The Fighting Illini Become Huge Ninja Robots and Take the Championship
Posted by virt on March 16th, 2008 filed in GeneralIn yet another freakishly timely turn of fate, Kristi and I have moved to Champaign, IL and I just finished my first week as a sound designer for Volition Inc., makers of Saints Row, Red Faction, and Freespace!
This puts my freelance career on hold, since even if I could legally contract independently, I wouldn’t have time! On the other hand, I’m working with a phenomenal audio team on the kind of games I love to play, at the cutting edge of next-gen audio design, learning new skills at a rapid pace. I wish I could talk about the tech stuff we’re developing — it’s incredibly cool.
Looks like I’ll compose there as well, but because it’s not my main job, I’ll have a lot of “music juice” left over when I get home, so I can focus on my album projects without getting burnt out.
Champaign itself is a wonderful little city, a college town with all the modern conveniences, only everyone’s about 30 times nicer and more patient. Midwestern hospitality is amazing! It’s the kind of place I’d love to settle down, much more my speed than NYC. Plus, as a bizarre coincidence, most of the cast and crew from Press Start live a few minutes away! I’d visited Champaign for our theatrical premiere (which was, even more coincidentally, sponsored by Volition?!??) but never imagined I’d actually be living here a few months later.
This kind of thing happens to me a lot, really strange. But hey, I’m not complaining. Life is amazingly good, and keeps getting better.
We had a Kwakfest right after my interview (the stated theme was this picture), and I had to celebrate in song.
Here’s the MIDI file!
March 16th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
nice to hear, that everything is working so well, good sir, I wish you a great time and a incredible career. I often miss those funny times when I could idle in #(insert-channel) with you and the others, all the time, but life was too demanding, however, I’m happy too. greetings from germany.
March 16th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Nice stuff there, man. Congrats on the new job. Too bad about less freelancing, but hey…this is good too. Can’t wait for your comeback in composing music for games. Saints Row 2, perhaps? :P
March 17th, 2008 at 1:51 am
Good luck with your new endeavors. I always look forward to your music updates even if its just a midi, because Virt ROCKS! w0rd
March 17th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Congrats on your job and your move, sir. That’s not the west coast! Oh well, still sounds ideal for you. Looks like you’ll be (somewhat) close to Sean too, so happy jamming.
March 18th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
If Volition is the only major developer in the city, then it’s not much of a coincidence that they sponsored the theatrical premiere of a video game related film. The fact that you got a job in the city and that a bunch of press start cast and crew live there may not even be much of a coincidence if you got the job through their contact. Then it would be more like… inevitable?!??
btw, love the kwakfest tune!
btw2, I guess it doesn’t matter much if your freelance career is on hold, but NWR has awarded Contra 4 the best DS sound award for 2007: http://nintendoworldreport.com/specialArt.cfm?artid=15488
Etrian Odyssey didn’t win anything because no one else played it :(
March 18th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
No, please trust me, it was definitely a coincidence. It wasn’t a mutual contact here, it was an old friend of mine who didn’t know the Press Start guys, and asked me out of the blue to apply. I still have yet to get together with both circles of friends (worlds colliding). :)
And thanks for that bump on C4!
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:49 pm
hey virt, im a huge fan, im glad you live closer to Mi now, now if you play some shows ill be sure to make it. Freelancing might be at a low but it sounds like your music magic will be going into hyperdrive, just watch out for worm holes, time anomalies are a b.
-JC
March 25th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Oh, so this is why no one could get a hold of you for JoeCam’s wedding. Glad you’re doing well and making music happily! I just moved to NYC so I will miss you. Poo.
April 7th, 2008 at 8:35 am
Hey Jake!
Glad you’re happy with your new location and job -sounds like you’re really happy and in the end that’s all that counts, eh? Sure NYC is “da place to be”, but with the company closer, the Press Start crew too, I hope you can kick back a lil and make more sweet tunes!
Peace from Sweden
April 9th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Im sad i didnt say goodbye. Good Luck!!
April 19th, 2008 at 3:07 am
hey man, good luck out there. i have been away for a while myself, spending time in california. been thinking about you, wondering what you’ve been cooking up. hope things are well, you know you’re always in my thoughts and i hope the best for you. im always happy to hear how you are able to perfect your crafts. much love.
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Just checking up on you and saw the news. Enjoy the job, sounds cool. There’s a really fun C&W bar in Urbana called the Rose Bowl. Check it out sometime for something different. Peace out.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Cool man,hope all goes well for you,you have done many and great things.This direction is good it is something new,such is life.
This new kwakfest piece reminds me of all the good,magic and fantasy things about what video games use to mean,helping keep hopes and dreams alive,take care jake.
And by the way it ROCKS!!!!!video game style,yes Sir!.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Hey Virt, Tomapella here, it’s been forever since I’ve communicated with you in any form (guess I’ve never really been part of that circle anyway), but it’s cool to hear you moved out there. I may be coming out to Indiana next year for school, haven’t really figured stuff out yet, but yeah, the people out there are great.\
And I just realized this post was two months old. Ah well. Best wishes, whatever’s happening!
October 19th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Holy frickin’ crap, you are now an hour’s drive from me! Huzzah! Anyway, glad to hear of the move and job. Hope everything goes well. Yeah, I’m a bit late on posting something, but I’ve been busy. ^^;