'Players Will Spot If It's Half-Assed': Chase Bethea On Video Game Composing and MAGFest

When I was a kid, the last leg of family road trips was reserved for musicals. Or rather, I was not allowed to request any musicals until that last leg. I loved listening and singing along to shows like Camelot, Guys & Dolls, and Pippin with my dad.

But what I’ve always liked about musicals is how they use the music to tell a story. Leitmotifs can connect two characters or evoke a recurring theme without a word needing to be sung. So when I got into video games, I was paying attention to how they did it too.

In games, not only do songs have to evoke the image of a specific setting or character, but they also have to react to the player’s actions. That’s why I’ve always had my interest piqued by composers like Chase Bethea.

Bethea is an award-winning composer who’s done work for studios such as Riot Games and Limited Run Games. In his opinion, music is a crucial part of the gaming experience.

“Players care and do appreciate it and will spot it if it is half-assed. If you are not serious about adding value to this area of the project then, do not waste your time and properly consider and research hiring a professional who will be able to offload those tasks skillfully for you,” Bethea said.

Bethea’s dipped his toes into a lot of game and music genres over the years. Between the retro style of Aground, the haunting strings of I Can’t Escape: Darkness, and the sci-fi mystique of </Reality>, he’s earned the title of the “Swiss Army knife of video game composition.

Bethea’s work first appeared in the mobile game Electron Flux, after a lucky encounter with a coworker.

“As the short story goes,” Bethea said, “I got a job at Lenscrafters and a co-worker had an Uncle working in games. The coworker’s Uncle got me a sweet paid internship at a mobile game studio that was started by an ex-Activision employee. Company drama ensued and caused the game studio to split. From there, I did deep research and homework on how to get into Game Audio, found a website called Game Audio 101, and found Aaron Marks’s Book, The Complete Guide to Game Audio, and read half of it. I applied to two music requests on a game dev forum and I got a bite from one out of the two requests. I wrote a one-minute demo and got the gig.”

Over the course of his decade-long career, Bethea emphasized the importance of being willing to invest time and money into becoming a game composer.

“Take the craft of music design/composing seriously. This is 50% of the player's experience and every bit of it counts,” Bethea said. “We don't just have to learn to write music, we have to know how to implement, learn code, and learn middleware. This costs time and money. Be prepared to do all of those tasks.”

One of the places gaming music is routinely celebrated is MAGFest, short for the “Music And Gaming Festival.” The main annual event, also known as Super MAGFest will start tomorrow, January 23, and last until January 26 in Maryland, and will feature 24-hour panels and presentations.

Bethea himself will be performing music from Stardander: School For Witches and giving a panel on music composition.

MAGFest is run by MAGfest Inc, a nonprofit with the stated goal of trying to “make the world a better place through video games.” In addition to the main event, they also organize regional events such as MAGWest, where Bethea has also performed.

Bethea last attended in 2022 and had great things to say about the experience.

“Ever since I was told about MAGFest in 2012 I had envisioned attending the event,” Bethea said. “So my first time attending the festival, in 2022, happened to be the 20th anniversary as a special guest. I participated in a composer roundtable and a celebrity versus event.”

Folks interested in the work of Bethea or other guests at MAGFest can still tune in to their live streams to experience all the amazing guests and works on display.

For anyone interested in delving further into the world of video game music, Bethea recommended several other composers, including Jesper Kyd, Alberto Gonzalez, Koh Otani, Joe Sua, Jamail Chachere, Will Roget II, Button Masher, Jasmine Cooper, D’Anthoni Wooten, Tony Manfredonia, Stephen Cromwell, Star Victoria Power, and Manaka Kataoka.

Bethea’s work can be found in the following upcoming or Early Access games:

Aground Zero (Original Soundtrack Pre-Order)

Stardander School for Witches

Portal Brawlers

Sunken Stones

Windrush Tales