I'm Deon van Heerden. I write video game music.
|
The latest soundtrack from Deon van Heerden - Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood and Teef - is out now, courtesy of Games Workshop and Laced Records!
Grab it on Steam and get krumpin'!
|
"Ridiculously good... soundtrack of the year, in my opinion" - madlittlepixel
"The soundtrack is up there with Doom - it's absolutely awesome... just compose for every game cos it's f**king fantastic" - Cliffo Warhammer 40,000 Shootas, Blood and Teef is worth checking out for the music alone" - TheGamer.com "The music in this game was so well done... it added a ton of value... [and[ kept my head banging" - Detective Seeds "Phenomenal soundtrack" - gamersrd.com "An honorable mention to the soundtrack of Deon van Heerden, veteran of the video game soundtrack" - the gamesmachine.it "One of the best parts of the game is the music. Heavy Metal riffs... will power you through each level. It fits perfectly" xboxera.com The soundtrack is pure metal mayhem... [it's] bonkers" - waytoomany.games |
Deon van Heerden is an award-winning Cape Town-based composer and songwriter for video games, trailers and film, best known for his soundtrack work on the 5 million+ selling indie smash hit game Broforce, developed by South Africa's leading game developer Free Lives (Terra Nil, Angerfoot, GORN), and published by top indie game publisher Devolver Digital (Cult of the Lamb, Return to Monkey Island, the Shadow Warrior and Serious Sam series) and hailed by IGN as "a brilliant ode to action cinema and retro gaming" supported by "Deon's "pitch-perfect[...] score."
Recently, Deon has created an explosive score fusing orchestral fantasy and heavy metal for the highly-anticipated game Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood and Teef - a partnership between Games Workshop (owners of the popular Warhammer mega-franchise), and Belgian developers Rogueside (Guns, Gore & Cannoli) - which launched on October 20th. For the upcoming sci-fi shooter From Space, coming November 2nd, Deon created an atmospheric and brooding synth-based score, collaborating with fellow South African composers Mark Allnutt and Kristi Boonzaaier. This is Deon's eighth collaboration with Dutch indie developer Triangle Studios. Previous collaborations includes AereA, Mickey Storm and the Cursed Mask, Real Farm, Truck Driver and Pocket Cowboys. To date, Deon has scored or contributed music to nearly 20 shipped titles.
Deon is also a prolific composer of trailer music for games, including Stick It To The Stickman, Xenon Racer, Cricket Through the Ages, Broforce, From Space, Adam's Venture and the million-selling VR game GORN, amongst numerous others. As a songwriter, he's written celebrated theme songs such as "The Broforce Theme Song" - with an accompanying video animated by Powerhouse Studios (Castlevania, Masters of the Universe: Revelations) - "Shootas, Blood and Teef", "Stick it to the Stickman" and, most recently, the theme for the upcoming Broforce Forever update. One of his contributions to Broforce's promotional campaign, "The Ballad of Rambro", was turned into a Golden Trailer-winning advert by Kert Gartner and Devolver Digital.
Deon's music has been licensed or commissioned by companies as diverse as Netflix, NBC, Curve Games and Corsair, and he is currently scoring his debut animated feature film, due for release in 2023.
Growing up in Cape Town, Deon's love of drama and narrative led him to study Theatre and attain a Masters Degree in English Literature, while his love of over-the-top orchestral metal saw him fronting local power metal band Strident. Creating orchestrations for Strident led Deon to develop his signature hybrid orchestral-metal sound, which has been in demand with game developers worldwide ever since. Deon also co-founded the full-service music composition and audio production house Polyforge Media, catering to clients in the film and advertising industry. He lives in Cape Town with his wife and two cats.