The Creativity of the Video Game Composer Needs To Be Flexible
People assume music is all about which instruments and notes or chords you use and how fast or slow you play them. But I can tell you there’s so much more to it than that.
When you’re composing for a video game or for a podcast or brand, far more thought goes into the composition process than most would realise. It really is a specialised task that requires a willingness to allow your creative whims to play second fiddle to the creative vision of your client.
And that is not always comfortable – especially for the hobbyist musician who is used to creating based on their own ideas without restriction or reservation.
When I sit down to write a piece of music for a client’s project, so many different considerations go into the decision I make. The creative process when you’re working with a client with a creative vision of their own is one of collaboration.
This goes for where to draw more heavily on the client’s creative vision and where the client has encouraged me to use creative license. On top of this, how I’m executing the decisions I’ve made goes a long way too.
Once the decision has been made of whether we’re going for orchestral, electronic, chiptune, hybrid or something else, some of the things I’m looking at are:
🔥 How will I capture the mood or the feeling the client is looking for?
🔥 How can I translate the mood the client is looking for into the music in more ways than one?
🔥 Which instruments or sounds are best used to capture what the client is looking for?
🔥 What can I do with those instruments or sounds that brings out the feeling the client is looking for and put it front and centre?
And that’s the tip of the iceberg.
The Video Game Composer Understands the Value of Flexibility
Here’s the thing, every single one of those points speaks to one thing…
💡 When you’re composing for a client, the creative process exists to serve the creative vision of the client
As a creative, it can be a challenging learning curve to recognise you have to trust your creative instincts without letting them get in the way of what the final work needs to be.
I’m very fortunate that 9 times out of 10, when I deliver work to my clients, they are thrilled by what I’ve created and can’t find a critical word to say about it.
An example of one such track is here:
But sometimes, it takes some adjustment to get it right for the client.
💡 The truth is: Creativity without flexibility – creativity that is unwilling to challenge itself – is often an ego trip.
🔥 Creativity at its best sees no bounds to how it can express itself.
🔥 Creativity at its best doesn’t old tight to old ideas.
🔥 Creativity at its best is ready to explore.
And, in this way, creativity help the video game composer bring their clients’ creative visions to life in new and exciting ways every time.
ANDEY FELLOWES 