The Gamedev | NInichi’s Game Music Blog
Welcome to my game development and game music blog - a blog dedicated to supporting the indie game developer and indie filmmaking communities. This blog is run by me - NINICHI, a game music composer and here I aim to offer interesting and insightful articles on game music, game development, film, podcasts & gaming channels, and more!
If you’re an indie game developer or indie filmmaker and are looking for some advice, tips and tricks to get started on the music for your wonderful creation, you’ve come to the right place! I’ve also tried to bring together a wide range of useful resources, websites and tools that could be useful on your game development and filmmaking journeys too - so keep an eye out for those too!
GameDev | Music | Film | PodcasTS | INDIEGAMES
Latest Blogs
Do you want people to enjoy & look forward to your podcast? Do you want more subscribers and for each one to tell others about it? If so, paying close attention to your podcast intro and outro is a must do. How you start your podcast and how you end each episode can really affect how people feel about you and your podcast and so it’s important to get it right. If it’s not memorable and doesn’t excite your listeners in the right way, it could actually be turning them away from you.
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?
When you decide to work with your friends, it can be hugely exciting. However, it’s also important to establish some clear boundaries if and where you can in order to prevent potential conflicts arising during 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.
Making sure that you choose the right background music for your marketing video is vital as it sets the tone for your video and marketing campaign. Having professional sounding and appropriate music supports your brand and marketing message and so you should definitely take the time to consider what kind of background music will be best.
Are you working with a composer for a film, game or something else? If so, communication is key to a strong working relationship. However, the chances are, the composer you’re working with may not always fully understand what you’re hoping for from them and their music. Being able to offer helpful, descriptive and constructive feedback on their work in order to help guide them towards creating music that fits your needs well – is really important.
Do you have a corporate video or marketing campaign you’re working on? If so, getting the music right will be one element to consider carefully. Putting together the rest of the video is super important, however, many people seem to underestimate the importance of the music and the impact it can have on pulling the whole project together and enhancing the video content.
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.
Game Music advice
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.
Are you thinking about hiring a freelance composer to work with but aren’t quite sure about how it might work or how to ensure that it works well? If so, don’t worry. It is a completely natural feeling especially if you’ve never worked with any freelancers before and it’s important to address your concerns and to make sure that you find the right person for you and your project.
I’m a freelance music composer and have worked with clients and projects all over the world – including working with game developers, filmmakers, podcasters, TV producers, marketers and more (see my homepage to get to know me, Ninichi a bit better!). I work from my home office and have never met many of my clients, yet my working relationships with each one feels really strong. There’s a sense of trust, my clients know that they can rely on me to get the work done and done to a high standard, and that I will always do my best to create music that embodies their visions. They also know that I will always be there to respond to their needs whenever they have something to say, ask, explore, feedback on or to work on further.
If you’re thinking about hiring a composer for your project – whether it’s a game, a commercial, a film or anything else, it’s important to find the right person to work with. There are many composers around, however, unfortunately we are not all the same! As with other industries, there are good ones and bad ones and it’s important to know what to look out for when doing your due diligence and deciding who’s best for your project.
Game Development Resources
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!
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.
Are you an indie game developer wondering how to fund your game? Perhaps some of these organisations and indie developer funds could be worth looking at. I’m Ninichi - a freelance game music composer (see my homepage) and as such have worked with many different indie developers and indie game studios on their projects. One big challenge that I’ve noticed is often the financial side of game development. There are many options available to you, including self-financing, crowd-funding, finding a publisher and so on, but one area that is sometimes overlooked or not really considered is that of grants and other funding sources.
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.
After having connected with various indie game developers (often supporting them with their game music), I’ve discovered that there are many challenges that one faces in the game development journey.
It can be a tricky road to travel and it’s always good to know what to avoid if you can and so I’ve tried here to highlight some common issues and mistakes that I’ve heard/seen/witnessed people going through. I hope that you will be able to take something away from this and that you find these useful. So here are some key mistakes to note and avoid as you develop your game…After having connected with various indie game developers (often supporting them with their game music), I’ve discovered that there are many challenges that one faces in the game development journey.
So, you have a great idea and maybe even an awesome team working on it already! That is an excellent start, however, the often tricky issue of financing your project may be something you have yet to decide on and to have set up for you.
Are you sure that you have the funds to see your exciting project through? If not, then crowdfunding may be something for you to consider.
Are you an indie game developer getting ready to develop & launch your first game? Perhaps you've created a few games now and want to get your marketing right? Here are 6 top tips to help you market your game successfully...
Advice for Podcasters / YouTubers / Streamers
Do you want people to enjoy & look forward to your podcast? Do you want more subscribers and for each one to tell others about it? If so, paying close attention to your podcast intro and outro is a must do. How you start your podcast and how you end each episode can really affect how people feel about you and your podcast and so it’s important to get it right. If it’s not memorable and doesn’t excite your listeners in the right way, it could actually be turning them away from you.
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?
When you decide to work with your friends, it can be hugely exciting. However, it’s also important to establish some clear boundaries if and where you can in order to prevent potential conflicts arising during your project.
Do you have a corporate video or marketing campaign you’re working on? If so, getting the music right will be one element to consider carefully. Putting together the rest of the video is super important, however, many people seem to underestimate the importance of the music and the impact it can have on pulling the whole project together and enhancing the video content.
When you decide to work with your friends, it can be hugely exciting. However, it’s also important to establish some clear boundaries if and where you can in order to prevent potential conflicts arising during your project.
If you’re running a marketing campaign and want your marketing video to stand out, it’s important to choose the right music for it. This goes for running a successful podcast as well. The music that plays in the background is often more important than you think and can impact on your commercial or show positively or negatively depending on what you’ve chosen to use.
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 want people to enjoy & look forward to your podcast? Do you want more subscribers and for each one to tell others about it? If so, paying close attention to your podcast intro and outro is a must do. How you start your podcast and how you end each episode can really affect how people feel about you and your podcast and so it’s important to get it right. If it’s not memorable and doesn’t excite your listeners in the right way, it could actually be turning them away from you.
Interview By Ninichi | Contact | Follow
Hello and welcome to the Ninichi blog! If you’re looking for something fun to watch on YouTube, check out Questionable Qloset! I came across Dr Crafty sometime last year and was delighted to learn more about this new show and to work on the intro theme tune for it. As a freelance composer I get the pleasure of working with many talented professionals in games, film & other media and this show is a great one to get to know and take a look at!
It’s a wonderful magical world where your questions get answered, so find out more about this show and who’s behind it now…
Are you thinking about hiring a freelance composer to work with but aren’t quite sure about how it might work or how to ensure that it works well? If so, don’t worry. It is a completely natural feeling especially if you’ve never worked with any freelancers before and it’s important to address your concerns and to make sure that you find the right person for you and your project.
I’m a freelance music composer and have worked with clients and projects all over the world – including working with game developers, filmmakers, podcasters, TV producers, marketers and more (see my homepage to get to know me, Ninichi a bit better!). I work from my home office and have never met many of my clients, yet my working relationships with each one feels really strong. There’s a sense of trust, my clients know that they can rely on me to get the work done and done to a high standard, and that I will always do my best to create music that embodies their visions. They also know that I will always be there to respond to their needs whenever they have something to say, ask, explore, feedback on or to work on further.
So, you have a great idea and maybe even an awesome team working on it already! That is an excellent start, however, the often tricky issue of financing your project may be something you have yet to decide on and to have set up for you.
Are you sure that you have the funds to see your exciting project through? If not, then crowdfunding may be something for you to consider.
There are many reasons why your podcast intro music is so important. It’s the start of your show and is the best time to capture your audience’s attention and to make a great impression. It sets the tone for the rest of your show and thus reflects closely on you, your podcast and your brand.
As a freelance composer, I have created many podcast intros and outros, theme tunes for shows, background music for adverts and commercials, games and more (see more about me, Ninichi). I enjoy composing jingles and those who come to me believe that it’s worth investing in custom intros. These, I believe are some of the reasons why…
If this is your first time visiting my blog, welcome! I’m a game music composer and believe that communication is key to a strong working relationship. In order to ensure that you get the best music for your project, whether it’s a game music soundtrack, film score or anything else – knowing how to communicate effectively with your chosen composer can really help. Here are a few tips that I hope will help you to get the most out of your working relationship with your composer.If this is your first time visiting my blog, welcome! I’m a game music composer and believe that communication is key to a strong working relationship. In order to ensure that you get the best music for your project, whether it’s a game music soundtrack, film score or anything else – knowing how to communicate effectively with your chosen composer can really help.
If you’re involved in advertising and are wondering how to make your advert stand out, think carefully about the music jingle that everyone will hear as they listen to and watch your advert. Jingles are a super important part when it comes to advertising and it’s amazing how much impact they can have on an advertising campaign and on one’s brand.
I’m a freelance jingles composer and have worked on various jingles, theme tunes and intros and outros for different shows and commercial adverts as well as working on soundtracks for games and films (see my homepage or jingles & intros page). It’s a really rewarding experience and one that I feel passionately about. Often the importance of getting the right jingle can be overlooked and so I hope that this article helps to offer some insight and ideas around why they require real thought and consideration, and that by investing time and energy into this, you will most definitely see your advertising campaign come to life!
if you're into games & like to have fun checking them out, take a look at this new gaming channel The Nerd Syndicate! I'm excited to have been involved with creating the intro and outro music for this growing gaming channel, and it's wonderful to have the owner of channel tell us more about it...
If you like short films, documentaries and music, you may want to keep an eye on this new youtube channel Unknown Whisper, which i came across a few weeks ago, whilst connecting on twitter to explore possibilities for this young youtube channel's introductory tune...
This month, I've been excited to have been commissioned to create some music for this wonderful podcast focusing on the world of Star Trek! Let me introduce you to The Pensky File...
If you're interested in games and are a gamer or a game developer, you really need to check out NeedtoKnow Gaming! So, let's get to know the couple behind this amazing YouTube gaming channel...
Film Music and Indie Project Support
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?
When you decide to work with your friends, it can be hugely exciting. However, it’s also important to establish some clear boundaries if and where you can in order to prevent potential conflicts arising during your project.
Are you working with a composer for a film, game or something else? If so, communication is key to a strong working relationship. However, the chances are, the composer you’re working with may not always fully understand what you’re hoping for from them and their music. Being able to offer helpful, descriptive and constructive feedback on their work in order to help guide them towards creating music that fits your needs well – is really important.
When you decide to work with your friends, it can be hugely exciting. However, it’s also important to establish some clear boundaries if and where you can in order to prevent potential conflicts arising during your project.
Interview By Ninichi | Contact | Follow
Towards the end of last year, I was contacted by Hannah Chung, a really talented animation student at Sheridan College, to work on the music and original score for her animated film Curiosity Killed. After seeing the film and imagining how it would develop, I was super excited to work on this with Hannah.
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?
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:
Tell us about yourself and how you got into creating films?
‘My name is Taylor Walsh, I’m the writer and director of ‘Cirque du Mors’ and I’ve been creating films for almost five years now. I first got into filmmaking when I was in middle school, drawn to the idea of being able to create new worlds to share with others.
There are many things to think about when putting together a film. One key area to think about is the music soundtrack and how to choose music to fit and enhance the film overall.
As an indie film music composer, I’ve worked on a variety of really interesting films and film projects (see some of the film music I’ve done here and view my credits). I believe that music plays an important role in films but it isn’t always the easiest aspect to get right. When done well though, the music can really help to enhance a viewer’s experience and understanding of your film and so it’s definitely worth taking the time to think about and to find the right music for your film.
To help you a little bit with this, here are a few things to think about…
Are you thinking about hiring a freelance composer to work with but aren’t quite sure about how it might work or how to ensure that it works well? If so, don’t worry. It is a completely natural feeling especially if you’ve never worked with any freelancers before and it’s important to address your concerns and to make sure that you find the right person for you and your project.
I’m a freelance music composer and have worked with clients and projects all over the world – including working with game developers, filmmakers, podcasters, TV producers, marketers and more (see my homepage to get to know me, Ninichi a bit better!). I work from my home office and have never met many of my clients, yet my working relationships with each one feels really strong. There’s a sense of trust, my clients know that they can rely on me to get the work done and done to a high standard, and that I will always do my best to create music that embodies their visions. They also know that I will always be there to respond to their needs whenever they have something to say, ask, explore, feedback on or to work on further.
So, you have a great idea and maybe even an awesome team working on it already! That is an excellent start, however, the often tricky issue of financing your project may be something you have yet to decide on and to have set up for you.
Are you sure that you have the funds to see your exciting project through? If not, then crowdfunding may be something for you to consider.
If this is your first time visiting my blog, welcome! I’m a game music composer and believe that communication is key to a strong working relationship. In order to ensure that you get the best music for your project, whether it’s a game music soundtrack, film score or anything else – knowing how to communicate effectively with your chosen composer can really help. Here are a few tips that I hope will help you to get the most out of your working relationship with your composer.If this is your first time visiting my blog, welcome! I’m a game music composer and believe that communication is key to a strong working relationship. In order to ensure that you get the best music for your project, whether it’s a game music soundtrack, film score or anything else – knowing how to communicate effectively with your chosen composer can really help.
Do you need some music for your game, film or media project? You may be at that key stage of weighing up your options, contacting music composers and exploring music production libraries online. I've been composing for a while now and have supported many indie game developers and indie filmmakers with their projects - and so I understand some of the dilemmas that you may be tackling. If you want to chat about it, I'd be happy to hear from you. Feel free to email me at ninichimusic@gmail.com to explore working together and your options further.
As a composer for games, film and other media, I am often asked about sound effects and where to find some for various projects. I myself specialise in music only and so I don't create sound effects - however, there are many resources online which offer great audio clips for various uses. Many of these are free to use, some requiring creator attribution and some not at all. Others do charge for the sound effects but they don't charge much, so they're worth exploring too. I've attempted to list some of these sound effect libraries in the hope that this is a helpful reference for you...
Today I'm introducing you to filmmaker, writer and photographer, Sam Camilleri - the creator of ImaginationFilmz and the soon-to-be released short film Alone at Night. Sam and I had the pleasure of working together on some of the music to his short film and here he tells us more about the thoughts behind Alone at Night and how he created it: