GCG Feature: 'How to Break into Game Audio'

In the latest feature for Gamasutra sister educational site Game Career Guide, Vincent Diamante, MFA student at USC's Interactive Media Division and audio contributor to thatgamecompany's Cloud, gives sound advice about working with sound in game industry. In this excerpt, Diamante explains the benefits of starting your new career on a small team, rather than diving directly into a position with an established corporation: "Being part of a small development team as an audio developer typically means that you are the only audio developer on the team. I suppose you lose the fun of potentially having someone to boss around (or being bossed around, on the flip side), but being the director of audio is a big responsibility on even the smallest of teams. What does this mean? Let's take a quick gander at the large development team paradigm. There, being an audio lead often means that you are constantly interfacing with the other team leads, making sure that assets are not only delivered, but also integrated properly... Ah ha! Integration! "But I'm not a programmer!" you might say. That's okay; it's all right to not know how to integrate your assets into the game; that's why you're audio director on this game and not the coming popular franchise next-gen iteration. So, never mind the fact that you don't actually have any programming knowledge and try to explain to your lead programmer how you'd like your dynamic music cue system implemented. Really. It can be done without needing to be a crazy C++ wiz!" You can now read the full Game Career Guide feature with more on the basic first steps to establishing yourself on the internet, and how to move on to a larger console career (no registration required, please feel free to link to this column from external websites).