Lawrence Schwedler spent over 13 years at Nintendo Software Technology as an audio director, composing music for games like Metroid Prime Hunters on the DS, Wave Race: Blue Storm on the GameCube, Pokémon Puzzle League on N64 and even the Chibi Robo series.
While it was "great and happy" most of the time, in a recent interview with the Kiwi Talkz podcast, Schwedler acknowledged how his job at Nintendo was also resulted in some of the most stressful times of his life due to pressures, expectations and other factors in play.
Schwedler also had moments where he wasn't really feeling it, and felt as if his younger self wouldn't have been happy about his state of mind when he had the "coolest job in the world". Here's exactly what he had to say:
"the way I've talked about my career at Nintendo it sounds like it was great and happy, it was one of the most stressful times in my life, and it wasn't all fun, and there was times when I just felt like "what am I doing here"...I'm sure you've heard of imposter syndrome, where you feel like, where you're like "oh my gosh, what am I doing here, I can't do this, they think I'm something I'm not"...almost all artists have to deal it...on the other end there was like "I don't like this anymore, I'm just not being challenged, we're just doing another sequel..." and you slap yourself because you realise if your former self from 20 years ago heard you now, would just say look I'm gonna take you out in the backyard and I'm gonna shoot you, cause you have the coolest job in the world, but it isn't always the coolest job in the world...I think it's a more organic process that we have to keep fighting for what we love and do have to keep reinventing yourself and learning new things."
In a separate interview with Shinesparkers in December 2021, the former Nintendo audio director shed some light on part of what made his job and time at NST so stressful. It seems to be because he was working on such a "high-profile" IP with an established fanbase.
"It was stressful to work on such high-profile games with such a huge fan base, knowing that everything we did would be compared to legendary Nintendo games we all loved. Every game developer loses sleep before their game is released, worrying about all the things they didn’t have time to do, sweating over how their work will be received. But it’s also a lot of fun. I got to work with an amazing team of programmers, designers, and artists, many of whom I still know and work with."
As he mentions though, it was still "a lot of fun". It's understandable why he felt the way he did though when he was working with such iconic video game series. Nowadays, Schwedler is a program director for the music and sound design program at Digipen in Redmond, Washington.
[source youtu.be]
Comments 16
Totally understand 'impostor syndrome', I have found that isolation can be a trigger. Too much time in a studio without human interaction can make me drown in my own ineptitude. I can only imagine the pressure of working on 1st party Nintendo IPs! This guy has made some great music, Wave Race Blue Storm has one of my favourite soundtracks.
I am currently having massive stress at my work, reading this article while drinking my tea has really started to build the pressure. Maybe if I had a job at Nintendo doing something that I would love instead of this crap I would feel differently.
I loved NST, they made good games.
Hunters is an all time great, the DS showcase.
I mean, this person pretty much just described the challenges of achieving and maintaining success in anything. not exactly ground-breaking news. but, I guess it's nice to hear one person's experience?
Jobs tend to be stressful, yeah. At least he had a creative job, putting his talents to use
I am glad he thinks about it in a nuanced and honest way.
Doing a high profile job at an international organisation known for high quality standards is highly demanding, highly competitive and thus not for everyone.
@Meteoroid You seem bitter and jealous to me. Is this how you felt about my comment and why you thought you would refer to me in this way. Was you not able to come up with a more witty comment like mine that you thought you would just reply with hate. Really, how uncouth of you!
I am being very sarcastic above but really do you believe everything you are writing there? You comparing a minimum wage job with a job desired by many people which I would fully expect pays well. Are you saying if this man cannot handle the stress he should get a job at maccy d's or something. This has nothing to do with the 'grass is greener' and more to do with 'if you can't stand the heat'.
This article reminds me of a comedian/author who was speaking of the stress associated with writing a book. While the publisher was more concerned with deadlines and budget, he had spoke of how he was hired to write something creative and if the book was successful, people wouldn't reflect back, saying, "wow, this book was written and published before the deadline."
@Poodlestargenerica
I'd be willing to bet, the greatest music, art, writing and even software was created without corporate deadlines. No deadline, no stress.
So, he was stressed due to him not being able to handle stress.
If you don’t experience stress at work you probably need to find another job to grow. People love to complain instead of focus on the positives.
@Poodlestargenerica
I'm referring to the creative process. Not work. Creativity should take as long as needed until it creator "feels" it's complete. Forcing the creative process, just because someone in a suit gives you a deadline, ultimately can lead to a compromised "vision" of what the creator initially intended.
I've heard far too many stories of how companies lose thier "fun factor", once corporate greed takes over. One example that comes to mind is from a relative that worked in structural engineering. He told me, back in the 80's, he had worked for a relatively small company that took on a huge, new type of construction. At the time, the machinery used to take on projects of that magnitude, were only manufactured in Japan. Problem was, this machine was not available for sale in the US. So what did they do? They created thier own and revolutionized the industry. Fast forward, now that older generation has retired (including my relative) and the new corporate suits only care about making money for thier investors by playing everything safe. While he once loved working for that company, he said he'd NEVER work for them now.
I was recently playing Prime Hunters on the Wii U virtual console, the music and sound design is actually pretty good.
Schwedler created what it is one of my favorite soundtracks with Metroid Prime Hunters, and it is among the numerous reasons why that is my favorite game all time. Not enough credit is given to how well the music in that game sets the atmosphere and tone of that game's narrative in each environment. I'm glad he persevered through doubt and stress to deliver that aspect of the game, and I hope he continues to do well in the future.
He sounds like a person who... has a job.
The worst thing about Metroid Prime Hunters was the gameplay and graphics... I honestly didn't find anything bad about the music. So the composer lucked out there. His music probably made the game barely tolerable tbh
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