Well, as I've probably stated before, I wish to become a game designer, however... If I were to become a game designer, would I be able to help work on the music or put a song of mine in there? I absolutely love music and am a musician myself, though I wouldn't make it a career, I'd love to have one of my songs in a game (even if I was a game designer). Would the industry let me put in at least 1 song in a game if they like it? And I assure you, I can make some pretty great stuff (Not to be arrogant "^^ People always seem to love the music I play. I have 1 song that has a stairway to heaven factor [What I mean is, it's a song that everyone seems to love and would be my top, such as Deep Purple's - Smoke On The Water or The Eagle's - Hotel California). What do you think? (I don't mean to say that I think it would succeed right NOW if I was to just go up to them and offer it, I mean to say, if I was already in the industry and was working on a project and wished to make a song for that project after finishing alot of the design.)

This is a really open ended question. It basically comes down to the team. If you're working on a team of 5 people and the person doing the rest of the music doesn't care- then why not? I could definitely see that happening. Likewise, if you're hired by a company that is larger and more established then it's very likely you'll be hired for a specific role and function. You could always ask if you could do some side work to get a song or two in there... but then it's more a call of:

*your immediate boss
*the audio director
*the lead(s) of the project

In that case it's much more of a toss up. You might get lucky. You might not. The audio director (or lead) may not like you asking to do music. He or she may feel that you're encroaching on their territory. It could also be a quality control-continuity issue. What happens if your tools produce a different quality or sense than the rest of the soundtrack. Would this be a benefit or detraction from the game's music? Smaller, less established teams are much more apt to allow a cross discipline approach. Sometimes it's vital because there are so few people involved.

It never hurts to ask, just don't be upset if you hear no.

Nate

Understood, thank you very much and yeah... That one thing did cross my mind about disturbing the territory of the audio director getting upset if I tried to upstage him and such, but I just love music. It wouldn't upset me if no was said XD I'd just try for some other project or some other time (Not constantly of course).

I think it's always wise to know your place on a team. If you join a team as a designer, I'd invest a good bit of time showing that you know your craft well as well as let the other team members get to know you well. It's always easier to approach someone after they respect your skills (in other disciplines) and also like you as a person.

The other thing to consider is, while you may know how to write a song, do you know how to produce it in audio format? Do you know how to implement music in various formats? (Dynamic, looping, static, one shots) Do you know how the music files need to be set up to work with various middleware audio programs? Before you approach the team about wanting to do music, I'd make sure I know what the team is using and what would be required of me if I were to write a song for them. :)