Writing Game Music : Part 1
by John Licato

Contents   Introduction   Notes and Rests   The Staff   Printable version   Discuss this article The Series   Part 1   Part 2   Part 3   Part 4

The music for a game is very important. It sets the mood for the game, and does so much more. Without the music, it will be a lot harder to get the game player to get into the game. In almost every game development team I've been in, the musician was the one hired last, which really should not happen. As I see it, a good game has three basic parts: the programming, the sound, and the art. The sound is split up into two parts, the sound effects, and the music. Usually, for a small project, the sound effects creator and the music creator are the same person. But when you're hiring for a project, you must make sure your game has people that can provide those basic elements. In this article, I'm going to talk about how to create the music.

In an article of this size, I cannot explain absolutely everything about music. This article will be a lot easier for you if you already know how to read music. But in case you don't know anything about writing music, then I'll try to get you started. I'll explain how to read basic music, something most other music articles don't do. Soon I'll write part II of this article, which should explain how to come up with music ideas. (Ain't I just a great guy?)

Notes and Rests