Backbone Entertainment received two “Best of 2009″ awards from IGN, both for music games and both of them games that I was fortunate enough to work on:

PSP Best Music Game 2009 – Rock Band Unplugged – A wonderful game created by a great team of people. This project was very challenging but also extremely fun.

DS Award for Excellence in Sound 2009 – LEGO Rock Band – I can take only a little credit for this award — my audio cohort Rob Thomure and Engineer extraordinaire Kevin Wilson are mostly responsible for getting this to sound as wonderful as it does on the Nintendo DS.

On this title, Rob Thomure and I helped formulate gem authoring guidelines, playtested countless iterations of songs, and provided direction on the overall audio. In addition, I was resposible for converting the iconic RB sound effects and creating new sound effects for our unique gameplay. Finally, I wrote and performed the tutorial music used for teaching basic gameplay mechanics.

Enough blathering — RBU is in stores now, go buy it!

Having seen/heard many demos in my career, I thought it might be helpful to provide 5 quick tips on submitting your audio demo to video game companies. Disclaimer: This is based on my 10+ years of experiences and preferences; remember, each audio director is a unique and beautiful snowflake. With that said…

1. Know Your Audience

Last week I got a demo from a Country & Western artist, looking for opportunities in the game industry. While I don’t discriminate against using non-traditional types of music in our games, I suspect that the record label representing this artist sent out hundreds of CDs to a list of companies without really considering who they were sending the demos to.  The blanket approach might work well in some cases, but it generally doesn’t make sense for the independent composer or sound designer. Take some time and research the companies and people that you want listening to your demo. Are their audio needs handled in-house by an audio department? Are they a smaller company likely using contractors? What kind of games do they develop? Your chip-tune music is cool, but you probably shouldn’t send a whole CD of it to a development house that specializes in first-person war simulations.

A bit of google research will save you time and money, as well as the time of the person you’re hoping to reach.

2. Know Your Goals

“My goal is create engaging and emotionally compelling audioscapes for video games, in either an internal position, or as a contractor.”

This is a paraphrased example of many an objective statement I’ve seen on resumes and cover letters. The problem isn’t the first part; it’s the last part that’s unfocused. When I see this kind of sentence, I instantly think “amateur”, because an experienced or motivated contractor is going to tell me in a more specific way why I should consider hiring them for my audio needs:

“This year, my main focus is to show developers like you why I’m the first contractor you should be thinking of for your XBLA, PSN and WiiWare audio needs.”

Likewise, an experienced or motivated person looking for a full-time job is going to be specific about why they should be considered for an in-house position. I know it’s tempting to be more generalized in order to keep your options open, but don’t do it. It just makes you seem less professional.

3. Keep It Short

I’m sure you’ve got a lot of interesting music/SFX that help illustrate your talents and abilities. Here’s the thing; most audio directors aren’t going to spend a great deal of time listening to your demo. They either have plenty of other demos to get through, lots of other tasks to focus on, or likely both. Don’t send out a 10 or 15 track demo of full-length songs, because the majority of people will only listen to the first 10-30 seconds of your tracks.

What I love most is getting a single track, 1-3 minutes long that contains a collection of your best work. Consolidate snippets of your coolest stuff into a single track that I can cue up and evaluate. Alternatively, give me 2 or 3 tracks of the work you’re most proud of, or the genres you think you’re strongest in.

You might be worried that audio directors aren’t getting to hear the full “you”, but if they’re interested in your work, they’re going to ask for more.

4. Put Your Best Foot Forward

Since you know that the people you’re sending demos to are busy, make sure your best stuff is heard immediately. Those dramatic 30-second buildups might be wonderful during an in-game cinematic, but on a demo they’re just too long. I want to hear the good stuff, and pronto! Any weak music or sounds should not be a part of your demo just for the sake of making your portfolio look bigger. Less is more in this case.

This tip dovetails nicely with tip #3: Keep It Short. If you follow that tip, you’ll be forced to follow this one.

5. Keep It Online

Haven’t you heard? It’s cool to be green! Every time I get a big fancy audio demo package, I cringe. I can’t help but think about how many resources were spent to manufacture, print, and assemble that glossy monstrosity. Sure it looks cool, but in the end it’s all about the audio, isn’t it? Eventually I’m going to have to dispose of your packaging and marketing materials, your screen-printed CD and your fancy metal CD case — well, I try and reuse those CD cases, but a lot of that extra fluff ends up in the trash waiting to decompose in landfills.

I would much rather have a link to your online portfolio. That way if I like it, I can easily pass the link on to my colleagues and coworkers. Also, if you’re the kind of person who networks at places like GDC or IGDA meetings, you’re likely to meet artists, engineers and people from other disciplines who work at the companies you’re trying to reach. They’ll be more apt to remember to forward an emailed link to the audio department than pass on a business card or demo CD.

Coda

I’m a firm believer that you really don’t need a lot of flash or fancy presentation for a good demo. The people you’ll be targeting are busy with the day-to-day business of making their games, so try to respect their time as you do your own. Let your music speak for itself, and make evaluating your demo enjoyable and simple task instead of a chore. You’ll have a much better chance of being heard.

Again saith the PR Machine:

One of the most popular games of the early ‘90s is reborn!  Super Street Fighter® II Turbo HD Remix, originally developed by Capcom® for the arcade, makes its downloadable debut on the Xbox LIVE® Arcade and PLAYSTATION®Network.  Capcom will stay true to the foundation of the popular game by utilizing the original game code, while creating a fresh upgraded experience with new artwork and high resolution 1080p graphics.  All of the art will be completely redrawn and created by UDON Comics, which currently publishes the official Street Fighter comic and is responsible for the new contemporary look of the Street Fighter franchise.

It’s available now, so go grab it!

Update: You can now download the entire soundtrack to the game at OCR. It’s all fan-made remixes of the original sountrack; amazing stuff!

1942: Joint Strike takes inspiration and influence from the 194X series of World War II-themed vertical shooters. The art, sound, and gameplay of the new game takes cues from the original 194X games, but stands out as its own unique entry. Gameplay resembles the classic 2D style that gamers expect, but the game utilizes a full 3D engine. Set in a World War II-themed locale, stages, vehicles, and weapons have the look and feel of WWII with some stylistic differences. The world in which 1942 takes place is not our own and the events that transpire are not historically accurate, nor are they intended to be. This is an alternate world where history and technology developed along their own paths. As a result, players jump into the cockpits of WWII-era aircraft to take on huge waves of incoming enemy fire, dodging explosions and missiles while challenging huge bosses at the end of each stage. New co-op “Joint Strike attacks” combine the powers of two aircrafts into a devastating barrage.

You like top-down shooters? Give this one a try — a demo is available on XBL and PSN.

Death Jr.: Root of Evil takes on a whole new level of challenge and fun on the Wii, offering dual-weapon attack modes that give players complete control of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk in melee and ranged combat. With over 45 varieties of enemies, players will have their skills tested while swinging at nearby enemies in melee combat with the enhanced motion sensing on the Wii Remote using DJ’s famed scythe or Pandora’s whip.

We took the PSP version of Root of Evil and improved everything, including music and sound. Yannis Brown redid much of the sound design, providing tons more ambience and new sound efffects just for this version. I provided stereo, higher-resolution versions of my and Kurt Harland’s original score. In addition, the audio for the cinematic sequences feature higher-resolution graphics and audio. It’s an awesome game, go buy it!

I designed some of the sound effects for this game, did some implementation and provided audio direction on the project. Music by Norihiko Hibino, and sound design/implementation by the always professional Yannis Brown.

If you only knew then what you know now. Here’s your chance to re-live your high school days by entering Brooktown High. Choose to play as male or female and create your own unique character. Interact with other students, each with their own distinct personalities and cliques. Find your niche and hang out with jocks, nerds, preppies, and more. This is your senior year and your chance to find the guy or girl of your dreams!

I composed some original music for this game, including UI and mini-game songs. In addition, I also scored a couple of the short video montage sequences played during the game. Finally, I wrote some tools to quickly process the loads of dialogue recorded for the game, so that they were in a PSP friendly format.

The following is a montage of some of the original music pieces I wrote.