Hello,
Decided to start a topic, as you know, a game, unless it is an Atari/Arcade game, isnt very good without music of SOME kind,
Obviously not everyone will compose his or her own music, but when is the best point in which someone should hire a composer or start composing oneself?
Is there a best or worst time?
And also what are the pros and cons of hiring versus self-composition?
(This is an open-ended discussion, thank you for viewing)
I have bought a lot of music through Humble Bundle. I listen to it, categorize it and rate it. Sometimes songs give me ideas for games. I listen to this music when I’m making games too.
If you want bespoke music for your game, I recommend a design document, a plot, and an understanding of how scoring works before you start making or hiring someone to make music for your game. For example, understanding recurring themes in music - like having a main theme, character themes, etc. can help. There’s a great book about this called Final Fantasy VI by Boss Fight Books. It is a really fascinating book about what went into the music of the Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior series from the start - which is perfect for the kind of game you’re making. I think you would just enjoy reading it.
I did the same, buying some music on Humble Bundle.
I integrated music as soon as I had all my gameplay basics and sounds.
It really helps to give your game its mood.
Well…I’m not a Godot users (came here for assistance with something else) so I wouldn’t know the best workflow, but figured as a musician with 15 years experience and some hobby game development, I can share my recommendation. Don’t take it as the end-all-be-all.
If you are the sole composer who is also the sole developer then you likely have at least some sort of outline (either in a doc or in your noodle), in which case you also likely know at least some of the music you’ll need made from nearly the start of the game.
In such a case, I say begin right away. At least for me, I typically need breaks between writing songs. It’s pretty exhausting for me to write song after song after song back to back. If you are like me, then i wouldn’t want to stack up a list of tracks that need to be written for you to knock out at the very end. Sounds exhausting!
I liked taking breaks from game dev to do music and taking breaks from music to do game dev.
So I guess that’s the long and short of it:
Start right away if you can.
I totally agree with theam-dol, in that if you’re making the music yourself, you can start as early as you like. Personally I’m quite visually oriented in music, so if I have a visual idea of what I’m making, like a scene or character, the music comes easily. I find it can even work the other way, with ideas for a character springing from the music, back and forth.
I’ve worked with external composers professionally, mostly very dependable and skilled people. I obviously can’t guarantee the same for everyone, and you do have to let go of some creative control, or face endless (and costly) revisions. It is still a lot of money though, and if I wasn’t a musician, I would probably go the route of buying the music… that way you (should) get to check the result before you agree to pay, and it’s comparatively cheap.
These are all good points, thank you all for your input.
This is more of a general discussion, to see different opinions, as actually i was planning to do what everyone has been saying the whole time; with input to evaluate best possible outcomes.
Any more opinions are appreciated, and again, thank you everyone who has given input 