The reviews are just starting to trickle in, but so far reception of the game and its audio has been outstanding! One reviewer said the new music is “beautiful”, and another praised it as “alarmingly good.” We really put a lot of time into the music, staying true to the spirit of the original MIDIs while breathing life into the production and arrangement by using modern samples and live instrumentation.

Whether you’re a casual gamer or diehard fan of the original game, I’m sure you will enjoy MI2:SE and all it has to offer. If you already have it, post here and let me know what you think!

Before I go into more detail about GDC itself, I’m very excited to announce that I’m working on the soundtrack to the recently-announced LucasArts game, Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge! Much like the first Monkey Island Special Edition, MI2SE is a remake of the original MI2, featuring all-new high-definition graphics, an integrated hint system, improved controls and, of course, an updated musical score. I’m working with Dan Reynolds, Jeff Ball and Will Roget on this project, which spans over 80 minutes of music. The game will be available this Summer on XBLA, PSN, PC, iPhone and iPod Touch!

Anyway, getting back to GDC, I can’t even begin to list everyone I personally met and spent time with. While there is an expo component to the event, where larger video game developers, middleware manufacturers and related companies show their wares and sometimes look for fresh talent, the real purpose is networking. Events like the IASIG mixer, parties at Pyramind, panels, workshops, and 2am dinners at Denny’s introduced me to dozens of talented composers, sound designers, music implementers, studio owners and everyone in between. I hope to stay in touch with many of these folks over the years and collaborate with them (both as a composer, producer and sample developer) whenever possible.

In preparing for the event, I whipped up three new demo reels with the help of my wife, Jill, who was also at the conference. These genre-specific montages have been added to the Services and Music pages, but you can also download them here:

2010 Dramatic Montage
2010 Casual and Retro Montage
2010 Electronic Montage

Enjoy!

The course, “MIP 380: Video Game Music & Audio”, was offered through Drexel’s Music Industry program, the same program I graduated from. Toward the end of the term, I was also invited to speak at the University of Pennsylvania, presenting a condensed, re-focused version of the course in front of a Master’s class of future game developers, 3D modelers and programmers.

A number of students taking the class were also involved with the Drexel Composers Group, an extracurricular club that I run. Among our accomplishments this term was scoring the pilot to a new undergraduate Drexel TV show, “Off Campus.” Here’s a shot of a spotting session:

I didn’t want to post about the course until my first term was complete, mainly because I want to now share the course material that I’ve created. While Powerpoint slides and graphics are no substitute for an actual class, there’s still a lot of content that you can read up on and use as a basis for further learning!

Browse all of my Powerpoint-based lectures by clicking here.

Some topics covered in class but not in the lectures included how to find work, legal & contract issues, and the basics of game design/logic, among other things. If I do teach this course again, I hope to actually get the lectures recorded, since we had tons of great discussions and debates throughout the term. Until then, enjoy the slides!