In Episode 6 of Humans Who Make Games podcast, host and comedian, Adam Conover chats with composer and musician, Rich Vreeland – better known as his stage name, Disasterpeace – about composing the indie games like FEZ and Hyper Light Drifter, and how he decided on becoming a musician for his career.

Listen to Humans Who Make Games Episode 6.

Vreeland comes from a family of gamers and said, “apparently my parents were playing Legend of Zelda while I was in the womb. That must have seeped in somehow.”

He said he remembers playing a lot of sports games like football growing up. “I remember this game Tecmo Super Bowl on Nintendo, which was really popular with my family. My dad and my dad’s family were super into this game and play it really intensely,” Vreeland said.

In regards to music, Vreeland had a natural ability, as he also came from a family of musicians.

“Sometimes as a kid, you kinda hit this fork where you have to make a choice about what you’re gonna do. I was in school as a graphic designer and decided I wanted to bail on that and do music. But growing up I played games as a kid and I got into music ambiently, because my family was all musicians. My mom and my stepfather were involved with the music ministry in our church. And so they would have band practice in the basement. There were drums around. I didn’t really play. I would just sneak down there and screw around for many years. Over time I just developed some weird sort of internal musicality.”

Vreeland eventually picked up a guitar in high school and said it simply felt natural for him to play.

Vreeland explains how he started making music for video games, in a very unexpected way.

“When I got into music, I would post music on some of these message boards and that’s how I got my first gig doing video game music. There was a guy who ran a software company who was making cellphone games and he posted a wanted ad. I submitted some music I had written.” He never thought he was going to have a career creating music for video games, as he said, “I just thought it was a crazy lucky break, the cellphone thing. I discovered a group of like-minded people at Berkeley. A video game music club. There was a community of people who were interested in games and making games.”

Vreeland found the “lottery” of jobs by meeting one of the developers of FEZ at a show he had performed at in Montreal for chiptunes. Vreeland ended up convincing the developer to let him do the music for the game, which he was ecstatic about.

In terms of making music that fits with the gameplay, Vreeland explained a technique he used often with writing music, which is to be inspired by the game itself and to focus on the style you want the game to feel like.

“And then find places for those pieces by playing. Thinking about what kind of music would work here, what have I written and comparing and contrasting these things. I kinda approached it like a puzzle. Using the preconceived sketches and listening to those,” he said.

Vreeland talks about his signature style, which can be recognized across his work.

“I think there is some carryover between Fez, It Follows, and Hyper Light Drifter. It’s something I’m actively trying to fight. I mean there are some elements of it that are just part of my style”.

To hear more about Vreeland’s composing style and how he chooses projects to work on, listen to episode 6 of Humans Who Make Games podcast and subscribe on Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode.

Jessie Wade is a writer at IGN and loves listening to podcasts about anyone involved in the creation of games. Chat with her on Twitter @jessieannwade.