New space game, new sound

How does the next sci fi game sound different?

Underspace

Starship Simulator

In June 2018, one month after I graduated college, I signed on to score my first video game soundtrack: Underspace. After spending all of college composing for chamber ensembles, I was under the rookie impression that the best way to approach game soundtracks was make it as film score-like as possible.

Because I started the soundtrack that way, I failed to utilize all the knowledge I had gained from writing for live performers in small settings.  Underspace has a big sound, but most all of the soundtrack is not performable as a result of my initial approach.

After I completed Underspace, the biggest question I asked myself was how my next space game would sound different.

Last month, April 2021, I signed on to score my fifth game soundtrack: Starship Simulator. As it turns out, creating a new sound for the game was no problem at all. This was because I’ve learned to utilize all my knowledge of writing for concert hall. Moreover, the starship soundtrack is written to be performable by a live orchestra. 

​The two sound incredibly different as a result, and I’m happy that each came into their own quite quickly.