I had to change stuff around. I had a few preliminary attempts that got rejected, but once I got in the groove of things it began falling together pretty well. Also, the project had a change of producers midway through, which helped as the new guy didn't have quite as much of preconceived notion of exactly how it should sound.

As for the composing process itself, I'm guilty of not planning stuff out much beforehand, I basically just open up my tracker and write (which I'm trying to do less of, but I've been composing like that for years and it's a tough habit to break). I get a sheet with all the music they need from me, and I do play the game, but it seems like I write a lot more from how I picture a certain area or from looking at conceptual artwork than from actually playing through it. There were some cool concept sketches that I wish would have gotten included, unfortunately I think I deleted them.

Originally Posted by boRAT

Toma,
as a professional composer, how does one go about getting these sort of gigs. I am currently a student composer but I'd like to get work when I have finished my studies. I've always wanted to do game sound tracks so talking to a living, breathing professional is a really cool opportunity

Well, I'd say, and I think most others in the industry would agree, that the most important thing is getting to know people in game audio (or development in general). I was absolutely lucky in getting the position I did, but I recommend you put together a demo of music that you've written in many styles, and maybe in a variety of formats (MIDI, Tracker, live recording if possible), and sending it out to various companies. I'm also lucky because I live in Seattle, which is a great place to be for this kind of work, but except for in-house composers, it's mostly contract work and can be done via correspondance.

I'd like to hear what you've written! I don't really have any power as far as getting anybody hired, but my interest is piqued.

I was speaking idiomatically.