In how to Make Video Game Music For Beginners you will get all the tools you need to make great video game music. We will talk about the whole process from project brief to the final mix and delivery. In the video below I explain the process of creating a calm (but exciting) background music theme for a video game.
How to make Video Game Music for beginners introduction
I recently composed some music themes for an upcoming game. One calm background music theme, and a more upfront suspenseful theme to be played when the player gets captured in the video game. In this first article and video we will talk about the first calm music cue with Monkey Island feel!
The video game music project brief
A project brief is a description from the client of the work you are supposed to produce. Basically, it’s the client expectations.
It may be a lightweight email, or a heavy document describing the vision of the end product; game / film / commercial etc.
In this case it was an email from the client with a design document pdf-file describing the full game in a broad spectra.
The brief described two themes that the game would require.
- One music theme for general background music during gameplay.
- And one more suspenseful music theme to be played when the player gets captured by the villains.
We first begin by making the calm background music theme. But where do we start? How can we get the creative ball rolling and some music flowing?
Where to start when writing music for a video game?
We begin by examining the project brief to get as much detailed intelligence about the client expectations and vision for the music. The brief gave me information that it’s a family game.
To be continued shortly…
Watch episode two in “How to compose for video games” here.
