Designing a Soundtrack

September 3, 2012 at 2:47 AM

I got the inspiration to compose a four (maybe five) song soundtrack for a video game I made a loooong time ago for the computer. It's called Maze Craze; basically the object is to roll an orange ball to a yellow bear, which serves as a gateway to the next screen. There are various ghosts and items that have various effects on the ball. Anyways, I am composing a soundtrack for this game, replacing the old one where I just recycled MIDI files of other songs (note that I was just getting the hang of using Game Maker at the time I made this game; it was way back in 2008 or something.) Hopefully I'll post a link on a future entry (maybe even tomorrow or Tuesday) where you can play the game and hear the soundtrack I'm making with a keyboard orchestra and a violin.

I'd just like to say a few things I've picked up on the way in my journey to writing a soundtrack. A movie soundtrack tells the story. It moves the film along, giving away different plot developments and changing as the film does. But a video game soundtrack is different; the pieces there most likely reflect the world or zone or land or state in which the game is. For example, if your character is in some snow world, you could expect to hear wintery music with snow bells and strings and such. So when I get older (and if you happen to be thinking about composing a soundtrack), we'll have to think about the different elements of what we're doing. We're going to have to create music that's not just happy, or not just wintery. We're going to have to create music that is so much more than that; it reflects the storyline of the movie or game right back at you.

From Kathryn Woodby
Posted on September 3, 2012 at 6:58 PM

Joshua-cool stuff! Haven't gotten a chance to listen yet but intrigued that you're doing this as a high schooler. What a great start as a creative outlet! Not sure you'll find many gamers on this board (though i could be wrong) but my hubby is a big rpg guy and i was amazed at the truly high music quality in many of the games he plays. I think it is a really neat genre and a great place to start with practical composing--good luck!

From Joshua Iyer
Posted on September 5, 2012 at 10:54 AM

Thank you! I am actually making a small movie on Microsoft PowerPoint that, when I'm done with it, I'll compose an even bigger soundtrack for it. That will take a lot of time, but I think it will be good in the long run. Thanks again!

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Designing a Soundtrack

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