Video games have come a long way from the days of the beep: full orchestras, surround sound, interactive music and large teams of people collaborating to bring you an amazing experience. Help us to document and share the historical changes in video game sound from the beep through to today.
Relive the moments of your childhood, and hear the stories behind the songs and sounds of your favourite games from the people who created them.
Help us to give the composers and sound designers throughout game history a chance to tell their own stories, to share the truly amazing things that they achieved.
I've devoted over a decade of my life to documenting and sharing information about video game sound. I've published four books about game sound. I've played thousands of games and obsessed over the tiniest details in the technology. Now, I'd like to go out and "hand over the mic" to those people who worked on the games, and give them an opportunity to speak, to tell you in their own words about what they did and why. And to give you a glimpse of the fascinating stories I've heard that lurk behind your favourite games. It's time we gave these men and women the credit they deserve.
We're going to be covering:
- Interviews with as many great people as we can get to on 3 continents
- A complete history of the game sound from the Victorian mechanical arcades, pinball, and the arcades through to today's orchestral performances and full surround soundtracks.
- The psychology of game sound
- Behind the scenes making-of footage for sound effects, voice and music
- Chiptunes and current uses of game sound technology outside games
- The tools and techniques used to compose the music and sound
Much of what doesn't make it into the film will be shared with our backers on our website, so if you have a favorite composer, you can watch the whole interview!
I've got an amazing team of friends who have worked on games, films, TV and music who are going to help me get this documentary together. We've done all the background research and lined up many of the interviews. Now, we just need your help to make it happen!
Team members:
- Director Karen Collins (Author of Game Sound)
- Composer Leonard J. Paul ( Retro City Rampage, NFS: HP2)
- Director of photography Matt Charlton, who has done filming for news, sports, music and promo work from underwater to mountain tops.
- voice actor Michael "skitch" Schiciano
- research assistant Ruth Dockwray
- Archivist and Librarians Lee Ann Fullington and Rebecca Hernandez-Gerber
- Japanese interpreter and researcher Alwyn Spies
- graphic designer and illustrators Scott Arnold and Sarah Dockwray
Interviews announced:
WEEK 1
- Tommy Tallarico (Video Games Live, Advent Rising, Earthworm Jim)
- Steve Horowitz (co-founder of the Game Audio Institute, composer for "Super Size Me" along with music for Sega, Sony and Crystal Dynamics, and loads of Nickelodeon games! Co-Author of the Essential Guide to Game Audio)
- George "The Fat Man" Sanger (Wing Commander, 7th Guest, Zombies Ate My neighbours, Loom, and author of Tasty Morsels of Sonic Goodness)
- Brad Fuller (Donkey Kong (1981), Millipede (1982), Marble Madness (1984), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1985), Tengen Tetris (1988), Klax (1990), RBI Baseball 2, 3 & 4.
- David Thiel (countless pinball games, Winter Games, and the creator of Q*bert's voice!)
- Winifred Phillips (Assassin's Creed Liberation, God of War, Little Big Planet 2, and author of A Composer's Guide to Game Music)
- Shoto Nakama (artistic director of Video Game Orchestra)
- Keith Zizza (Lord of the Realm 2, SimCity Societies, Caesar IV)
- Brian Schmidt (loads of pinball games, NARC, NBA Live 97, creator of GameSoundCon and winner of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Game Audio Network Guild)
WEEK 2:
- Tenpei Sato (RPG Rhapsody, Valis, the Disgaea series and many other RPGs!)
- Hisayoshi Ogura (Taito sound director behind The Legend of Kage, Ninja Warriors, the Darius series and the in-house band Zuntata)
- Shinji Hosoe (Namco sound director who brought techno to gamers with Ridge Racer, Galaxian: Project Drago, Tekken, Rave Racer, Bushido Blade, Street Fighter EX2,3)
- David Warhol (Loom, Bard's Tale 1 & 2, Neuromancer, Maniac Mansion, Skate or Die, Zak McKracken)
- Allister Brimble (Mortal Kombat, Alien Breed, Terminator 2, Dizzy series)
- Chris Huelsbeck (Turrican series, Great Giana Sisters, R-Type)
- Emily Ridgway (lead sound designer at Double Fine, Bioshock, Destory All Humans, Brutal Legend)
- Peter Connelly (Sound director for Watch Dogs/The Crew and composer of 3 Tomb Raider titles)
- Frederic Motte (demoscene legend and composer for many games, including Gobliins, Pac in Time, Fifth Element)
- Anders Carlsson (chiptune composer goto80)
- Raheem Jarbo AKA Mega Ran (chiptune composer)
- Charles Deenen (One of the Maniacs of Noise: AfterBurner, Golden Axe, Lemmings, Lord of the Rings)
- Alexander Brandon (Deus Ex, Unreal, Neverwinter Nights 2, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim [VO], Thief: Deadly Shadows, Dust: An Elysian Tail )
- Clint Bajakian (Monkey Island 2, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle, Unreal 2, Star Wars Ep 1, Sam and Max Hit the Road)
- Peter McConnell (Psychonauts, The Bard's Tale, Grim Fandango, The Dig, Plants Vs Zombies 2, many Star Wars games)
$16,336 pledged of $40,000 goal as of 24th August, 37 days to go.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/veemix/beep-a-documentary-history-of-video-game-sound