Hello

I'm a media technology student from Finland. I will graduate in 2012/2013. I have been thinking about my thesis, and thought of writing about video game music (production). It would probably be a qualitative research ie. in-depth interviews with a handful of people rather than polling a bunch of people (quantitative research).

I did some interviews during the Distant Worlds II concert in Sweden. I think I would be able to pull this off.

The thesis itself should be a bit on the technical side, as opposed to cultural impact etc. Basically I would go out and interview important people in the process of video game music development. How it is done, where, when. Everything. I haven't figured out the specifics yet. Going to Japan is also an option, if I manage to get in contact with the right people.

What are your thoughts? I wish to hear anything you have to say. Has this been done before? If you think this is a waste of time or not conceivable, do tell me. But that will not affect me in any way anyhow, so explain your thoughts as thoroughly as possible.

Thank you,
Nikolas

Almost certainly.

I swear a few years ago I saw one guy doing the same thing in the VGM community, although I even didn't try the first paragraph of it (not to demerit his quality, but I just wasn't too motivated).

This sounds really interesting, and I think this direction will makes yours more than an essay and bring a more objective insight.

You'll probably want to start with this book:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0240810740/

It wasn't what I'd hoped it would be, but it covers the angle you seem to be interested in.

The main issue I can see if you're focusing on the technical aspect of game music production is that it's probably not going to be that different nowadays from film music and the like (lower budgeted perhaps but that's about it).

I'd say the composing approach and collaborative aspects of game music production are where the most differences lie and would provide more meat for a thesis than the technical aspects.

Ah, college. You can major in Gameboy if you know how to bullshit.

Thank you for this tip. I will definitely read that, when I have time.

I think you might be right about the similarity of film music production. That crossed my mind, but for me the most important thing is to find something I'm passionate about. In that sense, it wouldn't discourage me, but it might not be an interesting read to others (who know about film music production).

How composers work together with the rest of the game production is actually very interesting. As a musician, it interests me very much how the composer is affected by this, and how he manages to tackle large projects.

I would love to cover everything, but I will graduate as an engineer, so the main focus should be on the technical side.

it's why the phrase 'starving artist' came about...

They TEACH you how to bullshit at college, so you can get away with pretty much anything.

In that case, I should have started college before I entered high school.