Ariel Contreras-Esquivel

Name: Ariel Contreras-Esquivel

Twitter: @ArielCEmusic

Gender: Male

Nationality: Argentine

Birth date: 07/02/1986

Title: Composer/Producer

Company: Ostrich Studios

Some games that you have worked on: 

Devils

The Meemy Moo

Balancity

Sapo

Train Around the World

Website: www.ostrichsound.com

1-What did motivate you to become a game developer? 

I played video games all my life and I love them. I never imagined to work on video games until a friend invited me to participate on the Global Game Jam... and that was the beginning. Friends, creative people, gamers, music, visuals... everything!! So all of that was a big motivation to get into it, and now I am here more than 2 years making music for games.

2-What does inspire you creatively? 

Nature, silence, noise. I get inspiration for what other people do, getting impressed by other minds. Children give me lots of motivations, mostly my students. Life experiences.

3-If you had unlimited resources to make any game you wanted, what kind of game would that be? 

A game with lots of music!! hahaha.

4-What was the biggest challenge of your career? In which game? How did you overcome it? 

One of the biggest challenges was when I client asked for a song singed by a little girl and some voice off too... in english! I was living in Argentina!

I made an open request for a singer and we found a 11 years old little girl who was amazing! We work with her and she shaped her voice as a 6 years old girl. And for the voice we had a friend in the US and her 5 years old daughter recorded everything... we felt like Disney!! haha.

5-What do you usually do for raising the possibility of success in your projects? 

I don't know what to say here because I make the music and not the game project. But in other cases I do my best, trying to keep creative, and always trying to improve what I did in other projects.

6-What is the most helpful piece of constructive criticism you ever received? 

Think twice, cut once.

7-What are the advantages/downsides to working in games?

It is fun! It allows me to keep myself creating, learning, improving, and travel. The industry in my country still very young and the budget is a problem most of the times.

8-What is your best advice to a beginning game developer?

HAVE FUN AND SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE!!!!

9-Which skills are the most important for a game developer in your field/position?

Patience, hard working, love, humility, companionship, creativity. Be yourself and be honest with yourself.

10-If I want to become a great dev in your field, what games should I play, what books should I read, and whose work should I follow?

All you can. Never stop playing, testing, reading, learning, follow to great composers and sound designers, meet them.

11-What changes do you want to see in the game industry?

Less cash more life. Less taking more giving.

Bonus: Tell us a funny story from your adventures in game development.

I always remember when a game designer tried to explain what he wanted for his game with my music... I was trying to understand why 10 demos couldn't get close to his idea (I actually never could understand what he means). I call him and said: "please tell me what you want", and he answered: "If I answer that to you everything will become too psychedelic", and I was like: "O.o" hahaha I still don't understand what he had in mind but we've made it :D