When it comes to the music and/or soundtrack to your game, it’s really important to get some basics right. For some people it’s easy to identify and decide on what sort of style and mood you want for different parts of your game. For others, it can be really tough, since there will be various different options and directions that you could go in, and it can be hard to tell what would fit best and be most well received by players of your game.
It’s challenging for me to help you choose the right music for your particular game without knowing much more about it, but there are some general rules that I hope may help you in your decision making around what kind of game music you might like for your game and also where you might want to get it from…
1. Game music is there to support the gameplay
That means that it should NOT be overwhelming or too distracting. It is there to enhance, engage and support, not be the centre of everything. Great game music adds to the experience and heightens the emotions that you feel as you move through the game.
If working with a composer, it’s important that they understand this and aren’t the type to create music that takes away the focus from your game. A good composer will know how to create music that has that precise balance that’s needed to capture one’s attention enough to be interesting and fun to listen to but which is still something that sits neatly in the background to the main gameplay.
2. A lot of game music loops
Most game soundtracks will consist of looping tracks, which are between 30 seconds to 2 minutes long, on average. That means that although the tracks shouldn’t be overwhelming, they also shouldn’t be too repetitive either. They may be played over and over again depending on how long someone plays the game for, and so ideally you’ll want your music to be fun and engaging to listen to several times.
This means that you probably want your composer to have a real talent for melody and for developing tunes in a way that they can be repeated several times without becoming boring or annoying. Tunes that are too simple, can be often too easy to remember and hence when they’re repeating often, it becomes irritating. However, tunes that are too complex aren’t memorable or catchy at all and thus aren’t usually great to listen to.
3. Consistency and coherence
Whether you’ve decided to work with one composer, multiple composers or to source your music from elsewhere, it’s important to think about the consistency of the music across your soundtrack and within your game.
Across your game you will mostly likely want and need a variety of different types of music to bring out different aspects of your game. Whilst the variety in the moods and potentially styles and important and useful to help bring your game, game areas/locations and characters or situations to life, it’s also important to have a sense of consistency and coherence across all of the game music.
It needs to sound as though it’s all part of the same game and fits well within the game world. This is often tricky to do if using music from a wide variety of sources because the styles, instrumentation, sounds etc. can all be quite different. To someone playing your game, if the music doesn’t have that sense of coherence, the game may feel quite disjointed.
I hope you’ve found this article useful! If you find yourself getting a bit confused when it comes to the music for your game and/or would like some help with it, do feel free to contact me. I’d be delighted to work with you on your game music and look forward to hearing about your wonderful project!
About the author: Ninichi is a freelance composer and music enthusiast. She has composed the soundtracks and music to several indie games. Contact her: to explore working with her on your game, film or media project.
Check out examples of Ninichi's game music compositions and soundtracks & read more articles like this on the Ninichi music blog.
Follow her @ninichimusic
So are you someone who’s thinking about whether or not to hire a freelance composer for your project? Or maybe you’re a composer yourself and are wondering how to set yourself up as someone who’s trustworthy and easy to work with?
Are you considering hiring a composer for your game, film or media project? Are you clear about what you want from the music and from your composer once you’ve hired them? If not, perhaps some of these tips might help you think through some key areas before making the final decision of who to go with, which composer to hire and which musical direction to take for your project.
Are you considering hiring a composer for your game, film or media project? Are you clear about what you want from the music and from your composer once you’ve hired them? If not, perhaps some of these tips might help you think through some key areas before making the final decision of who to go with, which composer to hire and which musical direction to take for your project.
There are many different types of games out there and for each of them music usually has a slightly different purpose. Since there are so many different types of games that one can make I couldn’t possibly go through all of them but I can pick a couple here to explore with you.
If you’re in need of some ambient, mood setting music, then Fantasy Atmosphere’s 1 and 2 could be the music packs for you! Following the positive feedback I’ve received from my first few music packs, I decided to create some more, so do please feel free to check these out or to let others know who could be in need of some great royalty free music for their projects!
Do you need some music for your puzzle game? Do you want music that’s interesting to listen to and enhances the gameplay without overwhelming it? If so, have a listen to the video game music tracks in Puzzle Pack.
Last year I was asked to take part in an interview series to inspire youngsters to explore what music can offer and to help them understand more about game music. One of the questions that was asked is to do with the ways that music is used in games. I thought that this could be an interesting area to explore together and to share here on my blog seeing as it seemed to be an interesting element to the programme, and so here are some of my thoughts…
Music is a powerful tool in all games. It is used to help set the tone of the game, develop an atmosphere, support key storylines and characters and to create an immersive experience.
Are you looking for some retro or arcade-style music for your video game? Do you run a gaming channel and need some upbeat video game music in the background? If so, the Retro Rush Music Pack, might be just what you need!
So are you someone who’s thinking about whether or not to hire a freelance composer for your project? Or maybe you’re a composer yourself and are wondering how to set yourself up as someone who’s trustworthy and easy to work with?
Do you need some chiptune / 8-bit style music for your video game or gaming channel? If so, the Chiptune Pack, might be just what you need!
I’m Ninichi, and I’m a game music composer! I’ve worked on a variety of wonderful indie games – helping to create custom soundtracks and music for game trailers, films and more (see my game music). It’s a great honour to be involved in so many amazing projects; however, I’m also a great supporter of indie projects in general and know that not all games can afford custom music.
Have you been searching for atmospheric, mood creating music for your video game, film or videos? If so, Fantasy Atmospheres 1, could be just what you need!
I’m Ninichi, and I’m a freelance composer! What that means is that I create music for games, films and other media (see my homepage). I’m usually commissioned to create custom music for different projects, however, I’ve also made some of my music available to license here on my website.
Interview By Ninichi | Contact | Follow
I’m really excited to be introducing you to Game Flow in this blog! It’s a really interesting film about gaming and mental health which I had the honour to learn about & get involved in after discovering they were in need of a composer. I connected with Emily Crawford, the Director, Producer and Editor for the documentary and together we worked on the music for the film.
The soundtrack to the film has been completed and I’m super excited to see how the film evolves and how people react to it! Check out the trailer for Game Flow:
Music is an important element to any game. As a game music composer (see more about me!), I really believe that it helps to enhance the overall experience, to bring it all together and to set the general tone of the game. Great music can help to make your game more memorable, more fun to play and can even to make it stand out.
However, it is not always easy or obvious where to find the right music for a game or which approach to take. If you’re wondering what your options are and which way to turn, perhaps this article will help. There are also many other useful tips, articles and resources on my blog so do take a minute to browse through those as well.
If you’ve been thinking about using royalty free music for your game, you may be interested in these. I’m Ninichi, a freelance game music composer and I create music for games, film and other media. I am usually commissioned to work on game music soundtracks and custom music for game trailers, film and other shows and media. I also offer some royalty free music available to license through my website, since I’m well aware that not all projects have the budgets available to invest in custom music.
My video game music packs are one of these licensing options and the idea behind these is to enable indie game developers on very tight budgets, to still be able to have great quality music in their games.
If you’re developing a game, at some point you may be wondering whether or not to invest in a custom game music soundtrack and whether to hire a game music composer to work with or not. One big question that I’m sure is on your mind, is how much will it all cost? How much do indie game music composers charge typically?
Unfortunately this isn’t a simple question to answer since every composer is different. However, as a freelance indie game music composer myself (learn more about me!), I can try to give you an overview of what sort of rates you may come across and to help you understand where some of the pricing structures and costs may come from.