Why We Started a Video Game Royalty-Free Music Library
First of all, we LOVE games! We have been playing games since young and enjoyed and loved many game soundtracks! Some of our favorite game titles include Legend of Mana, Final Fantasy Series, Spyro, Threads of Fate, Jade Cocoon, Street Fighter II, Metal Slug 3, Pokemon Series, MMORPGs and many more! We now play more mobile games instead of console or PC games as they are so easily accessible.
We love the challenge of needing to compose music of different genres for different games. There are so many varieties of game genres such as fantasy, sci-fi, casual puzzle and runner games just to name a few. The mission and duty to compose music for all the different games excite us greatly!
Differences Between Music for Mobile Games and Online Videos
1. Space Constraint – Games VS Online Videos
We realized that many mobile game developers are always finding ways to minimize the game’s build file size as nobody likes waiting a long time just to download a game. In games, sound effects are bounced individually and triggered randomly. Music also plays separately, usually on loop in the background. Sound mixes are done within the game engine or with game audio middleware. Therefore, the more music and sound effects you have in the game, the more space you would need.
For media such as film or any online video, music and sound effects are usually mixed within the Digital Audio Workstation itself and bounced as a single audio track. The number of music and sound effects does not affect the video much as long as the audio file length is the same. The file size restriction depends on the platform where the video is uploaded.
2. Music Buildup
How music is used in videos and games are different! We once worked with a Japanese Royalty-Free library, and they emphasized how music should slowly build up without changing the melody or arrangement drastically. It is best to remain consistent, and the music piece should end well. Music should also be at least about 2 minutes and 30 seconds which is long for some mobile games. (Some mobile game’s gameplay duration is less than a minute.) The music will take up valuable space unless edited to a shorter version which is not an easy task without the right editing tools!
For mobile games, it is an entirely different story. Music should loop seamlessly yet provide the listener the feeling of excitement. Many of Line’s games especially Line Bubble 2 did a great job of making the short music loop! Their music is usually less than a minute long, and it feels like it is moving on to a new section instead of going back in a loop. The mobile game ‘Monster Strike’ and ‘Inside Out Thought Bubbles’ has very wonderful and beautiful short music that loops amazingly! The music creates a sense of adventure when it loops and helps to create excitement without tiring out the listener’s ears.
Not all Music Accepted on Royalty-Free Music Websites
Many royalty-free music libraries out there cater to commercial and advertisements. While there are still tons of music that are used for both games and business videos, we want to create a music library that caters uniquely to games! We often have our music rejected on certain music websites. For example, some royalty-free music libraries out there have stopped accepting music with music genre as 8 Bit even though it is still relevant to games!
We believe that games need music that is light and sparse because the music will be looped many times over in the game. If the music is too busy, it might tire the listener’s ear quickly. Animal crossing’s music is one great example of very light music arrangement!
Same Sound Palette – To Have Consistent Music Theme on A Budget
Another reason is that most royalty-free music websites do not provide music stingers and jingles. We feel that they are needful for games’ notifications and transitions. For example: after completing a ‘Stage Level’, a ‘Win Stinger’ is usually triggered and it then moves on to the ‘Win Screen/Score Calculating Page’ where the ‘Win Jingle’ plays. The game might even trigger another ‘Special Bonus Item’ or ‘New High score.’ After that, it would transit back to the ‘Level Select Page’. Wow! This short game transition could use up to four music stingers and jingles! Music stingers make the game feel more exciting as well as give rewarding feedback to the players!
Usually, when we compose music for a game, we tend to reuse the same or similar instruments for the music stingers. By doing this, it ensures that the sound palette of the game sounds consistent and the game transits nicely. Imagine having a beautiful fantasy orchestral music for your in-game theme, but not being able to find suitable music stingers for the short transitions in game. And you make do with a chiptune stinger, that might break the player’s immersion in the game. [ Unless the game’s aesthetic meant for it to be that way]
The price of a music stinger is the same as a sound effect. They may cost $20-$50 per music stinger depending on the music composer you engage.
Thus, and Therefore,
To cater to the mobile game’s build size file, we decided to compose our music in short loops usually not longer than 1 minute 30 seconds. The gameplay and duration of a mobile game tend to be shorter in comparison to console games. However, it also depends on the genre of the game. We are always looking for ways to better compose and loop our music seamlessly!
We always playback our music alongside gameplay footages and loop the music for at least five times. If an instrument or melody starts to stick out too much, changes will be made to make sure the music stays fresh and lively without tiring out the listener’s ears. Many of our music tracks come with variations so that game developers can play around with music variations such as ‘Lite Version’, ‘Without Percussion’ or even ‘Piano Version’. Variations bring diversity to the game if needed.
We aim to provide music for games with unique themes as well as provide needful generic music targeted more for games. Our music packs Twilight Dream and Cute Social Game‘s music are more prevalent in games than online commercial videos. Such music genres are not as easy to find on the current music royalty-free websites. We are working towards providing even more packs that cater to different game themes!
Knowing that it is not easy to find similar music tracks to suit a game, we decided to create packs according to game themes. Music pack may help save the game developer’s time in needing to browse through a vast collection of music. Each music pack has its musical palette – music stingers, jingles and even sound effects such as ‘Win/Lose Stingers’, ‘Mission Complete’, ‘Item Unlock’.
Sound effects added also designed to the packs’ game theme. So Game developers, we recommend you to browse audio assets by packs! We hope you find what’s most suitable for your game here!
Lastly...
Did you know that in recent years, many music libraries’ licensing terms are getting more and more negative for music composers. Some royalty free music libraries takes a huge percentage of the sale or is sold in bulk cheaply and the music composer earns close to nothing. So here at WOW Sound, we also want to safe guard the interests of our composers by making sure they are well compensated for the use of their works.
If you have any music genres you would like to see in our store, feel free email us at [email protected]
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