How to find the right music for your game
Music is one of the most influential ways to set the scene, tone and emotion of your game. One of the superpowers of games as a vessel for human experience is their ability to touch multiple senses at once. Because of this, your games music is extremely important. Consider games like Undertale or Nier Automata, whose soundtracks have become almost as iconic as the games themselves. Music will also be highly dependent on your budget (and personal musical abilities), but no matter how small your budget, it is worth investing at least some time into.
Buy music licensing
A music licensing library gives you access to a ton of preexisting tracks that you can use and manipulate for your game. This honestly isn’t a bad choice if you don’t mind spending the time finding the right songs and editing them so that they blend in seamlessly with your game.
Engines like RPG Maker include licensed soundtracks that you can use. Asset libraries for games may also have music that interests you. Or if you want the flexibility, you can purchase subscriptions to massive libraries like Artlist or Audio Network, which take some time to parse through, but give you all the options you could ever ask for.
If you are taking this DIY approach, I just highly recommend you spend the time to make the music work and also get feedback on if the music sets the mood well. The wrong music at the wrong time can really take a player out of the experience.
Consider hiring a composer
If there is one role on a game development team I highly recommend investing in, it’s a composer. Having great original music for your game is not only an amazing marketing asset that helps set the personality for your game, but it also makes the experience of playing your game more impactful.
Finding the right composer is a lot of work, but it’s worth the time and investment. Obviously, Hans Zimmer probably won’t be helping with your small independent game, but once you start looking, you’ll be amazed at how many talented composers are out there that could potentially help you with your game music. The important thing to start with when you begin your search is to have a clear idea of what kind of music you have in mind. This will help you not only find the right composer for your project, but also allow you to communicate your vision with them better. Finding out what you want also requires a lot of careful thought and research, but again, it’s worth the time.
References and further reading
(Article) Where To Find Music For Games — https://medium.com/@joffer.winks/where-to-find-music-for-games-4a43a7636c8e
(Article) The Soundtrack Search: Finding a Composer for Your Indie Game — https://www.rareformaudio.com/blog/finding-the-right-composer-for-your-indie-game
(Article) Gaming Music: How to Choose the Right Songs for Games — https://artlist.io/blog/gaming-music/
This article is a part of an ongoing project of daily video game mini essays. If you like the idea of getting these mini essays dropped directly into your inbox, I am cross-posting on Substack. You can subscribe here for free: https://howtogrowroses.substack.com/
If you want to learn more about me or my games, you can find my website here: https://www.heyitsamanda.com/
