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Monday, August 18, 2014

The Great Musician Search! (I Need Help)


    I posted a couple recruitment requests last week as a means to reach out a little and try to see if I can find someone at my intermediate level of experience. I didn't go all out yet because I want to see hat kind of reception I'd get. I've never asked for help before and feel really bad about doing it because I still have nothing to my name that proves I'm as good as I believe I'll be in a few years' time.

     If someone says "Why ponies? Are you counting on a fad?" I can only explain how I just like the aesthetic the way others enjoy elves, dinosaurs, dragons, or anthro characters. If someone asks how popular I am, my Status Report numbers aren't really something to brag about. When it comes to pay (the most important factor) there is none, and there won't be any even if I'm a moderate success (I have $100K in evil student loans to pay and I need $2K to release games for iOS). All I can offer is a chance to boost each other up so I'm looking for someone in my age/experience range to take a chance with me.

Find more details and the recruitment post below the break.




    If I can find someone dedicated to making music, that person has nothing to lose. It'll be a chance to get a name out there and have some songs on a portfolio. Trouble is the OST would have to be unique to the game (otherwise I'd still be using public domain stuff). The composer gets full credit all all profits from any music downloads, but I get music that I can say was made specifically for my game.

    Unfortunately there are no music majors in my school that I know of so my best bet is to hang around the gaming lab and hope I see a new student taking interest in game soundtrack composition. My other option is reaching out into the web and seeing if anyone in the right forum at the right time notices me. It feels about as stressful and ridiculous as finding a gamer girlfriend really (which wasn't easy).

     If it really is a hassle working with someone I can always take the time to teach myself how to compose after graduation, but I really need to get my next 3 games after Unicorn Training out before I get tossed into the real world and have bills to pay. I'm hoping my later games cover my debts and at least one of them gives me enough to live off of for a year.


Here is the recruitment post I wrote (please feel free to respond yourself!):

"I need to find somebody who loves making music to be my go-to music contractor. I plan on having a career as an indie game developer and making lots of pony themed video game series. The project I'm currently gearing up for is basically Pokemon featuring ponies for mobile devices. If you know anyone who can make original music in the style of the Gen 3 - Gen 5 games, please send them my way.

This search is particularly tough because I can't just go out and hire somebody. I'm a kid in college with no money to his name. If any of my games do turn a profit it goes straight toward tuition so I can help my parents (who are drowning themselves in debt for me). My solution is to offer the soundtrack to my games separately and give 100% of those profits to the composer. The game's popularity will fuel OST sales and provide a way for the musician to profit from the success of the game. At least until I get to a stable financial point where I can pay upfront in addition to giving the music creator 100% of soundtrack profit.

A partnership like this is most likely to work best with someone who is also still developing their talent and constantly seeking improvement. It helps to have a big passion for video games too (RPGs in particular). I think we can help each other reach our career goals through collaboration. If anyone knows anyone else that fits that description I'd love to get in contact.

Just E-Mail yotesmail@gmail.com"

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