You sit down. You open your DAW. You think you're about to write the next Skyrim theme or a catchy Super Mario loop, but then the screen stares back at you. Making music for games isn't just about writing a "good song." Honestly, a lot of great songwriters fail at game audio because they treat it like a static album. It’s not. It’s a living, breathing thing that has to react when a player decides to hide in a barrel or accidentally jump off a cliff. Learning how to make music for video games requires you to stop thinking like a performer and start thinking like a systems designer.
It's a weird hybrid of art and software engineering. You're not just composing; you're building a soundtrack that can stretch, shrink, and pivot on a dime.
The Nonlinear Trap: Why Traditional Songwriting Fails
Most beginners make the mistake of writing a four-minute track with a clear beginning, middle, and end. That’s great for Spotify. It’s terrible for a dungeon crawler where a player might spend forty minutes stuck on a single puzzle. If your track has a massive, soaring climax at the three-minute mark, but the player is just staring at a wall trying to find a key, that emotional payoff is wasted. Worse, it’s annoying.
This is where the concept of "looping" comes in, but not the boring kind. You need to create seamless transitions. If a listener can hear the "seam" where the file restarts, you’ve broken the immersion. Professional game composers like Mick Gordon (Doom) or Winifred Phillips (Assassin's Creed) often use layering. Instead of one track, you write five. One is just the bass. One is a light synth. One is a heavy drum beat.
Horizontal Re-sequencing vs. Vertical Remixing
These are the two big pillars of game audio.
Vertical remixing is when all your layers play at the same time, but the game engine changes the volume based on what's happening. Imagine you're walking through a forest. It’s just a flute and some light strings. Suddenly, an enemy spots you. The game doesn't switch songs—it just slides the volume up on a pre-recorded percussion layer and a distorted synth. It feels organic. It’s seamless.
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Horizontal re-sequencing is more like a "choose your own adventure" for ears. You compose "segments" (Segment A, Segment B, Segment C). If the player stays in the room, the engine loops Segment A. If they open the door, it finishes the current bar of Segment A and transitions perfectly into Segment B. This requires a deep understanding of music theory, specifically how to ensure your transitions work regardless of when the player triggers the change.
The Technical Reality of Middlewares
You can’t just hand a folder of MP3s to a developer and walk away. Well, you can, but the game will sound like a cheap 2004 flash game. To really understand how to make music for video games, you have to learn about middleware. The big two are Wwise and FMOD.
Think of middleware as the bridge between your music and the game’s code (like Unity or Unreal Engine).
Basically, the programmer writes code that says "PlayerHealth < 20%." The middleware sees that and tells the audio engine to apply a low-pass filter to the music, making it sound muffled and heartbeat-heavy. If you don't know how to set these parameters up, you’re leaving your music's fate in the hands of a programmer who might not have an ear for EQ. FMOD is generally considered more "musician-friendly" because its interface looks a lot like a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) like Ableton or Logic. Wwise is more complex but incredibly powerful for massive AAA titles.
Gear and Software: What You Actually Need
Don't get sucked into the trap of thinking you need a $5,000 orchestral library to start. You don't. While the God of War soundtrack used a massive live orchestra, plenty of indie hits like Undertale were made with cheap, bit-crushed soundfonts and free plugins.
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- A DAW (Digital Audio Workstation): Reaper is a favorite in the game industry because it’s highly customizable and cheap. Ableton Live is great for electronic and loop-based stuff. FL Studio is popular for its fast sequencing.
- Virtual Instruments (VSTs): If you want that cinematic sound, look at companies like Spitfire Audio or Native Instruments. They have "lite" versions that are often free or very affordable.
- A MIDI Controller: Even a tiny 25-key keyboard helps. Clicking notes into a piano roll with a mouse is a soul-crushing way to write a melody.
- Decent Headphones: You need a "flat" response. You aren't listening for pleasure; you’re listening for mistakes. Sony MDR-7506s are the industry standard for a reason—they’re ugly, they’ve looked the same since the 80s, and they show you exactly where your mix is messy.
The "Mickey Mousing" Effect and Sound Palettes
In the early days of cartoons, music mirrored every single action on screen—if a character climbed stairs, the notes went up. We call this "Mickey Mousing." In modern games, we usually avoid this because it’s exhausting. Instead, you need to establish a "Sonic Palette."
Before you write a single note, decide what the game "tastes" like. Is it rusty and metallic? Use found-sound recordings of clanging pipes. Is it ethereal and cold? Use high-frequency glass sounds and long reverbs.
A great example is the soundtrack for Hollow Knight by Christopher Larkin. He uses the piano as a tether. No matter how weird or orchestral the tracks get, that lonely, slightly melancholic piano keeps the player grounded in the world’s atmosphere. It’s about consistency. If your level 1 music is 8-bit chiptune and level 2 is a 100-piece choir, the player is going to feel like they’re playing two different games.
Breaking Into the Industry (The "No-Job" Loop)
Getting paid to make music for games is notoriously difficult. Everyone wants to do it. You’ll see "Looking for Composer" posts on Reddit or Twitter, and within an hour, there are 200 replies.
Don't just hang out on social media. Go to Game Jams.
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Websites like Itch.io host "Game Jams" where developers try to make a full game in 48 hours. They are desperate for audio. It’s the best way to practice the technical side of implementation without the pressure of a multi-million dollar budget. Plus, those students and hobbyists you work with today are the people who will be hiring for "real" studios in five years.
Also, learn a little bit of C# or C++. You don't need to be a lead dev, but if you can tell a developer "Hey, I already set up the event hooks in FMOD, you just need to call this parameter," they will love you forever. You become a "Technical Sound Designer," which is a much rarer and more hireable skill than "Guy who writes tunes."
Important Legal Stuff Nobody Mentions
When you're figuring out how to make music for video games, you’ll eventually run into the "Work for Hire" clause.
In the film world, composers often keep their performing rights (the royalties you get when a song is played on TV or radio). In games, specifically AAA games, the studio usually owns everything. You get a flat fee, and you might never see a cent of royalties again. Indies are different; you can often negotiate to keep the rights to sell your soundtrack on Bandcamp or Steam. Always, always have a contract. Even if it’s a tiny project with a friend. Define who owns the files and what happens if the game makes a million dollars.
Practical Steps to Get Started Right Now
If you are serious about this, stop reading and start doing these specific things:
- Re-score a Gameplay Clip: Find a 60-second clip of a game you like on YouTube. Mute it. Compose a track that fits perfectly. Then, do it again, but change the "mood" completely—make a horror game sound like a comedy. This builds your "range."
- Download FMOD Studio: It’s free for personal use and small-budget projects. Watch a "Getting Started" tutorial and learn how to make a basic loop that changes intensity based on a variable.
- Study "The Architecture of Sound": Don't just listen to game music; analyze it. Play a game like Red Dead Redemption 2 and pay attention to how the music fades in when you're riding your horse versus when you're in a gunfight. Notice the silence. Sometimes, silence is the most powerful tool you have.
- Build a "Vertical Slice" Portfolio: Don't send people links to 10-minute songs. Send them a video of a game (even a fake one) showing how your music reacts to gameplay. Show, don't just tell.
- Join the Community: Spend time in the G.A.N.G. (Game Audio Network Guild) or local IGDA chapters. This industry is built on who you know and who trusts you to hit a deadline.
Making music for games is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s frustrating, technical, and requires you to throw away some of your best musical ideas because they don't "fit the player's experience." But when you finally see a player get a goosebump because your music swelled at just the right moment? There’s nothing else like it.