I was 30 years old when I realized I
wanted to work in game audio. I had been playing games all my life and the
penny had never dropped. The day it did I was playing Rainbow Six Siege, I fired a
shotgun, then fired it again, it sounded cool as fuck. From that moment I knew I needed to
change career. But didn’t have a clue how to do it.
It wasn’t an easy transition, I found
myself at dead end after dead end and wanted to give up multiple times. But,
after three years I had managed to teach myself/ gain enough knowledge and
skills to get a career in the industry.
In the three years I asked many of
the same questions that get asked by people in similar situations. I wanted to share my answers so those in the same situation as I
can benefit from what I learnt. If you are looking for tips on what software to
learn and where to start first I suggest you check out my blog post Post 1. GETTING INTO GAME AUDIO. Starting out.
Do you need to re study?
You should soak in everything and anything you can about game
audio. If you’ve not studied anything related to game audio before, then there
are remote learning courses out there that run for about 8/12 weeks that are
worth studying. They do cost but what you will learn from the courses will be
worth it. You can self-teach but the online courses have a structure for you to
follow and a tutor. Once you have done a course you can push your knowledge and
create your own projects.
Do you need to do a masters?
This depends. Have you ever studied audio or music before?
There’s no doubt that having a degree of some sort helps and if your degree is
in the audio field then in my opinion, there is no need for a masters. If you
decide that doing a masters is for you, there are some important things to
check. Firstly. What software is the masters going to cover? I found they
mostly focused on Fmod and Unity. If working on indie projects is your aim than
this would be fine. I am not aware of any AAA studios that use Fmod or Unity. I’ve
also never worked on a paying project that uses either.
Do you need to become Wwise certified?
This is a fairly common question from people looking to break
into the industry. The Wwise courses are 100% something you should do, but getting
the certificates is 100% not essential. Save yourself the money, you can always
do them later in your career if you want.
Do I need to play games?
It doesn’t hurt but it’s not essential. If gaming isn’t your
thing, I would suggest you at least know what studio makes what game and try to
at least keep an eye on gaming news.
Know from the offset that learning everything you need to get
into this career will require time. It took me three years. I had a fulltime
job and responsibilities. I thought it was too late for me to change career but
trust me, I have never been as happy in my work as I am now. You’re never too
old to change career.
Once again, I know it is not
the same for everyone. I changed career and industry, learnt a lot & made a
lot of mistakes. My hope is, that by sharing some of what I have learnt, others
may befit.
Pete
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