So I never really thought about it but I've just discovered I have no clue on structure for the genre of writing for games (or films despite the thread recently posted)...I can write a sonata form or binary, ternary, etc. but do people really use those? I am also very familiar with rock and pop musics verse chorus bridge layouts but is this used either? If it is broken into sections how long should the chord progression be before repeating, how many times through before going to the next section? Three chords like a I IV V7 in blues...seems like it would be boring but maybe this is a good way to do it. Classical often bounces from I to V7 but I cant remember how to do this without it sounding like its just going between I and V. Are most people scoring with motives and just expanding on a small musical concept....I cant believe I've been writting without realizing I've no idea about this stuff!

I just do whatever feels good. ^_^

(I know, great response for such an analytical OP :D)

The overall form, harmonic language, and movement of the music should be appropriate to the style of music you're writing, just like if you weren't writing for videogames.

The first and most important between video game music and other music is repetition. If you're writing short loops for a game, those short loops may be heard by a player for a VERY long term. Your music needs to be not only immediately engaging and enjoyable, but needs to be tolerable for extended periods of time. You need to think about the inherent interest of the music and other problems like ear fatigue. The easiest way to deal with this is to have as little repetition within the music as possible. When you repeat a theme, always vary something - the instrumentation, the accompaniment, the key, the harmonies - something. That will maintain interest a lot longer.

The second main difference you could encounter is the type of structure used for interactive or adaptive music, which is unlike any type of linear structure. That's really too complex a topic for here. The basic idea is that you create not a linear structure, but a series of sections, each of which can potentially lead to other sections depending on what happens in the game. You might have different accompaniments that would be selected depending on the mood, or melodic hits that are played synced to events. If you want to try making some for fun, you could use Microsoft's free DirectMusic Producer.

Best of luck!

Quote: Original post by Jervin
Your music needs to be not only immediately engaging and enjoyable, but needs to be tolerable for extended periods of time. You need to think about the inherent interest of the music and other problems like ear fatigue.

This is a good point, and something to keep in mind for sure. In regards to the relationship between games and films in the other thread this would be a relavent point. If you have a big orchestral sound for to long the listener will definitly get fatigue (like me halfway through attending the local symphony heh)

I think I really need a project to work on to try out music changes based on the games events. I have been just creating my own "scenes" if you will to get into the idea of writting for moods and environments until I get a project going.

I already own sonar home studio I am assuming "Microsoft's free DirectMusic Producer" is a sequencer of sometype or something similar but it's tasks would be performable by sonar. Anyway thanks for the feedback

Jim