It all started with Nicolas Gaume’s huge appetite for computer science, elaborate fantasy and sci-fi worlds. Born in 1971, he devoted most of his childhood free time from 1979 to analysing his father’s Apple II, incidentally becoming an expert at Pac-Man at the local arcade. “I started programming at nine,” explains Nicolas, “and I could visit IT forums thanks to the later purchase of a modem. I was also part of the first generation consuming a lot of pop culture.
“At the time, the biggest part of the videogame business belonged to distributors, retailers, and publishers to a lesser extent, but developing games was hardly considered as a job.” Classically, he participated in demo parties and software development (a sound-design tool for instance), meeting other Apple enthusiasts in his first year of study. Nicolas then created Brainsoft with other fans in order to develop videogames and obtained equipment funding from Apple, “I grew up in Bassin d’Arcachon and it happened that an Apple executive was spending his holidays there,” he tells us. “I sort of besieged his house and he had the kindness to listen to the 19-year-old me.”
Abandoning his studies to prepare for management schools, Nicolas took a two-year course in computer studies in 1990, where he would meet among other people Frédéric Motte (programmer and musician) and Cyrille Fontaine (programmer and graphic designer). Frédéric Motte’s music tastes were relatedschool at first, working at nights and on the weekends, but quickly I told myself that it could be interesting to try to start a career in videogame music composition. It sounded much more fun than ending up working in a software firm.”
