Composing For Video Games | All You Need To Know

Hopefully I will become a fountain of knowledge 48 minutes from now

One of the best implementations of music in a video game is Banjo Kazooie on N64 - in the overworld there's a main theme but as you go to each different area the instrumentation crossfades. You can sit halfway between areas and hear both versions and whatnot. Changes the feel of the game seamlessly.

Video game music is one of the main reasons why I make music today. My teenage brain was literally wired and shaped in the 90's by Nobuo Uematsu's music (Final Fantasy series). Even in the late 80's, on the 8-bit Nintendo, I already had a thing for video game music and it played a big part in my immersion in a game. Search for Final Fantasy soundtracks (FF7's Sephiroth's theme for example) and get blown away. Also, Castlevania Symphony Of The Night soundtrack. One of the best ever.

The soundtrack of super Mario galaxy is what has turned me towards this stuff. Hope to one day write for film and or games

Wow! You've been reading my mind! This is amazingly helpful, and exactly the reason I'm studying composition/orchestration so I can learn more about it and (attempt to) get into this field.

Glorious interview Rick! Thank you so much for doing it. Brian Schmidt provided in depth and thoughtful answers to each question. There is so much to learn from him. I became interested in video games after doing a few scores for some small games. It opened up a whole world of music for me that I'm still exploring. I came into games from a film scoring point of view. It was an eye-opening challenge and extremely exciting. It's not my main job, but I'll always take on a game score if I have time. I'm jealous of those who do it full time!

I still remember the exact moment when it occurred to me that the soundtrack of a game had been steering my emotions through the experience. I was in nearing the end of Silent Hill 2 and it was a really jaw dropping moment, and also one of the primary reasons I enrolled in my local colleges music recording technology program. Akira Yamaoka is a genius.

Horizontal and Vertical re-sequencing were things that I knew the concept but didn't know the name... You made it so much easier to research now! Thanks so much for this!

These concepts just set my brain in a frenzy over the creative potential, imagining linear motives for different characters and villains and convertible counterpoint possibly combining them in permutation fugues during battles, with subsequent events in game leading to different episodes and so on. Ground bass forms such as passacaglia and chaconne are perfect for changing textures over time to increase or reduce tension also.

This is absolutely fascinating!  I first got into computer based music because when I was younger all I wanted to do was write music for computer games. I loved seeing those old arcade boards with the synthesiser chips - they evoke so much nostalgia from my youth. I'm still in awe of some of the music programming that was done back in the day, that had to be written to such precision in order to fit within tight memory restraints and take up minimal CPU cycles. It's great to hear from someone who's been there from the beginning and can share how each new technological advancement has shaped the approach over time.

I certainly noticed the smooth change of background music even back when I was a kid playing Monkey Island 2. But now knowing the effort that went into it, I am simply amazed.

Awesome interview. I never realized the complexity of how video game music interacts with the action.

Michael McCann is one of my absolute favorites. Just thinking about music in DX:HR gives me chills. It's so huge, and oh so beautiful.

Rick, you are a great person for making these incredible videos. Please never stop.

This is actually extremely useful for my current research paper

Thanks for getting a game composer on your show! Really nice!

This was super interesting to me; thank you so much for another great interview, Rick! You rock

Great video! Thank you so much

Really excellent interview! Fascinating to hear about the development of the VGM world :-)

I recently saw the Legend of Zelda road tour with the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap. Amazing. If you haven't seen it, you should go if they're still touring. Video screen with gameplay and full live orchestra soundtrack. Gobsmacked.