I’m not music-savvy by any means, so it was a delight to have read the following interview with Spore Hero and SimAnimals composer Winifred Phillips. You can catch the whole interview at Gamezone!
Have you ever turned down a game?
Winifred Phillips: Yes. Sometimes a really fantastic game will be offered to me while I’m in ‘crunch mode’ for another project. If there is a possibility that I’d have to sacrifice quality in order to get the work done on time, then I can’t in good conscience accept the gig. While I’ve worked on more than one project at a time before, it’s always a delicate juggling act, and deciding to turn down a gig is an excruciatingly hard decision to make.
Timing can be difficult to manage in this industry. Development cycles can stretch over years, and sometimes that initial, speculative ‘get-to-know-you’ first contact with a developer happens a full year before the developer is actually ready to contract me for the project. When that time comes I just have to hope that the stars align in my favor and it turns out that my schedule can accommodate the assignment. But the sad truth is that sometimes I’m just too busy. There is nothing more frustrating than turning down a gig when I really wanted to work on it.
