New to orchestrating for computer games

[gmfaught]

Good evening everyone,

My name is Gavin and interested in creating scores for music games. I'm new to the industry. What hardware/software should I have in order to succeed? I'm on a budget too. I'm currently reading Chance Thomas' book.

Thanks,
Gavin

[Kentaro Sato]

Judging from your post, I am assuming you are a teen who just started to consider a composer (video game) as your future path. (I might be completely wrong though)

As for the software, you need a DAW. If you are on a budget, Presonus Studio One Prism or Avid ProTools First would be a good place to start as they are both free. For notation program, there is a Avid Sibelius First which is also free.
There many free audio editing softwares on Windows, so get one of them.
If you are just starting, start from these and try to learn the software. You don't have to invest in the software until you grow out of the free software.

For hardware, I am not sure how skilled you are on piano/keyboard. But getting a midi keyboard does help, and if you are not a keyboard player, you better be (at least to some extent). Get affordable one with 49 or 61 keys with USB connection.
If you are on Windows, you might want to get one of the beget audio interfaces too.

If you are in the US, go for a local music tech shop for more advice, or call sweetwater.com and get their advices.

Your tools will not guarantee success, since there are very affordable and high quality tools on the market now. So, try to be a best musician, programmer, entrepreneur and communicator you could be. Music is very competitive area, therefore if you are not willing to put your time and effort, there is virtually no chance of making it.

And for a future reading, may I suggest this:
The Emerging Film Composer:An Introduction to the People, Problems and Psychology of the Film Music Business by Richard Bellis
Also; watch this: Film Scoring Orientation (first 9min is enough and it does mention video game too)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oKtu0iu4Ew

These might put you in a perspective too (though the concentration is on the side of TV/Film).

Additionally, this site might not be a good place to ask a question like this. There are better sites for starting and established composers and you should consider those