in january 2010, i packed my clothes and music scores into two suitcases, my tubby cat into a tiny carrier, and moved to boston on a plane. unsure what i was getting myself into, i just knew in my gut that the opportunity seemed too interesting to pass up. and it was: my work here ended up changing my ideas about what music is and what it should be.
in my first month at ipwn i heard more about video games and comic book heros than the rest of my life put together. i was a classically trained musician after all, with a music degree from a just-pretentious-enough-though-you-probably-haven't-heard-of-it school. ali's instincts for hip hop, with its driving bass and catchy beats, were exactly right. although i made some missteps when the only adjectives were "dark, modern, and brutal," once we had a genre, the music fell into place.
we have interns spread from l.a. to australia, some with graduate degrees and some trying to break into the industry any way they can. it's never easy to get into the video game industry without experience (the classic catch-22), and in a depressed economy it seems like even the experienced are having trouble. the talent available has allowed us to find adept musicians with both true creativity and the right attitude for a startup. i've been impressed by how the team has experimented and grown as musicians.
it's so easy to fall into the trap of thinking of classical music as "real" and video game music as ... something else. but bloodknight has made me value likable music, music people can viscerally connect with. we don't want light and fluffy orchestral music in the background as you play an action hero. instead, we have tracks that are longer than average (keeping it interesting), melodic but primarily beat-based, and just background enough to make you want to smash up some monsters.
now that the soundtrack is nearly complete, i find myself rocking out to it every day. on the funky smelling red line on my way home, i stuff my ears with headphones and find myself muttering comments ("tell peter to amp up the bass at 1:26 and take out that weird clicking noise"). yes, working in the video game industry has turned me into one of those crazy people you encounter on public transportation, with one squinty eye and speech you can't quite make out. pretty sure my distraction almost got me crushed by a door once. at least i know it will all be worth it. if you're playing bloodknight on the subway and a short blond girl starts leaning towards your screen, tell her the music is awesome.