EdGuy

Business Pitch

2010-05-06T16:08:00.000-07:00

On the 4th of May I pitched my business proposal. All in all, the pitch went well and I received some useful comments: my pitch actually contained too much information, and it would have benefited from being cut down to only the most essential points; I should have incorporated my portfolio of work at the beginning of the presentation, as this would have grabbed the audiences attention immediately; my service prices were considered to be low...possibly too low.

Below: I have attached images of the powerpoint presentation used in the pitch.

A Second Change of Direction

2010-03-09T13:44:00.000-08:00

Having decided that I need to inject more energy into business idea, I feel I will also have to change the focus of my Unique selling point. I had focused on bringing techniques from the music industry into music composition for video games, but this idea in itself is quite negative, as it seperates me in a way from the games developers who I will be targeting as clients. Furthermore, I feel that this USP may be a little to subtle and niche to really work. Because of these issues, I am instead going to focus on the fact that I know a lot about other elements of the video games industry, not just the audio side. I will attempt to create a USP based around communication with, and an understanding of, the video games industry. This is a much more positive focus I feel.

A Change of Direction

2010-03-07T10:25:00.000-08:00

Having discussed the original company idea and first draft press release with my tutors, I have realised that the business proposal is quite cold and negative. To get a foot hold in the market I will need to have a business plan that has energy anda positive outlook. I may be best to act under a company name of sorts, perhaps an abstract and fun name with more appeal.

Business Idea SWOT Analysis

2010-02-12T11:52:00.000-08:00

Press Release (First Draft)

2010-02-12T11:28:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Music for Games: Another Angle

MIDDLESBROUGH, CLEVELLAND – February 8, 2010

Edward Guy is offering his services as a music producer, and sound designer to games developers. His background is in playing, writing, production, and mixing for the music industry. A strong knowledge of the psychology of music, psychoacoustics, and both the art and science of production and mixing, will ensure clients receive work from a unique perspective, as well the opportunity to work closely with Edward to achieve their goals.

When it comes to game audio, the music and games industries rarely cross paths. Games developers have, in recent years, invited film scorers to work on their titles, achieving fantastic results; the film industry has been doing the same with bands and artist for decades. It seems that the only collaboration not taking place here is between the audio professional of the games and music industries. Bearing in mind the often-enormous success that has come from bringing another industries musical perspective into the development process, these two industries unwillingness to team-up seems odd. Furthermore, it is well reported audio in the games industry is falling behind its visual accomplice, both in terms of technological prowess, and creative diversity; game audio clearly needs to be looked at from a new angle. As both an avid computer game player, and music industry professional, Edward is capable of presenting that new and necessary angle with poise and proficiency.
For additional information, see Edward Guy’s website www.edguy.co.uk

Bibliography

2009-11-30T17:36:00.000-08:00

Computer Game/Audio Related Books and Magazines:

• EDGE magazine

• gamedeveloper magazine

• Sound On Sound magazine

• computer music magazine

• develop magazine

• Hearing and Writing Music: Ron Gorow

• Audio-Vision: Michel Chion

• Psychology of Hearing: Brian C.J. Moore

Computer Game/Audio Related Websites:

• www.gamasutra.com

• www.music4games.com

• www.gdmag.com

• www.edge-online.com

• www.develop-online.net

References

2009-11-30T17:27:00.000-08:00

[1] Morris C

The next generation of gaming consoles

06/12/09

http://www.cnbc.com/id/31331241

[2] gamesinvestor

Games development today
09

www.gamesinvestor.com/Research/Business_models/Development
/development.htm

[3] Bridgett R

The future of game audio

05/14/09

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4025/
the_future_of_game_audio__is_.php

[4] Ross R

Interactive Audio

05/15/01

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3080/interactive_musicer_audio.php

[5] Arundel N

Behind the soundtrack of Batman: Arkham Asylum

08/01/09

http://www.music4games.net/Features_Display.aspx?id=360

Post-Graduate Research

2009-11-30T17:25:00.000-08:00

When delving into post-graduate courses, I kept it in my mind that I was looking at a fairly niche area, and so each individual course was likely to differ quite substantially in context. On completing my current university degree, I will leave with an all-round strong knowledge of producing, mixing, mastering, engineering and composing in music. I must now choose the most appropriate subjects to focus my continued learning on, in regards to preparing myself for work as a freelance composer and sound designer, as well as ensuring I have the aptitude to stand out and succeed in the games industry.

The most common focuses of the masters courses I have been investigating, have been traditional music composition, and audio technology. Although either one of these routes would be of assistance in broadening my skill set, from my previous research, I feel that I should really be developing expertise in both the creative, and technical sides of music and sound. Ideally, I would like to discover a course that offers practical audio engineering training, but with everything learnt relating entirely to the composition of music. This way, I will have a much more appealing set of skills when I eventually begin looking for work full-time.

Below is a list of masters courses that I have been looking into in some detail. I have been in contact with at least one representative from each course, in order to gain more information on what their course entails, and to discuss whether I have the level of competence necessary to gain a place on the course.

1. MA Record Production - London College of Music

2. MA Audio Technology - London College of Music

3. SAE - Tonmeister (Masters Level) - SAE Oxford

4. MA Composition of Music for Film and Television - University of Bristol

5. MMus Composition - Cardiff University

As it stands, the only course of these five that truly offers taught modules in the technical, creative and theoretical aspects of audio design and music production, is the MA Record Production pathway, at the London College of Music. I believe I have a strong chance of gaining a place next year, but it's a gigantic risk to have just the one plan of action. Unfortunately though, the main thing I have learned from my research into audio in the computer games industry, is that everything about this profession is riddled with uncertainty. But as the saying goes, the greater the risk, the greater the reward.

Conclusion: Primary and Secondary Research

2009-11-30T17:22:00.000-08:00

Based on my research into the current state of the games industry, particularly audio in the industry, I now realise more fully, the complications of both setting-up as a freelance audio designer and music producer, and indeed, attempting to acquire an audio related position with an established developer. An extensive education, and a great deal of previous experience, our necessities before even bringing personal skill into the equation. From my interview with Craig Charsley of Cyborg Sounds, I am now confident that the best course of action would be for me to look at further education, thus broadening my range of skills, whilst gaining as much experience as possible from any small indie game projects I can get work on, as well as any work in the music industry, which will reinforce my C.V. It would be unwise for me to commit to the industry, as a graduate straight out of university. The chance of immediate success would be extremely low. I will now begin to research possible post-graduate pathways, beginning next academic year.

Primary Research: Cyborg Sounds Interview

2009-11-30T17:19:00.000-08:00

On Monday the 16th of November, I conducted an interview with Craig Charsley of Cyborg Sounds. Cyborg Sounds is an audio design and music production company based in Middlesbrough. They specialise in computer games sfx (sound effects) and music, having worked on a handful of Nintendo DS and Apple iPhone games, but have also worked on animation projects in the past. Craig Charsley is a BA Digital Music Creation graduate from Teesside University. He set up the company through Middlesbrough's own Digital City programme Last year, and is based in a small studio located in King Edward's Square.

I met with Craig for a couple of hours in his studio to get an insight into the life of a freelance composer in the games industry, and to generally pester the poor fellow for any information I could get, in the most professional of manners of course. I began with the obvious question, "How did you come to be part of the games industry?" which led to Craig divulging a wealth of valuable information on the state of the industry, the ins and outs, do's and don'ts of an audio developer, as well as a general overview of what to expect after throwing yourself head-on into the world of freelancing.

After spending the best part of a year searching for an in-house audio design position at a games company, with no avail, Craig began looking seriously at the freelance angle. The feedback he received from potential employers made it apparent that he simply didn't have the experience necessary to get an in-house position. Skill didn't even come into the equation. The typical employer was looking for at least three years experience 'in the industry', with many requiring a number of completed 'triple A' titles to your name. Most also expressed the need for solid academic achievements, up to graduate, and even post-graduate level, particularly on the engineering side of things. The key difficulty for Craig here was that he needed to have done work, to get work. Getting his foot in the door was the hardest part, and required a vast amount of social networking and self marketing, not to mention barrels of luck. One thing he was adamant about, when speaking of the difficulty he had in finding his first professional project, was the benefit of setting up his business, Cyborg Sounds. He found that no firm would take him seriously, as a professional audio designer and music producer, whilst he was operating under the title of freelancer only. By registering as a company, he became a more stable force. Now operating under the name Cyborg Sounds, Chris finally found his first project, on a game for the popular Nintendo DS handheld games console. Over the last few months he has worked with three other small development teams on Apple iPhone games, one of these teams also being linked with Digital City. He is currently finalising audio for another small Nintendo DS production. He was unable to disclose much information to me, as the game is still in development at the moment, but he mentioned that he is charging seven pounds per sound effect (a standard rate according to Craig), and was commissioned for around 45 sounds for this particular project.

Craig was able to reveal to me some particularly useful information about the way developers communicate with him, as an out-sourced hand. He has found that the time given to him for completion of a project has been wildly different every time. He has been given a seemingly impossible amount of work to do in as little as two weeks before, when a small (and horribly unorganised, apparently) developer failed to manage their time well enough. At the opposite end of the scale, he once found himself with a significant amount of time available to him, meaning he could research effectively and prepare a series of demonstration reels for the developer early on in production, allowing him to tweak his work to the developers needs after receiving feedback from the demo reels. He made it quite clear though, that he has never been given as much material to work with as he would have liked from any developer. He has only ever received the bare minimum of design details, concept art and animation tests to produce all his work to. He has never received a playable demo of any kind, which he has found both frustrating and confusing. He feels that too often, developers know nothing of the audio production process, and therefore leave audio till the last minute to complete, giving unsatisfactory resources to him to work with. However, he believes that much of this is to do with him working only with small development teams thus far, who are themselves, fairly new to industry and quite unprofessional.

Continuing to talk about the problems with smaller development teams and handheld consoles, Craig divulged that the main issue he has found is that they simply don’t generate enough cash from a single title. As a freelancer, there is only a certain amount of work he can handle at any one time, so he needs to be earning a fairly substantial sum of money from each game. Many handheld games, iPhone games in particular, sell for very little and generate low sales. The developers are barely breaking even as it is, so can only offer the bare minimum to a freelance audio designer, such as Craig. Furthermore, the seven pounds Craig charges per sound effect, while seeming fairly reasonable, is nothing when the developer only requires a small number of sounds and music tracks. The company is surviving from the steady stream of income these small titles are securing, but surviving is all it is doing. Without additional funding, Craig cannot hope to augment his service.

Within six months, Cyborg Sounds has gone from having no work, to having more work than can be handled. As stated earlier, there are only so many projects Craig can handle alone. He would like to expand the company as soon as possible, as the more completed projects Cyborg Sounds has to its name, the better. Unfortunately, Craig is simply not generating enough income at the moment to consider employing extra staff.

Cyborg Sounds is a risk for Craig. He stated that he’ll give six more months to the company, before deciding its fate. He believes that if he gets one big project in that time with a larger developer, or on a home console with the stability of a hefty publisher, it will gain him enough profit to expand the company, and strengthen his reputation enough to open the door for more profitable ventures. However, the likelihood of being contracted for a bigger project is low, and luck will play a substantial role. Craig has found the industry to be friendly, but as competitive and rife with back-stabbing as expected, so you are never assured credited work, until the title is on the shelves. A good year after Craig began his initial effort to break into the games industry; he still finds that the toughest aspect is getting respectful projects to work on. As insisted upon earlier, you must have done work, to get work.

Secondary Research: Audio in the Industry

2009-11-30T17:14:00.000-08:00

Early home consoles, like the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System), Commodore Amiga, and later the Sega MegaDrive, and SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System), all relied for the most part on Sequenced Music. Sequenced music, from early FM synthesis, generating only simple waveforms, to the hybrid (sampled and tone) wavetable synthesis, using formats such as SoundFont and MOD, we're finally ousted from their throne with the introduction of consoles such as the Sony PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Sega Saturn. Red Book audio track streaming, became the staple method of integrating audio into a game, albeit with only the most basic looping and editing techniques being applied, due to technical restraints.

With the latest console generation, we've seen a significant change in game soundtracks. Orchestrated arrangements now dominate, and the ageing MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) protocol and its counterparts, have been almost entirely replaced by streaming audio files, being dynamically mixed, in real-time, within a games engine. The reason for this change is due primarily to increased budget and processing power to work with. Developers can now meet the expense of famed film composers, which has led to the introduction of Hollywood-esque musical scores. People associate Orchestrated soundtracks with high production value, and you'll rarely find a big budget cinematic title these days, that doesn't play host to a fully orchestrated soundtrack. Audio is being given a more important role in games, as it is currently the most straightforward discipline to mimic from the film industry, yet this is actually making it more difficult for budding audio designers and composers, to get a foot in the door. With distinguished film score composers such as Harry Gregson-Williams, Danny Elfman, and Hans Zimmer finally making the crossover to games, there is greater competition than ever before. furthermore, there is no longer room for in-house audio teams. It is rare to come across a developer who does not out-source the majority of its audio content. There will always be a place for in-house audio specialists of course, to ensure perfect integration with the rest of the games content and generally supervise, but there's very few positions available on this side of things.

As technological advances have been made in the console domain, audio has been allocated more freedom. Bulky audio files can have an enormous impact on the how smoothly a game runs, and it was simply not possible to use anything of the sort until fairly recently. Few realise this, but high-end audio production can insist upon far greater computer processing power, than graphics production. A simple way to explain and understand this, is to remind you that audio is the only art form that is in-tangible. How do you manipulate something that you cannot see or touch? It only makes sense that the answer is, with difficulty, and in terms of computers, difficulty translates into processing power. Unfortunately, audio is more often than not, left until the last minute of a project time-cycle. There is very little time given, sometimes only a few weeks, for audio features to be completed. If any cuts are needed to be made, to ensure the game engine runs correctly, then audio will almost always be placed at the bottom of the priority list. This, coupled with the complex technical needs of real-time audio mixing, has lead to aural elements of games falling a long way behind their visual accomplices. However, as stated earlier, the latest console generation has given audio technology, in games, a much needed boost. Rob Bridgett, high-end game audio veteran, lends his thoughts on the future of game audio:

"Over the last five or so years, interactive mixing has developed considerably. From basic dialogue ducking systems to full blown interactive mixer snapshots and side-chain style auto-ducking systems, there is currently a wide variety of mixing technologies, techniques and applications within the game development environment.

The majority of these systems are in their infancy; however, some are already building on several successful iterations and improving on usability and quality. I have believed for some time now that mixing is the single remaining area in video game audio that will allow game sound to articulate itself as fully as the sound design in motion-pictures. " ~ (Reference item [3])

The fairly rapid shift in game audio's favoured style and manner of execution, has created difficulties for many industry veterans. Knowledge of music theory, production techniques, and general music abilities, we're previously of less importance than technical computer skills, and knowledge of programming languages. In fact, the majority of audio specialists beginning their careers with older console generations, we're primarily programmers.

"There are few dedicated game audio composers. Most have either been full time employees of the developer or publisher who may have other tasks like programming to deal with as well. If that's not the case, they generally have a tight schedule to adhere to and little time to futz around with new technology." (Reference item [4])

The issue many of these sound artists face today, is that they simply don't possess the relevant skills needed to produce top-notch game audio anymore. They are being left behind. This is one of the key reasons that developers are dropping their in-house audio teams in favour of freelance composers, and specialist game/film audio production firms. The academic requirements for getting audio work, particularly music composition, are staggering. In an interview with Nick Arundel, Audio Director/Lead Composer of recent notable AAA title, Batman: Arkham Asylum, an average study course, for an eventual game sound artist, is revealed:

" I went through what is now the kind of established 'career path' of many musicians in the industry, with a few twists and turns. I studied for a degree in music at Sussex University and studied piano performance at the Guildhall in London. I was then offered a scholarship by the Sky TV to complete a post grad course in Music for TV and Film. Since then I've completed an MA in instrumental composition, so my academic background in music is fairly strong." ~ (Reference item [5])

The information here gives a basic image of what is expected of a game music composer. This is a far sight off the average audio specialist in years gone past. I recall a past conversation I had with David Wise, composer and former member (resigning on October the 30th, 2009) of the renowned audio department, at Microsoft owned developer, Rare. He stated that he was hired after the then heads of Rare, Tim and Chris Stamper, wandered into the musical instrument store he worked at, and found him 'noodling' on one of the display keyboards. The Rare bosses enjoyed his performances so much, that they hired him on the spot, even though he had no experience of working with games, and not one audio related academic achievement, at the time. This was back in the 8-bit console era. David joked that there was no way he would be hired by Rare today, and there are many more industry veterans in the same position.

Secondary Research: Overview of the Computer Games Industry

2009-11-30T17:05:00.001-08:00

The games industry is young and rapidly growing. Technological advances are constantly diversifying the way games are designed, played and produced. Development and publishing teams are persistently swelling, with more and more people working on a single title for augmented lengths of time. The past decade has seen development costs sharply rise.

"Today, making a game for Microsoft's Xbox 360 or Sony's PlayStation 3 typically costs between $20 million and $30 million. Next generation, top tier games will likely average $60 million to make." ~ (Reference item [1] on Reference List)

It is becoming increasingly difficult for all but the grandest of companies to stay afloat. However critically acclaimed and celebrated a game is, profitability can almost never be assured.

"Following a period of considerably proliferation during the late 90s, the independent games developer market contracted sharply with European developers in particular suffering. From around 2000 to 2005 the number of developers in Europe fell by almost 50% as a result of a number of factors: Oversupply, poor management, consolidating demand and, increasing development complexity." ~ (Reference item [2])

However, the last few years has seen some repair to this. The emergence and eventual popularity of PSN (PlayStation Network), XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade) and other digital distribution services such as Steam and Direct2Drive, has ensured growth in the independent development sector, and another small window for potential developers to worm their way into the trade. Unfortunately, the industry's aforementioned youth and tremendously fast growth, is already leading to uncertainty of any future success, off the back of digital distribution services such as these. The issue is similar to one the music business has been facing for some time now. The market is becoming completely oversaturated. Apple's iPhone has proven this theory. The relative ease that is developing and publishing an iPhone game is such, that the World and his dog have had a crack at producing an iphone application. There are over 90,000 available applications, and the rate of increase seems unlikely to slow any time soon. Only a handful of game developers now stand a chance of making any 'real' money from iPhone games. There is simply too much competition, leading to little opportunity to endorse a game effectively, and poor sales.

The games industry is fast adopting the Hollywood film model, publishers are pushing every aspect of their titles, squashing them into an action-film mould, creating enormously expensive, cinematic, and highly polished games. Big names such as Nintendo, are questioning the current trend of game design, themselves pushing in another direction entirely. All in all, the games industry today is a risky place to be for publishers, developers and individuals alike. The outlook is surely bright, but what that future entails, what course the industry will take, is massively uncertain to all.

Key Learning Outcomes

2009-11-30T17:03:00.000-08:00

- To gain a broad knowledge of the modern day games industry, focusing on how audio is produced within the industry.

- To learn of the many courses of action one may take, in pursuit of an audio focused career in the industry, and the most viable option for myself.

- Generally research the competition, allowing me to reflect upon my own abilities with greater ease, discover what skills I will need to pickup and improve upon, and how this may be achieved.

- Reveal key practices and techniques that a freelancer should uphold in order to become, and remain, successful.

Context and Rationale

2009-11-01T08:49:00.000-08:00

- Interview conducted with Craig Charsley of Cyborg Sounds. Cyborg Sounds is an audio design and music production company based in Middlesbrough, specialising in computer game audio. (Craigs experience as a start out audio freelancer will help no-end in the do’s and don’ts of becoming a freelancer in the games industry).

- Research into how audio is produced within the games industry. I’ll be looking at well thought of, industry focused publications and websites, such as gamasutra.com, music4games.com, develop magazine, and EDGE magazine. (Case studies and interviews with professional audio producers will give insight into the pro’s and con’s of working as a freelancer, as well as useful information and tips on how to ‘get your foot in the door’).

- Research into post-graduate study and specific taught and research courses. (What are the benefits and drawbacks of post-graduate study, for a budding Audio designer and music producer, in the computer games industry? Is further study necessary at all?).

SWOT Analysis

2009-10-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

I have developed a SWOT analysis of my strengths and weaknesses, based on applying for a Masters course. The analysis presents a clear, simple and easy to digest comparison of my abilities, and will be a useful resource in the development of my portfolio over the coming months.