A Guide to Making Video Game Music

Since I've been getting into creating video game music, I thought I would make a little guide for anyone interested. Please let me know if you want a full video of me creating a song while explaining what I'm doing!

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Second Channel - @AlsoZectro
Music Channel - @zectrofi

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Please listen to my music!

[JustZectro]

I've realised that how I explained melodies wasn't great, and could've been done much better.

Simpler, less complex melodies are often more memorable because they use familiar rhythms. That's why a lot of catchy melodies are usually quite simple. But my explanation implies that they are better than complex melodies. That's not true. There's no objective "good" or "bad" melody.

Complex melodies can be very creative and exciting, but they might take more time to stick with the listener because they're less familiar.

Simpler melodies tend to be more popular because they're easier to digest and recall. Complex melodies can sound amazing, but may require more focus to stick with the listener. There are no rules that say one is better than the other, and I apologise if I implied otherwise.

[JamesBob]

Making original music is the most fun hobby I've ever had. I've started 8 months ago and already made over 50 songs

[lwxlsh]

personally i clicked on this video because i really fancy the creator

[arfa]

5:00 bro said: „lemme show you an example“ and cooked up a whole new zelda song

[JamangarYT]

As the current owner of the Toby Fox sheet this was an incredibly informative video!! Composing is so much fun and I’m glad to see more guides on making tracks.

[geurworx]

I'm none of those people, I'm just interested in music

[codesymphony]

4:57 i'm crying bro this is beautiful

[the-fantasiacs]

I clicked on the video bc I like to have tutorial videos and tips play in the background while I draw, and then I rewatch them when I want to extra learn, then the information is properly digested, I have so many sub conscious skills bc of this multi tasking style learning system lmao

[justsomeguy]

"hopefully you chose melody A"


My brain cause ive learned music for 10+ years: sings melody B more than A cause it's more interesting LOL


joking aside though, melody A def is the way to go for someone starting out. Simple, memorable, and can be easily sung by anybody hearing it for the first time.

As someone still getting into composing, thank you so much for this video. Very helpful stuff here for getting started.

[matercan]

What's funny is that most of this video is just music theory without the fancy terminology

[mcintoshprod]

I appreciate a youtuber who responds to most of their comments.

[marklakan]

Thank you for this!! Coming from an artist background, it’s so daunting to jump into unknown territory for the first time. This was so concise and easy to understand — and it really helps with narrowing down where to start ❤

[victordayet]

Finally someone how doesn't overcomplicate the subject with difficult words and provides a simple roadmap to get started for anyone who would mant to!

I've been trying to learn how to make music many times and always failed but I have a strong feeling that just following your video WILL make me complete my first song.

Thanks so much, I'll start first thing toworrow❤

[losingindividuality]

never touched sound design and music compositing but this stuff is so interesting to watch

[RotcodFox]

Honestly the only thing different between videogame music and regular music (especially electronic music) is that it usually needs to loop seamlessly from the end of the tracks back to the beginning. The rest isn't exclusive to videogame music, such as using soundfonts and scene context

[Cloudjumper]

Really cool video! One thing that I wanted to point out is how you explained melody using ABAC as an example of how to structure it could be confusing down the line for new composers. From my understanding, using A, B etc is usually used to categorize sections of a song, and not parts of a melody, so an A section is an 8 bar Melody that has your main melody, the B section is a different but complementary 8 bar melody etc!

While your explanation is great for a beginner, it could lead to confusion down the line if they want to learn more from other composers! What you ended up describing is usually called the Period form, Ryan Leach has a fantastic video explaining melodies using the period form! :)

[CubeXplaiN]

The Undertale music made me feel so nostalgic

[saddyowner]

Wow this is an incredibly informative video. I've been wanting to make music for video games for a long time now and I didn't really know where to start. This video has helped me link a lot of things together now, thank you so much. I had no idea about the gamejams but they seem really fun!

[lorri]

8:42 Thank you for this! You just saved me countless of hours trying to make chords (i suck at doing chords) and this will come in handy so much! 🙏

[MeleeFernando]

I’m really trying to get into the creative process of music for video games and can’t wait for the songs to start flowing