itch.io

Hey man,  I have composed for a casual game before for a client, you can search for it on Steam as "Goosey Guess", it's a guessing simulator. Our answer to the problem of keeping the player engaged through music was to compose long tracks with lots of variations and repetitions as well, it seemed to work, there were twitch streamers saying it was good and relaxing.

So, I think that's about experimentation, my example of the boss theme there is indeed an oddballs case, probably likeminded Dark Fantasy RPG or  JRPG devs might be using it, but it's definitely not a standard approach.

But it's like what you said, it's difficult to find loops out there from different composers that will combine nicely (specially if you're looking through free assets it seems), hence my suggestion for composers to experiment creating different types of music packs!

Working composer here. That was a fantastic idea to create this topic!

From my experience past experience working with devs they seem to prefer / need both short and long loops since they're more flexible. It seems that more complex songs (that will tell a more specific emotional journey) are usually where our custom services will better solve the problem for the devs.

However, let me tell you a different experience regarding non-loopable tracks.  

I've just composed a boss theme on my YouTube channel which is not really a loop (I think it's a "hybrid loop") and it's very chaotic, with no leitmotif and a lot of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic variation throughout the song, and... it's being one of my most visualized and liked song so far - which disproves a lot of traditional ideas as to how a boss theme song "should be", since some devs seem to be looking exactly for that.

So, I think that it's important for us composers to ask our fellow devs what they want but we should also offer our own new musical discoveries to them because that would exercise and develop our creative powers in our field and also offer new / novel musical perspectives that could potentially make the devs's games stand out even more, giving them an extra edge in the fierce competition of game production.

Video game music has evolved and became a lot complex on the technological front with dynamic, non-linear music being implemented through middleware, but music is still evolving in itself in the old fashioned way - through different ways of creating the same ol' loops. 

That's being done through new sound design thought processes, intellectual interpretations of melody, harmony, rhythm, space/time interpretation and understanding in the context of sound, and also through the interchange of instrumental technique studies (expression, articulation, dynamics, etc), and their effects on music composition. 

We as a composers can work on both fronts and offer music products and services for devs that don't want to meddle with too much technological complexities regarding music (samey ol' loops), but with something different in said loops, and also the opposite offering them products with music stems and complex separated instrumental layering (although they seem to be a minority in my experience).

So, my question for the devs would be:

What would be the function of the required loops? In simpler words, what do you need the loops for? 

Knowing what they need we could offer potential new solutions. For instance, instead of stacking 3 different loops so that a prolonged level is not boring and irritating, why not offer a music pack with "hybrid loops" of longer durations, functioning both as more nuanced emotional storytelling but also behaving in a way that's seamless? Maybe that will sound like a crappy and useless idea, but maybe some devs will find that intriguing and potentially useful. 

My 2 cents.  

Hey! Amazing art! I really liked it. The theme & story is curious to say the least. Since it has a bit of poetry it might appeal to a more niched audience but it was well crafted in my opinion. Regarding the music, speaking as a working VGM composer, the tone of the instruments were a good choice but some of them lacked a bit of musical cohesion and they weren't looping alright, but I TOTALLY understand that it's very hard to do it all yourself. Some of the choices didn't lead to different outcomes, but I also understand that since it was your first experiment, it was good enough! Good job overall! By the way I suggest you create a twitter to share your work!

Hi! I'm very happy for the recent supporters of my effort to provide free high quality music for your dear developers, it's being a challenge to pump up both the free and the paid music but let's keep up the good fight, here's a romantic acoustic guitar for you.

If you like it, thumbs up the video, subscribe to the channel and share it far and wide with your friends if you think they may benefit from my other work! Also, don't forget to attribute me credits if you end up using it in your video game projects.

Hey!

Here comes another boss theme track, I have much to improve yet but I think I'm more and more figuring out my own original style of dark fantasy music which is nice! If you like the song subscribe to the channel and like the video as it helps me grow, also, don't forget to attribute me if you use it in your games. See you.

Yo!

I bet AI can't compose like this...! [at least not yet :(]. Here's another boss theme, it took me a SHITLOAD of work to do it, so really enjoy that it's free! Like the video, subscribe to the channel and give me credits if you use it in your rpg game projects! Also, there's much more if you decide to become my Patreon, it's all in the video's description link, check it out!

Hi!
Originally I was gonna leave this boss theme to a paid music pack because of it being a very high quality composition, but then I thought "meh, what the heck, let's give more value", and there it is, permanently free for you. If you like it, thumbs up on the video, subscribe to the channel and attribute me credits if you use it in your game projects. See you again.

Hey!
Here's 246 free magic spells SFX in case you're needing in your fantasy RPG rpg maker games! Like the video and subscribe to the channel for more if you like my free assets!

Hi!
Here's the another free dungeon music for your rpg maker games! If you enjoy it please like the video, subscribe to the channel and give me credits if you use it! See you!

Hi!
Here's another free dark soundscape for you to use in your rpg maker games! I'm focusing to make simple arrangements with emphasis on texture and tone so that it's not intrusive and blends well with the background of your game levels.

Like the video if you do, subscribe to the channel and give me credits if you use it!

See you!

Hello again friends! Let's have some FREE dark atmospheric music for your dungeons, shall we? Download link is in the video's description link! Thumbs up if you like it, subscribe to the channel and comment! Also, give me credits if you use it in your RPG game projects!

Hello friends, here's another free tavern music for your rpg video games. The download link is in the video's description. Please attribute me if you use it in your projects, thanks and until the next song.

Here's another free RPG tavern theme for your rpg maker video games! Enjoy!

Just don't forget to give me credits when you use it!

Download link is in the video's description.

Hi!

I'm here to release my newest 8 bit music pack for 2D platformer games!

It's 12 high quality soundtracks featuring 1 menu title theme, 8 level themes & 3 boss themes.

All for the fair price of 12,99$!

Check it out here:
https://fictium-sound-design.itch.io/2d-platformer-music-8-bit 

I think you're gonna love this little medieval folk tavern song:

More war, more orchestral battle loop, let's have some variety on that!

Another happy town music... We're almost having a free RPG music pack here...!

A mysterious forest song...

Spartans... Shieeeld!

An orchestral battle loop with lots of brasss:

A cheerful town music:

This one is about boredom and apathy:

Do you like sad piano songs? 

Hi!
I'm Kevin, composer from Fictium Sound Design. My previous post of free music became messy since I deleted a bunch of stuff and it bugged the pages so I'm reposting it all anew with a cleaner view for you guys. If you like my music, give me credits (plis...!!!), also like the videos and subscribe to the channel as it helps me a lot! Enjoy!

So, this one is about melancholy and strong emotions:

Latest work:

Hi! Kevin here. Are you working on a RPG or horror game and need music? We can negotiate a budget that'll work out for you. Call me here:

Site: fictiumsounddesign.com
Email: fictiumsounddesign@gmail.com
YouTube: @fictiumsoundesign

Hi, I also participated in this game jam and I just played your game. I found it to be interesting overall. The story is creepy and I wonder what mom does all the times she catches Thomas lol. The standard volume levels could be a bit lower if it's possible to program it like that. The VHS filter (?) was a nice differential to it. The piano and scary songs are great too. Good job.

Now it's starting to look good, a pillaging game! 

Keep working and posting!

By the way, if you you're planning any commercial games to sell in the future and you need sound design support I can totally compose a free 2 min music for you or else I offer all the music packs I've created so far in my Patreon!

Or if it may be of any help I'm always releasing forever free music to download in my YouTube channel, in case you feel it to be of any value you can subscribe to my channel and follow up the future releases. 

Here's my YouTube channel and all the links in it:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRlJF-O9c-oJmWAalBhhOFw

Best Regards!

"RPG set on a deteriorating space station".

Oh,  interesting. I believe Sonuscore's Elysion 1 and 2 are the perfect VST to compose music for this genre!

Dungeon Crawler seems awesome too. Ever heard of "Fear and Hunger"?

Hey man, your game is quite challenging! I keep dying in some parts so it'll take some more time to get ahead of it lol. By the way, let me know if I can help with game testing or audio / SFX feedback when you get the next going!

Happy New Year!

That's awesome mate!
Which genre would it be? regarding the next game that you intend to develop?
Yeah, totally do that, in English it's way more accessible, it'll surely increase your audience. 

Hey man

I've just played your game here for a bit. It looks solid to me! The music and SFX looks sharp tho' I'd work a bit on EQing some of the horror ambiences (horror composer here!). The thing you did of having the scene morph was a neat trick, it really adds a sense of otherworldly stuff happening.

Also the monster's movement patterns were well developed their erratic movement patterns really puts tension in the player! The fog you added was very nice too. 

I'm not really sure what else could be improved, it looks like a solid retro RPG maker to me. So yeah, good job!

Are you planning on developing new games?