It's been a hot minute since the last post, eh?
I previously wrote about personal projects I've been working on. Now, I'd like to talk about where my first three quarters of a year as a video game composer and session musician have led me.
Right out the door, almost as soon as I was given the right to remain -- and I am deeply aware that this was a lucky gig to have -- I was approached by Christoph Jakob, who scored Revita. He asked me if I could take on the role of the final boss of this game, "Mother." That entailed singing vocals on the final boss and credits themes, as well as voice acting her lines. I gladly obliged. The video below is from Christoph's channel, and it is of the final boss theme, "Regret":
A month after the release of Revita, I took part in the 2022 Otome Jam. I was scouted by SmokeMirrorStudios, who had previously worked with a friend and powerful voice for marginalised genders in game audio, Eliana Zebro. Eliana and I had previously done a game jam together in December of 2021, and they have since been active in casting voice talent, writing #AudioIndustryGame -- a compilation of several accounts of abuse faced by minorities in the game audio and wider music industries -- and working on a number of visual novels and audio dramas.
Smoke enlisted my help and the help of another musician friend, Marrow, making us a two-musician team for our entry. There was quite a sizeable team of developers, artists, voice actors behind this, and that team would eventually become Heartmoor Studios, the team by which our entry, Mythic Meetup, and any spin-off games related to it, would be released.
Now, any of you who know Otome Jam know another legendary entry to a previous Otome Jam called Blooming Panic. That entry garnered the thousands of views and downloads, which was no small feat for a jam entry of its kind. The musician for Blooming Panic, Sodiummetal, was our audio lead: he was responsible for sound effects, and for mastering Marrow's and my own music tracks to make them sound consistent.
I don't know quite what contributed to the rousing success of Mythic Meetup, but it got the most views, plays, comments, and downloads of this year's Otome Jam, with a significant proportion of comments remarking on how it reminded them of Blooming Panic. We were floored by the reception this game got, since the basis behind Mythic Meetup was to demonstrate, through characters based on mythical creatures, how people can be on the margins of society for who they are, and how we can help them come out of their shells by affirming and loving them.
A spinoff game has since been released as part of the Only One of Any Asset Jam, called Nature's Lament.
This time I was the only musician on the game, doing two quickly improvised pieces on the piano. I was -- and still am -- going through a rough emotional patch; I poured out what I felt on the piano based on the emotional prompts given to me by the folks at Heartmoor.
I believe that at some point, Heartmoor Studios plans to release a full version of Mythic Meetup; when that will be, I do not yet know. Either way, I have felt great joy from being involved in this project, as the games and their characters resonate deeply with me, and with many others besides.
Currently, I am scoring a casual puzzle game for Android, title TBD, and I routinely open myself up for session vocal and drum work, as well as art commissions on the side. I also play the pipe organ professionally -- a longer post on this is forthcoming -- and I am a drummer for two bands. The first is The Just Numbers, which I have been part of since 2017. The other is The Accused, a party band that has been around for decades and which has served Preston and the surrounding areas.
I don't know what the future will bring me, near or distant. But until it brings me something, I can only move forward with what I've got going now.