Shred XLIX: And then the North Koreans attacked - Progressive Rock Music Forum

So - Smurph - I have recieved e-mails from a few people like you (composers looking to work on video games), and what they usually include is:

1. Their demo reel, which would include any compositions they had (preferably in a streamable format or as mp3) that might be of interest;

2. A description of any games that they had experience with, including specific moods that they went for in those games;

3. Contact information

Some composers just send these e-mails to any developers they can uncover, I get such e-mails about once a month, so it is a crowded field. A couple years ago, I got such an e-mail from a high-school student who was looking to build up his portfolio before he started charging, and he offered to make me music for free. At the time, I was on a project where I had no budget to pay my regular composer so I said yes, and his work was great. Since then he has asked me to give him feedback, etc. and as I was very pleased with his work, I have only said good things about him.

There are of course other paths. If you go to places like gamedev.net, or toucharcde.com and visit their forums, they usually have talent sections, where you can post your work and your going rates. When I was young, before I got into doing this professional, I visited the indie-game-maker communities like gamemaker.nl (now yoyogames.com) and zfgc.com and participated in indy games with other members of the forums, often using software like Game Maker. There were also talented spriters, composers, etc... (in fact that's how I met my current composer, years before I even had my own company).

Just seek out those communities and get involved - you will find people who need music, and if you are willing to give some of your time to do it for free for a while to build up a reputation + a potfolio (if you don't already have one), it'll help you out a lot. (and you gain valuable experience!)

Edited by TheGazzardian - July 05 2012 at 11:38