Jade Leamcharaskul’s workstation consists of an iMac with an electronic keyboard plugged in. At the end of the last year, her work was featured in a tribute concert at the Victoria & Albert museum. Wondering what her occupation is? Jade has been composing music for video games for about 18 years now.

 

Besides her musical expertise, Jade knows a thing or two about freelancing and getting your name out there. As having a long surname makes it difficult for people to remember it, she generally goes by her Internet pseudonym, ‘JDWasabi’, even when working freelance.

 

It was back in the early 2000s, when she was playing Final Fantasy IX, when she realised she wanted to dedicate herself to composing music for video games. As she recalls the iconic scene from the game where the main character, Zidane, pushes all his friends away after learning a horrible truth about himself, she says that the soundtrack was so impressive that she “had to restart the game just to replay that scene again”.

 

The fact that she was also taking piano lessons at the time made her doubly interested in the game’s musical production.

 

“On an emotional level, the musical role in computer games is what makes you invest in a character, what makes you invest in a story, what makes you invest in the game itself,” she says.

 

While Jade specialises in horror music production, she also devotes a lot of time to the creation of “quirky fantasy” music – due to its nostalgic components. “Whenever I compose [fantasy music], a lot of people comment, ‘Oh, this reminds me of that game I played yonks ago.’,” she says, a smile plastered on her face.

 

As for horror music, many psychological considerations come into play during the production process, one of which is the crafting of sounds to create a subconscious impact on the listener that lingers long after they switch off their gaming consoles.

 

While freelancing might be a mere option to others in the gaming industry, Jade feels like she doesn't have as much of a choice, as composers are usually the latest additions to a production team. The creation of suitable music for a game is largely dependent on its story and design.

 

Nonetheless, she's very busy and keeps track of all the events she'll be attending in the near future in her trusty black planner. Something that takes up a sizable portion of her time is her advocacy for various issues existing in the gaming industry, including giving speeches as an ambassador for BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) in Games, as well as for Women in Games and STEM. The first talk that Jade had ever given was on cultural appropriation in game music – a theme that she feels passionately about – at a convention called ‘Nine Worlds’.

 

“I just want people to be aware that traditional Chinese music and traditional Japanese music are quite different, and if you want to appeal to the Chinese market or Japanese market, you need to know that the audience will pick up on that,” she says.

 

In fact, while piano is the primary instrument she plays, there are a few other instruments she had taught herself to produce music with, including Indonesian gamelan and Japanese shakuachi. As a woman of Asian descent, whose parents are from Thailand, she wants to help developers pick the right kind of music for games set in Asian countries.

 

Jade is well-aware that not many women are working in the gaming industry. While she hopes her ambassadorship for female gamers contributes to a more gender-inclusive industry, she knows that tackling the issue of the lack of diversity in the gaming world is a lot trickier than it looks like.

 

“If you come from an Asian background like myself, many people will tell you that video games will not help pay your bills or put food on the table,” she says.

 

And then there are the offhand sexist remarks that women face online.

 

“As a female gamer, I tend to avoid any voice chat because I know it’s like playing with fire,” she says.

 

Once, she decided to set her profile picture on digital distribution platform Steam to one showing just half of her face, making it hard for others to decipher if she was male or female. However, someone was persistent on finding out her gender, and out of frustration, had ended up lying to others that Jade was his girlfriend, even though they had never once met in person.

 

Thankfully, as an ambassador determined to see a cultural shift in gaming in the near future, and as a music composer who wishes to see her creations played on a big stage once more, Jade has very, very little time to deal with online trolls.