Making Game Music: For Complete Beginners

Explore building a musical structure with a framework to guide composition, using patterns and chord progressions so listeners can follow along and avoid chaotic, unsettling sounds.

Explore musical references to structure medieval-style compositions, using genre, instrumentation, tempo, and rhythms. Learn beginner-friendly theory, imitation with attribution, and apply through practice and immersion.

Explore musical form as the structure of a composition, including binary, ternary, rondeau, and cannon forms, with beginner-friendly examples like three blind mice and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Adjust the buffer size in the edit menu settings to prevent crackling during playback on a lower powered computer, noting that higher buffers increase latency for live instruments.

Build rhythm by sequencing percussion with the beats and bassline, experiment with offbeat patterns at about 110 bpm, and arrange, export, and share iterations in the song editor.

Learn to sculpt dynamics with the piano roll editor by adjusting note velocity, creating varied rhythms across multiple dynamic tracks, including accents on the first and third beats.

Expand rhythms by adding instruments and independent patterns, then blend them on the timeline. Experiment with crashes, dynamics, and exporting to create a fuller, more cohesive track.

Construct a rondo-based piece by alternating sections a, b, c, and d with dynamic changes, adding shakers and crashes, and adjust tempo for a cohesive game music foundation.

Discover a common language of musical terminology to speak with confidence as you explore game music basics. Short, snappy lectures help you refresh key concepts and build a shared foundation.

Set up an instrument track with an sf two player and grand piano sound, fullscreen the piano roll, and explore theory with a ready practice setup and a quick challenge.

Learn how tempo, measured in bpm, sets the quarter-note pulse and metronome clicks, including the first beat’s higher pitch, while time signatures and note values affect rhythm without changing bpm.

Explore note length and quantization in a grid-based editor. Snap notes to a time signature grid, adjust lengths from whole to sixteenth, and use keyboard input and cues for quantization.

Learn how meter shapes the underlying pulse and feel of western music, with 4/4 and 3/4 examples, and how 6/8 evokes different dances, while tempo and time signatures convey mood.

Explore notes and pitch by learning the keyboard layout, note naming (including flats and sharps), octaves, and the 12-tone system, along with general midi and sound font considerations.

Discover the C major scale by playing white keys, learn whole steps and semitones, and use the piano roll’s mark current scale feature to transpose to other keys.

Explore intervals—the space between notes from unison to octave, including semitone and tone within the C major scale. Learn how major and minor qualities, perfect fourths and fifths shape chords.

Explore the pentatonic scale, comparing major and relative minor pentatonic forms, focusing on five-note patterns and different intervals, and noting how folk and medieval styles use them.

Explore two-note dyads in the key of C, from basic major and minor triads to inversions and seventh additions. Learn how intervals and progressions shape tone and tension.

Explore arpeggios as broken chords, learn to build ascending and descending patterns, adjust velocity for sweeping effects, and experiment with timing and repetition to shape melodies in 4/4 and 6/8.

Explore how key defines relationships between chords in C major. Learn about tonic, scale degrees, triads, major/minor/diminished chords, and common chord progressions.

Transposition moves notes up or down to change key while preserving musical relationships, enabling easier voicing, singing, or playing with instruments in different keys.

Explore consonance and dissonance in Western music, from resting octave relationships and perfect fifths to tense dissonance and atonal climaxes that resolve back.

Learn how to create drones—continuous notes that form the foundation in folk and medieval music—using fifths, octaves, and long lasting sounds like synth strings.

Explore melody by building a tune with a drone, using the C major pentatonic scale (C, D, E, G, A) and varied rhythms to craft a melody through experimentation.

Explore ostinato, a repeating pattern that underpins music, from nursery rhymes to dramatic scores. Learn to repeat and vary rhythm and notes, build drones, and craft endings that invite repetition.

Learn how to create syncopation in game music by crafting off-beat rhythms, using a major pentatonic melody, ostinato textures, and simple four-beat bars on the grand piano.

Wrap up the section by building a shared lexicon for game music creation and invite students to ask questions on Discord, share work, and connect with peers and the instructor.

Explore the iterative approach to music creation by building blocks, iterating to form more complex pieces, and adding rhythm and melody variation from solid foundations.

Set clear goals and restrictions before you start a game music piece, limit instruments, plan a construction method, and shape a cohesive set to convey a chosen feeling.

Start with a minor drone to establish a baseline, then layer a bass and explore instrument patches and sound fonts to build a textured, evolving piece.

Learn to create harp arpeggios over a drone, name tracks accurately, use mute/solo, adjust pitch and timing with the piano roll, and compare ascending and descending patterns.

Create a simple melody in a minor pentatonic scale, mute cluttered tracks, and use a flute-like sound (ghost whistle) to explore 2–4 bar phrases.

Add percussion to your game music by selecting sound font drums and layering four-bar patterns, then copy, adjust timing, and export your percussion track for feedback.

Copy piano rolls between projects by creating a new track with a piano patch, opening the piano roll, selecting all, and pasting; beats and basslines cannot be copied yet.

Explore layering to build a rich instrument from piano, strings, and other sounds, using the beats and bassline editor to create and balance multi-layered patterns.

Explore how instrument effects differ from global effects using ZynAddSubFX, add echo delay to a plucked arpeggio, and tweak pan, dry/wet, delay time, feedback, and reverb to craft unique sounds.

Learn to use the arpeggio tab to turn chords into arpeggios, control range across octaves, and tune time, gates, and tempo sync for varied patterns.

Explore adding complexity and variation by layering drones with piano and bass, shaping rhythms with toms, and enriching the flute melody with pentatonic passing notes.

Arrange your piece by moving clips to build up a journey from sparse beginnings to fuller sections, then loop back for a menu-like mood.

Build a build-up and one-shot hits by layering drums, percussion, and acoustic bass with beats and bassline editor, using a piano roll and sound fonts to shape rhythm and velocity.

Master automation in game music by creating and editing automation tracks for volume, using draw and erase modes, and applying linear or curved interpolation for smooth build ups.

Export your game music as an ogg file compatible with Godot, enable loop and high quality settings, share it for feedback, and describe your goals.

Explore modular music with hands-off autonomy, crafting chord sequences that unify ambient, exploration, and battle scenes into always compatible stems for a dynamic endgame soundtrack.

Decide the common links between music bits to keep modular parts working across dungeon, battle, ambient, and happy or sad scenes, using fitting key signatures and a cohesive chord progression.

Create a simple, modular chord progression using piano, strings, and orchestral percussion, arranging a four-bar loop in 4/4 at 120 bpm, experimenting with minor to f major to g major.

Explore scene 1 with a subdued background score built on a shared chord progression, using piano, strings, inversions, and 16-bar loops to prepare for a fight scene.

Forge a battle-focused score by crafting sharp percussion, brass swells, and punchy xylophone riffs, while layering instruments and adjusting tempo for tension.

Create an atmospheric ambient scene by blending ambient sounds, such as Zen at Sub FX effects, with piano and strings. Use heartbeat percussion and chords to shape mood.

Learn to use fx channels to shape sounds with delay and reverb and build richer soundscapes.

Export stems by duplicating tracks for equal length, set loop zones, and export tracks between loop markers into a folder at 320 kbps for assembly outside L.A. Mass.

Finish the course and export your music to your game engine or playback platform. Seek and give feedback on the forum to develop songs quickly and grow as a composer.

Learn to create the explorer scene from start to finish, following the full production process with minimal editing in a roughly 25-minute session.

Explore a bonus, lightly edited walkthrough of creating a battle scene for game music, revealing how to put together the scene step by step.

Explore the full creation process of an ambient game scene. The video presents a lightly edited version with no narration, referencing earlier explorer and battle scenes.