How to differentiate your indie game with music

By Ninichi | Contact | Follow

Are you working on an indie game and are wondering how to differentiate it from the others that are currently out there in the market or that are about to be released into the market? You may have a new and unique concept and you may be offering a completely different experience to what is already available but taking the time to get the music right in your game can really help to differentiate it further and to make it stand out above the rest.

Here are 5 ways that music can help you to differentiate yourself:

1.Choose music that really moves people

Music is a powerful tool in helping to convey emotions in a game. Music can change how people feel about the experience and by focusing on music that really captures the mood in each part of your game, you will help to make sure that the experience in your game is the very best that it can be.

Read: How to Choose the Right Music for Your Game

2. Create music for different parts of your game

Whether your game is split into levels, sections, scenes, characters etc. make sure that the music supports this and also helps guide people through your game. The more you can use music to help people understand what's going on in your game and to transition through it smoothly, the better the overall experience and immersion into your game.

See: 6 Different Ways to Harness Music in Games

3.Have a custom soundtrack

If you can afford it, opt for a custom soundtrack to make sure that the music you have is unique, distinct and that it fits your game perfectly. Work with a composer to find the right music style for your game and to create a consistent, high quality soundtrack.

Read: How to Work Well with a Game Music Composer

4. Create a custom theme tune

Theme tunes offer the opportunity for people to associate a mood, a tune and a positive feeling with your game. They can make your game really memorable especially if the theme tune is catchy, easy to hum and fun to listen to. Theme tunes can also help capture the essence of your game in a short timeframe, which offers people a quick glimpse into the great experience that your game can offer them.

5. Develop a trailer

Make a trailer to help showcase your game and entice people into playing it. Include your theme tune as part of it and make sure that the trailer helps capture the mood and wonderful experiences your game offers. Treat it like a sneak peek into the world of your game and also your soundtrack.

See: How to Create An Awesome Indie Game Trailer

So there you have my 5 ways to differentiate your game through music. It's definitely worth spending the time and investment in getting your music right. Without great music, your game could really be missing an opportunity to reach players at that deeper level.

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About the author

Ninichi is a game music and film music composer. She works with talented indie game developers and film makers to create unique soundtracks for their games and films.

Explore this website to learn more about Ninichi & how she can help you with the music for your project.

Follow her @ninichimusic

Introducing Ninichi's Cute and Casual Game Music Pack

By Ninichi | Contact | Follow

Are you looking for some cute and casual, royalty free music for your video game? Do you run a gaming channel and need some light, fun, easy listening video game music in the background? If so, the Cute and Casual Music Pack, might be just what you need!

I’m Ninichi, and I’m a game music composer (check out my homepage for more info)! I’ve worked with many talented indie game developers on the music for their games (check out my game music). It’s an honour and a joy to be involved in so many wonderful projects. I’m also a great supporter of indie projects in general and know that not all games can afford custom music.

That’s why I decided to create a few video game music, royalty free music packs for indie game developers on a super tight budget but who still want some decent, high quality music in their games and to use.

Each of my royalty free game music packs can be purchased, licensed and easily downloaded directly from my website. Once you complete the checkout process, you’ll get the files to download and away you go! You will have the music you need for your game! Yay!

The Cute and Casual Royalty free music pack is a collection of 5 uplifting, easy-to-listen to game music tracks perfect for visual novels, anime games or any casual game. If you want music in the background of your game that sets a relaxing, happy, light and fun tone then have a listen to this music pack now.

All tracks loop easily, are completely royalty free and are ready to use as soon as the music pack is downloaded.

This Cute and Casual Music Pack also includes a special bonus track which can be used as an opening menu track, end credits or in shorter game levels & scenes.

So, if you’re looking for a set of cheerful tunes to help your game players to be happy and merry, then this cute and positive soundtrack will be perfect for you. It's been designed specifically with casual video or mobile games in mind and so what are you waiting for - get this game music pack now!

If, however, you don’t feel this game music pack is right for you, check out these instead:

About the author

Ninichi is a game music and film music composer. She works with talented indie game developers and film makers to create unique soundtracks for their games and films.

She offers a wide range of ready-made, royalty-free game music packs along with other production music available to license. Explore these on her website now.

Follow her @ninichimusic

6 Marketing Articles to Help Your Indie Game Succeed

By Ninichi | Contact | Follow

Hello lovely indie game developers and other peeps! Welcome, welcome to my humble blog! If you’re here for the first time, I’m Ninichi - a freelance game music composer and the creator of this game development blog. Here I offer my music talents and services to you i.e. you can commission me to create music for your game (see my game music page) or explore my royalty free music library and game music packs. AND - you can explore my blogs which include a wide range of articles to support you through your game development journey, highlight interesting indie games I’ve found and been involved in, offer tips and tricks when it comes to game music and more!

One of the key areas in the game development cycle that I’ve seen many game developers struggle with is marketing! It’s often something that isn’t considered very fun to do but at the same time I think we all know that doing something in this arena is absolutely necessary if we want our wonderful games to sell! Without any marketing, how will you reach your audience? It’s something that must be thought about and that you will need to take some action around but it can be tricky to know where to start and what to do.

On my blog I’ve written a couple of articles that look into the ‘marketing space’ and so I thought that it would be useful to pull these articles together here so that you can explore them easily and as and when you feel the need…

1. 6 Must Do Marketing Tips for Indie Game Developers

This is the first article that I wrote that offers some ideas to help game developers market their games. It’s a good place to start and offers some ideas that you can hopefully action or at least start exploring. It’s just an overview and introductory article to give you some idea of the areas to be thinking about, but hopefully is a good initial article to help you with your next steps.

2. How to Create an Awesome Indie Game Trailer

Creating a trailer to help give people a glimpse of what your game looks like and to introduce it to them, is a powerful way to market your game to your audience. However, it’s not always obvious how to go about creating an effective game trailer. Check out my tips and ideas to help you create an awesome trailer for your indie game.

3. How to Promote Your Game on Twitter

Twitter has a big game development and gaming community. I’ve discovered this, being on Twitter myself (@ninichimusic), and have found both of these communities to be incredibly supportive and encouraging. I would recommend that you tap into these communities and that you build your Twitter and other social media profiles so that you can reach a wider audience.

4. 4 Ways to Make Marketing Your Indie Game Less Painful

I’ve discovered that many indie game developers really really don’t like thinking about marketing their games in any shape or form! It’s not something that comes naturally to everyone and you are not alone if you feel that it’s something you’d rather avoid, runaway from and/or skip completely. However, I would encourage you to think again and to try and approach it in a way that hopefully you can become slowly more comfortable with. In this article I try to offer you some suggestions and ways that you can do this.

5. 6 Indie Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

There are many mistakes that I’ve seen people do and that are common but that can definitely be avoided! That’s the reason I put this article. It aims to highlight some very common errors that people do and that can waste you a lot of time or mean that you miss the boat completely - and so get reading and make sure that you don’t fall into any of these marketing traps!

6. 10 Crowdfunding Platforms to Consider for indie Projects

As you develop your game you may wish to explore raising some funds for it. Crowdfunding is a great way to do this and can also help create a buzz around your game. It can form part of your marketing activities and help to build your fan base which is why I’ve included this resource list here for you to explore further.

So, I really hope that you’ve found these 6 articles useful. I hope to create more in time but hopefully these offer some insights and ideas to help you hone in your marketing strategy for your game. Best of luck with it and do keep in touch with me via my Twitter and Instagram accounts! I’d love to hear all about your game and how you’re getting on with it!

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About the author: Ninichi is a freelance UK-based indie game music composer. She works with indie game developers and indie filmmakers to create soundtracks for video games, film & media. She can compose in a wide range of styles & loves getting involved in new projects. Find out more about her game music or royalty free music and contact her to discuss your project and music needs.

Follow her @ninichimusic

Five Great Movie Scores

A great film pulls together many different elements and factors to impress viewers.

A good plot, great actors and a meaningful topic all help, as does innovative and exciting direction, but music is also a key part of making a good film great.

Whether you’re shooting a big-budget blockbuster, or a short animated indie production, a good soundtrack can make your movie stand out from the crowd. What makes a good soundtrack though? Which movies take sound and use it as an arsenal in their attack on viewers and cinemagoers?

We have pulled together a collection of five movies which perfectly used musical scores to accentuate and develop their projects to great effect.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)

Few scores have defined a genre in the same way as Ennio Morricone’s work on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. The whistle and those opening three notes came to represent everything that Westerns stood for, and it still endures today. 54 years on and the best Western score of all time is well known by fans whose parents were not born when it first played to cinemas.

Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)

The Star Wars franchise has been given new life recently by Disney’s interpretation of the story, but back in 1977, it was new to fans. Science fiction, in general, was in its tentative stages on the big screen, with special effects barely able to deliver the scenes the directors wanted. John Williams’ triumphant opening created an epic feeling, suggesting to viewers that what was to follow was a classic and memorable experience that would stay with them forever. Thanks to a neat range of merchandise and George Lucas’ perseverance, that has been the case.

Inglorious Basterds (2009)

Tarantino does things differently to most, with films that break convention and often use tracks from others to juxtapose the action on screen, for instance, Reservoir Dogs using Steeler’s Wheel during a rather violent scene. Foxy Bingo explains how Inglorious Basterds is considered Quentin Tarantino’s dark comedy, and as a director famous for trying things differently to most, it was the storyline and dialogue which set the film apart. In Inglorious Basterds, he had a specific time period to address, as well as scenes to compliment, which makes this a particularly impressive use of a music score. It was the work of Ennio Morricone which helped make this a great soundtrack, but afterwards the famous composer said he would never work with Tarantino again as he ‘places music in his films without coherence’.

The Godfather (1972)

The 1972 masterpiece brought together all the elements of a genuinely great movie; slow build-up to the shocking moments, compelling storyline and some wonderful acting. Of course, the work of Francis Ford Coppola helped set it apart as he steeped his film in Italian immigrant culture, developing the mobsters into characters of psychological depth and complexity. It was ambitious, grandiose and could only work with a suitably successful score. Italian composer Nino Rota created the score to reflect and relate the situations in the film, with his success. Described by Empire as an intricately constructed tapestry of narrative and emotion, the film has not been dulled by the passing of time, almost half a century after its release.

Rocky (1976)

Perhaps the Rocky franchise is more famous for the rousing use of ‘Eye of the Tiger’ as a motivational soundtrack, but the movie's score should not be underestimated either. Bill Conti’s track ‘Gonna Fly Now’ became the go-to soundtrack for a generation of fitness addicts needing that extra push, combining pulsating horns and rumbling drums to complement any montage. What makes the score great is the compatibility with the film’s themes of fighting against adversity and rising to a challenge. Sadly, the franchise needed Survivor to say those words in Rocky III in a less subtle usage of music as a metaphor.

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Game funding Tips: How to Impress a Game Investor

If you are a game developer or part of an indie game studio and are looking for investment in your video game, it can often be tricky to know where to start. Knowing how to impress a game investor and therefore how to gain crucial funding and support for your game can be a challenge which is why, in this article we explore what it takes to get this right.  Here are some tips from Bertrand Vernizeau, CEO of Game Seer at game-seer.com

1. Target the right partner

First of all, you must ensure you know who you will pitch your company or game to. Be it a publisher or a traditional equity investor, ensure you check which projects they have backed already and/or which companies they have invested in so far. Your pitch will get instantly rejected by investors who solely do equity funding if you come seeking project financing and vice versa. 

2. Inform yourself about us

Browse carefully our websites, read our opinions in the press, at conferences, as some investors shun certain domains: for instance, we only invest in PC and console games with productions up to 5 million EUR. Some investors like our friends over at level-up.com only invest in mobile. Some only invest in tech, in AR, in VR etc. If you know what an investor seeks beforehand and it is aligned with what you propose, you are much more likely to be a match.

3. Choose the right timing

Now that you are sure that the investor you want to pitch to is actually looking for what you have to offer, you must still verify that the timing is right. At what point should you pitch your project? Again, targeting the right entity matters all while making sure your company is ripe for investment. Some incubators like Y combinator will invest at paper pitch level, this is also mostly true for traditional equity venture capitalists whose upside is based on securing the highest amount of shares at the very early stages of a game’s development, with the lowest investment possible. 

4. Make an impression, at first glance

Game seer as well as publishers on their end will most of the time require a playable demo, a vertical slice or a prototype. Visual materials help a lot as they help showcase your skills and most importantly allow the investor to picture in their mind what you have in yours. If you come and pitch us compelling visuals and a playable demo, you ensure that we will thoroughly review what you have provided. If you ask us for money and have already made something decent enough to trigger our preliminary interest, then you most certainly will get all our attention at this stage to make sure we understand entirely what you are trying to achieve.  That’s a great place to start.

5. Maximizing your chances 

While great games are made by exceptional people, they do not always have the ability to properly showcase what they are capable of. Some people are simply better at making than showing. Investors are aware of this and have adapted their business acumen over time to see through this. While you may not be a great presenter, marketer nor an excel spreadsheet champion, this pretty simple set of documents will drastically increase your chances of getting an investment:

-        Detailed production pipeline

-        Budget breakdown with everyone in your team who is Employed Full Time (external and internal)

-        Standard product information: Recommended Sale Price, Platforms, expected rating etc.

-        Elevator pitch with as many visuals and as little text as possible, team experience, general vision and unique selling proposition of the title.

-        Decisive bonus: prototype, demo or vertical slice

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About this blog

This blog is brought to you by Ninichi, a video game music composer who works with indie game developers and indie filmmakers to bring their soundtracks to life. This article, like many others on my blog, offers tips and advice from the games industry to support the development of new games.

For more information on Ninichi explore her game music, royalty free music and/or contact her to discuss your project and music needs.

Follow her @ninichimusic