Timothy John Follin (born 19 December 1970) is an English video game music composer, cinematographer, visual effects artist and game developer, who has written tracks for a variety of titles and home gaming systems, including the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, Nintendo Entertainment System, Mega Drive, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Dreamcast, and PlayStation.
Follin has also co-founded a TV advertising company called ABF Pictures and a general-purpose media company called Baggy Cat Ltd, which to date has produced two video games, Contradiction and At Dead of Night, the latter receiving massive attention and acclaim on Steam.
Among Follin's works are the soundtracks to Solstice, Silver Surfer, Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge, Plok!, and Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future.
Video game career
Insight Studios
As a child, Follin had no significant music training. Leaving Liverpool's Sandown Music College after one year of studies, Follin's career began at the age of 15 working at Insight Studios. Follin ended up in video games due to his older brother Mike Follin learning how to program for the ZX Spectrum and obtaining professional work at Insight. followed by an arrangement of Stravinsky's "The Firebird", used for the game Star Firebirds. Follin then developed a three-channel sound routine which he used to create the music for his third soundtrack, Vectron. Alongside Ghouls'n Ghosts, two other Amiga soundtracks, Sly Spy and Puzznic, were presented in the Amiga music format "Follin Player II". To arcade soundtrack arrangements like Bionic Commando and Ghouls'n Ghosts, Follin added richer sound palette and occasionally composed some new songs (the title music of Ghouls'n Ghosts).
Follin described the NES title Solstice as "a very inspiring game to do music for," demanding atmospheric music within the game's dark castle environment, as well as powerful music choreographed with the title sequence. Follin did not use a keyboard or any instruments for the Solstice soundtrack, composing while "thinking along the lines of the computer and not [...] a keyboard." Follin departed Software Creations in 1993 (with his final title there being Rock N' Roll Racing). Follin had been offered the composer position by Sega UK producer David Nulty, who was a fan of Follin's Commodore 64 work.
The 2003 multiplatform release Starsky & Hutch was given a funk-style score by Follin, who said at the time, "This is the project I had hoped I would get one day. I've always loved Starsky & Hutch and original title music." While with Software Creations, Follin had previously arranged the Starsky & Hutch television series' theme as the title music to the 1991 NES release Treasure Master.
End of video game career and return
Around August 2005, Follin announced on his website "with much delight" that he had chosen to stop composing music for video games, citing its irregular work not providing a substantial income, light-heartedly adding that the situation caused him "distress and illness". The tenuous nature of game development caused several instances of Follin being hired and subsequently having the project shelved. Follin noted that Starsky & Hutch had been in development for around three years before eventually being released. The game was subsequently released on iPad and later on Steam. Follin then worked on another game, At Dead of Night, again using the FMV format but this time in the horror game genre, which was released at the end of 2020. In mid-2021, a playthrough of At Dead of Night was created by gaming YouTuber Markiplier, leading to a surge in popularity. A sequel is now in the works.
His brothers Geoff Follin and Mike Follin also worked in the video game industry as musician and programmer respectively, with both having moved on to other careers. Much like his brothers, Follin has changed careers, choosing to pursue films, television advertising, graphic design, visual effects and game design. Follin never considered himself a gamer as much as a musician or developer.</small>
| 1994
| SNES
| co-composer: Geoff Follin
|-
| Time Trax
| 1993
| Sega Mega Drive
| music driver designer, game never released
|-
| Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends
| 1993
| SNES
| arranger; co-composer/co-arranger: Geoff Follin
|-
| Rock N' Roll Racing
| 1993
| SNES
| music driver designer, arranger; co-composer/co-arranger: Geoff Follin
|-
| Equinox
| 1993
| SNES
| co-composer: Geoff Follin
|-
| Plok!
| 1993
| SNES
| co-composer: Geoff Follin
|-
| Super Off Road
| 1992
| SNES
| co-composer: Geoff Follin
|-
| Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge
| 1992
| Super NES, Genesis
| co-composer: Geoff Follin
|-
| The Incredible Crash Dummies
| 1992
| Game Boy, Game Gear, Master System
| co-composer: Geoff Follin, music conversion: Matt Furniss <small>(GG, SMS)</small>
|-
| Gauntlet III
| 1991
| Commodore 64, Amiga, ZX Spectrum
| co-composer: Geoff Follin <small>(C64, Spectrum)</small>
|-
| Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade <small>(Taito version)</small>
| 1991
| NES
|
|-
| Treasure Master
| 1991
| NES
|
|-
| The New Zealand Story <small>(known in America as Kiwi Kraze)</small>
| 1991
| NES
| co-composer: Geoff Follin
|-
| Tom & Jerry (and Tuffy)
| 1991
| NES
| co-composer: Geoff Follin
|-
| Pictionary
| 1990
| NES
|
|-
| Silver Surfer
| 1990
| NES
| co-composer: Geoff Follin
|-
| Solstice
| 1990
| NES
|
|-
| Sky Shark
| 1989
| NES
|
|-
| Ghouls'n Ghosts
| Dec 1989
| Amiga, Commodore 64, Atari ST
| arranger, composer
|-
| Qix
| 1989
| Commodore 64, Amiga
|
|-
| Magic Johnson's Fast Break
| 1989
| Commodore 64, NES
|
|-
| Chester Field
| 1989
| Commodore 64
|
|-
| Missile Ground Zero
| 1989
| ZX Spectrum
|
|-
| Solar Invasion
| 1989
| ZX Spectrum
|
|-
| L.E.D. Storm
| Feb 1989 As early as 1994, Follin expressed his desire to move away from scoring video games and transition to films, stating that he preferred never to work with chip-generated music again along with his hopes that the games industry would not move backwards from the emerging standard of CD audio.
During his game music career, Follin never had the mood or interest to join any demoscene groups.
Influences
Follin cited progressive rock recalled Follin describing a wide array of imagery for the title theme. Jesper Kyd, David Wise, Frédéric Motte, Markus Schneider, Matt "Gasman" Westcott, graphic artist Haydn Dalton, and programmer Dean Belfield. Frequent Software Creations collaborator Steve Ruddy, who programmed music drivers used by Follin with Follin's design input, marvelled "I had no idea how he made it do what it did," and described his music as "astonishing".
Regarding fan communities dedicated to arranging video game music, including his own, Follin remarked, "It's really good. A lot of the stuff, you just think 'Well, that's much better than what I would have done... could do now.
Media production career
Follin has written, directed, produced, and composed for two short films: Body Counting and The Sun Circle. Body Counting won the Best Short Film under £5,000 award at the Salford Film Festival in November 2004.
Since semi-retiring from video game music composition, Follin has gone on to work in the television industry, working as director of photography for TV ads and dramas, as well as creating graphics, CGI, and music for commercials. In April 2010, Follin joined Matt Barraclough and Paul Ambler to form ABF Pictures Ltd., a company making TV commercials, web videos, and music promos. In 2013, he started a company to embrace his various interests and skills, called Baggy Cat Ltd.
Personal life
Follin has expressed that he does not use recreational drugs, perhaps counter to inferences made by fans of his music.
References
External links
- "Dr. Follin's Home Surgery" – Tim Follin's homepage