Game Music

DerModus

New member
Hi Guys,

anyone got some ideas on how to do Game Music?
I'm searching on some kind of RPG Style, emotional and dramatical.

Mostly I do Hip Hop beats so I'm kind of lost in this style.
It all seems so minimalistic and simple-schemed but I just dont get it.
 
I'd love to hear peoples feedback on this also. How you got into game music or if you are producing any music for games.

It's a very interesting industry with heaps of opportunity!
 
These days, major Hollywood composers are scoring games. It is not the wild west it once was back in the 8-bit days.


GJ
 
I've thought about this also, it looks like an exciting area to get into. If you are used to hip hop beats then this would be quite a challenge, as for a dramatic RPG you would need to focus on melody.

The way I would do this is to pick a scale and a key and try to write a simple theme in that key which fits the mood you are going for, then go from there with variations, change in timing, strip it back a bit or maybe embellish instead etc. but you'll need to find a method that works for you.
 
The way I would do this is to pick a scale and a key and try to write a simple theme in that key which fits the mood you are going for, then go from there with variations, change in timing, strip it back a bit or maybe embellish instead etc.

exactly! I agree 100%...experiment with different scales & keys until you find what you're looking for. personally for me, if it sounds familiar or nostalgic, it's a good path to go down.

you could even sample music from some of your favorite games & add new drums, beef it up etc. to get a hang of it. that's pretty much how I started out making music
 
What do you want it for? Is it for learning purposes? or are you working for a specific project?
Well... games composers need to do EVERYTHING, if you are starting with indie developers be ready to do sound design and music and integrate it into games engines using specific software and even coding (you wont have to code if you are working for a triple AAA company but you still need to learn the software). You could sell a few songs or compose a few songs for a project but if you want to do music FOR GAMES you have to learn how interactive music works. It is not like composing for a film. I recommend you read Winifred Phillips book perhaps? It is a good starting point.
 
best teacher is to listen closely to the game music that you like...and emulate it. in doing so you will figure out how they did what they did. part of the research process... just pay attention to what you hear. keep a journal so you can make note of the intro (instruments used, time structure, length, etc) then make note of when other elements come in, the climax, etc..... you'll eventually see patterns
 
yeah emulate a stile is always the best teacher and you always learn something, try a simple melody pattern and make some simple modifications as the pattern repeats is a great way to start.
 
50% instrument choice
50% note choice

waltz time can help a lot, but just understanding of how to resolve melodies into chords is what will help you
 
I'd love to hear peoples feedback on this also. How you got into game music or if you are producing any music for games.
 
I wrote some game music for a 3rd party project that fell apart with the programmers and so I spent a little bit of time thinking about it.

First of all, I have a guy basically managing what I produced, so if it didn't fit what he was going for, he sent me back to the drawing board with additional instructions. Basically, he had ideas in his head from other videos he had played, and I had to more or less steal little things from those games and change them around and disguise them in order to make him happy, reproducing the general sound and feel he wanted.

From a psychological perspective, there are different approaches to game music. Are you trying to create an atmospheric sound that fits the game world, or are you trying to evoke an emotional response from the player based on what you expect their reaction to such a world would be? Or a little bit of both? When you have a map and game art to go off of, somehow or another you have to draw inspiration from the game world and its art in order to make a cohesive whole.

The music itself should be cohesive from piece to piece so that you aren't just randomly changing styles every time the player enters a new area, because that can be distracting and detract from the experience of playing the game.

So a lot of it just depends on what the other guys creating the game are going for and how you all work together as a creative team.
 
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