I'm a C# developer as my day job. I've been working with .NET and C# since 2002 in primarily digital imaging. Since I love games and used to write some in BASIC as a kid I figured I'd take another stab at it. My game is coming along nicely, enough that I may have something presentable in early '09. I can handle the art for this game but my problem is I have very little musical talent. Since this game is more of a hobby I'm not really interested in paying someone to write music for it, on the other hand a good soundtrack can really make a game more presentable. So what are the options out there for people like me?

I found ccmixter.org which has a lot of music with Creative Common licenses but most have a Non-Commercial stipulation (though there are a few good songs that allow commercial reuse). I'm assuming that having this game on the Live market constitutes a "commercial" use. I fully intend to credit the musicians should I choose their music.

Long story short I'm just curious what other solo developers like myself are doing music or even artwork? Are you writing your own? Are you using friends or a team? Are there staving artiststhat will write music for simple credit hoping it'll be resume worthy one day?

Yes, Yes, and Yes. As long as you follow all licenses, you should be OK.

In general, most successful games are made by a team with both art people and software people on them. It is very rare to find a single person who is good at both.

Hi,

I'm fortunate in that my live-in girlfriend is a designer/artist, so she's doing the bulk of the artwork. I've also got a recording rig in my spare room, so I can produce some music myself.

I've found all external work coming from contacts and friends. I've got another semi-pro artist helping with visual assets, an old band-mate writing music for me, and an old school friend recording sound effects. My company branding was done by an ex-colleague, and I've come from a web background so I can just about edit a Blogger template into looking acceptable. I'm quite stunned at the bredth of skill my little network of friends has.

As far as music goes, I would search for unsigned artists with a style you like. I used to play in and effectively manage a few bands, and I know how eager people are for the exposure of appearing in a professional product. This way you can use their PR and fanbase to garner extra exposure, and more often then not they'll waive royalties in return for overt credits. Finding people is the hard part, and will depend on the style of music you want. Rock acts tend to spend more time advertising themselves.

I'd recommend checking out Overclocked Remix as the vast majority of remixing artists on there are amateur/semi-pro, and have a vast enthusiasm for gaming. For the uninitiated, the SSFIIHDR soundtrack was assembled by OC:R artists.

I get my tunes from here...

http://www.shockwave-sound.com/

And I use Inkscape and GIMP for the artwork

Luckily I found an artist for the graphics, but for the OSD I'm working on my own.
And also the soundtrack, I have some experience with composition, and with Garageband I get the magic done.

And that's a lot of heavy work, I'd like to share with someone as soon as I can. :D

Friends and colleagues for me. I found a really good musician from the XNA forum´s help offered section though.

I am the art department :) and the sound effects department.  Yes that is my voice you hear saying "CHECKPOINT!!!" ;)

I have not yet crossed this path for my game. For now, I am getting 3D models and textures from www.turbosquid.com (they have an XNA section)

when I need specific items, I will first look for willing personal contacts, then I will look for people who would like to build their portfolios and would like to work for free.