Spotlight On: Stephen Harwood Jr.

"Spotlight On" is a recurring feature on nycgameindustry.com that allows us an opportunity to get to know the passionate students, talented developers and professional companies which make up the New York game industry even better. This month we sat down with Stephen Harwood Jr., a freelance composer who has worked on various comercial projects throughout his career, including Ubisoft's Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30.

NYCGI: You've got an impressive portfolio on your website, and it looks like your works lends itself heavily to the video game industry. What sort of work were you doing before you got mixed up in our wonderful profession?

SH: Before game audio I was working mostly as an engineer and technical consultant for local artists. I still do quite a bit of this work as well as some mixing and editing. It's nice to have a variety of tasks, and there is always an element of creativity - even successfully trouble shooting a rig can be quite gratifying. That said, I would of course prefer to be overwhelmed with game audio projects to the point of exclusion. Working with developers to realize their vision, creating an irresistible game, is far and away the most fun thing I've ever done professionally!

NYCGI: Did you have any one moment where you suddenly realized "This is what I need to be doing! Before long, all the industry shall weep with joy before the sheer beauty of my dulcet-toned compositions?"

SH: Yes, definitely!  There were two moments, one each for the two parts of that 'realization'.

I first became wholly committed to writing for games when I heard my music in Brothers In Arms. It all came together - the game and the music - and I felt a sense of accomplishment beyond anything I had felt while listening to any other 'performance' of something I had written.  There's always some manner of teamwork involved in a performance: the composer and the players, the conductor and the orchestra... and the audience is a vitally important participant in any performance.

Working with a team to do something awesome is an essential ingredient in the recipe for creative joy and this phenomenon is really maximized in the making of a video game. So many skill sets and specialties come together in the process. And, by the very nature of games, players are involved in a way that is never available to the audience of any concert or film. For me, this is what makes writing for games so sexy and why I am committed to it above all other creative pursuits.

With regards to the weeping: my sister told me that she was moved to tears when she first heard my score for Brothers In Arms. Hearing that from her had a great effect on me - two great effects, actually. Firstly I felt more assured than ever before that I really had 'something to say' as a composer.  Secondly I developed an instant and insatiable appetite for that sort of power - the ability to reach into someone's guts and squeeze out a storm of tears! It's been done to me a thousand times, and I am always grateful to the doer, be they composers, performers, painters or poets. What an indescribable feeling to be on the other side of things! Perhaps it sounds strange to say, but I feel that as a musician - whether composing or performing - great big sobbing tears of heartbreak and joy are the finest gift I can ever give. To connect with other people in this way is my greatest ambition.

NYCGI: So how did you get your start in all this?

SH: The whole thing was so cliché, really. I saw a friend of mine online and decided quite arbitrarily to IM him, just to say 'hello' and 'what's up'.  What was 'up' was that he had just started work as the audio lead for Brothers In Arms and was looking for a composer. Two days (and one all-night writing session for the pitch) later and I was on the gig. I've always been a gamer; certainly I'd be more accomplished as a musician if I had spent half as much time practicing the saxophone as I spent playing games. But for whatever reason I had not until that point considered working on games. I guess I had thought of making games as something done by programmers only. Now, writing music for games feels like something I've been preparing to do all along.

NYCGI: Getting your own business off the ground is tough enough... what's the #1 tip you can give for staying afloat in this industry?

SH: If I really have to pick just one 'tip'...

"Network, network, network!" By that I mean make friends, both inside and outside the game industry. That first game gig came through a friend from college. And I've been connected with other important opportunities in the industry through relationships that formed in completely unrelated contexts.  Further, if you find yourself NOT making friends with other people who make games it might signal that this is not the industry for you. If you'll allow me to make a couple other suggestions...

NYCGI: Nope. That's all you get... kidding of course, what else?

SH: Diversify -  While I strongly recommend finding one or two musical styles to specialize in as a composer (jack of all trades = master of none, blah blah, etc.), it is important to be open to any opportunity that may come along. Especially for smaller projects it is vital that a composer develop some sound design chops. Modestly funded indie developers will most often not be interested in hiring more than one 'audio guy' so if you can't deliver all the goods you're not going to get the gig. Also, we gain very valuable experience trying different things and this new knowledge and broadened perspective will invariably increase our abilities within our chosen speciality. This in turn increases the value we have to offer on future projects thus improving the likelihood of repeat business and a ever-growing client base.

Also, don't fear the little red numbers! - Losing money for many quarters in succession is par for the course when running a business, especially in the early going. Yeah, it sucks and is super scary! But if we prepare ourselves for it psychologically and emotionally, this all-too-common part of entrepreneurship needn't come between us and the career we daydream about during the long, excruciatingly dull hours we spend working some joyless 'day job' to make ends meet.

NYCGI: How does making audio for video games differ from other media, say film or TV?

SH: Writing for film and TV is very linear - you know exactly how many seconds pass by between when the bad guy shows up on screen and when he is vanquished by our courageous hero. This scenario allows the composer to place each note right where it needs to be for maximum impact. While there is quite a bit of this type of writing to be done for cutscenes and 'set pieces' in games, there is also the unique challenge of creating a score that will adapt interactively to the often completely unpredictable way that a player will move through a level. This is both the most difficult and the most exciting part of composing for games. At the highest levels of sophistication, a successful interactive score will create a 'cinematic experience' for the player in a way that is transparent so that each moment of gameplay has appropriate and effective musical accompaniment.

NYCGI: Mike Worth and Dan Carter at Game Music Inc. recently penned an article for beginning designers looking to get into the world of audio design for games. It covered everything from game music ambiance to game music equipment. Piggybacking off their article, are there any suggestions you'd like to make regarding either of those topics?

SH: Mike and Dan are friends of mine - great guys and excellent at what they do. I think the article you're referring to is published on the Game Career Guide site, yes? That's a great introduction to the topic of game audio and covers a lot of ground. Game audio is a deep and fast-evolving field; it's various aspects could be discussed endlessly! If that sounds like a ridiculous exaggeration I invite you to come to the next IGDA Drink Night, sit with me and Mike (buy us a drink :-D) and enjoy the ride as we take game audio from a somewhat mundane technical challenge into the realms of high art, moral philosophy and beyond!

Bringing it back to the context of a single article I would add this:

Play lots and lots of games!  Play as many and as much as you can! As a matter of fact, scheduling time to play games is a real challenge that I face in the course of each work week. It is fundamentally essential to remain culturally literate and up-to-date with the current state of the art. Furthermore, there is a ton of inspiration to be found there. And perhaps most importantly, continuing to be involved as a player will help keep the joy alive to carry us through the crunchy times!

NYCGI: Have you ever thought about expanding your business and opening your own studio?

SH: I have always worked as an independent contractor. Expanding my business would mean hiring other composers and sound designers to help out with overflow or specialty items that don't match up well with my personal strengths. I've done this very thing, in fact, and anticipate doing more of it in the future.  On the other hand, I find certain aspects of working 'in-house' attractive and am always on the look out for such opportunities, though I cannot imagine any other way of life that could be as exhilarating or as full of personal freedom and empowerment as is the path of self-employment.

NYCGI: What were some of your favorite projects?

SH: Brothers In Arms may always rank as my favorite. It was my first game gig, my first opportunity to have my compositions recorded by a professional orchestra, and it has opened the door to this wonderful career that I hope to pursue for many decades to come. That said, I have a special fondness for 'Klish', the result of our team's efforts at this year's Global Game Jam. The project as it exists is not a complete game, being just what we (Team Protozoa) could put together in those 48 hours.

Nonetheless I am especially proud of what I was able to contribute, stepping beyond the bounds of 'audio guy' to participate in every aspect of the design of the game. Of course I was most at home when it came time to create music and sound design for the game. But it was also truly exciting and gratifying to take part in all parts of the process and I have come away from that project eager for future opportunities to try my hand at game design. Furthermore, going back to the question about what I might add to that article Mike and Dan wrote about creating audio for games, I would say that getting some experience with the other aspects of making a game outside of our own field of specialization is an invaluable way to improve the work that we do as specialists and increase our value as team members.

NYCGI: Is there a game you played recently that you can recall having particularly memorable music?

SH: Perhaps they're not the most recent games, but I would first mention Doom 3 and the original Halo. There were moments in each of those games that scared the bejeezus out of me! In each case I am confident that it was the quality of the composition - and just as importantly the implementation of the music into the game - that give those games such a powerful emotional effect.

I feel similarly about Lumines and Patapon. The use of music in these games is nothing short of brilliant! Of course Lumines and Patapon were not particularly frightening, but I have missed my subway stop more than once because I was so engrossed in one or the other. Perhaps as a composer and sound designer it is predictable that I should say this, but I strongly belive that more than any other aspect it is the superb quality of the audio - music and sound effects, both - that makes these games so engaging.

Stephen Harwood Jr. is a professional freelance composer. He has composed music for Ubisoft's Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 and several other titles. Examples of his work are available at http://www.okironmusic.com. nycgameindustry.com recommends you check them out. They are amazing.