A well-crafted musical score has the power to completely transform the player’s gaming experience, adding depth, mood, and emotional impact to the game’s world.

A well-crafted musical score has the power to completely transform the player’s gaming experience, adding depth, mood, and emotional impact to the game’s world.

Unfortunately, commissioning music for a game can prove to be a challenging task for many game developers, especially when it comes to effectively communicating their vision and expectations to the composer.

In this article, we will delve into the process of commissioning music for your game, and at the end, I’ll share the exact template I use to ensure a seamless and successful collaboration with my composers.

1. Create a List of Descriptions

A common pitfall when commissioning music is being too vague in your descriptions.

For example, simply saying “create a soundtrack for a sad scene” doesn’t provide enough detail. There are countless variations of sadness, and a description like this could mean anything from “grief over the loss of a loved one” to “despair and loneliness.”

To effectively communicate the emotions you want to convey, it’s crucial to create a list of detailed descriptions to provide to the composer.

• sad
• bittersweet
• grief
• loss
• melancholic
• holding back tears
• bottling emotions
• moving forward
• appreciative

This type of detailed description will give the composer a clearer understanding of your expectations and help them create a soundtrack that truly captures the emotions you want to convey.

You can include as many descriptions as you feel are necessary. I personally provide 10-20, but feel free to include as many as you need

2. Create “Negative Descriptions” (Optional, but Helpful)

Negative descriptions are things you don’t want in the soundtrack. Maybe you want a sad scene like the above, but you don’t want it to be hollow.

You can do that by adding negative descriptions:

• emptiness
• hollow
• meaningless

If I want the song to be sad, but not hollow, in my mind it’s obvious, but the composer might not know this.

To be sure – I include these negative descriptions. You don’t need to include really obvious negative descriptions like “happy.”

The negative description list is generally much smaller than the description list.

3. Find Reference Artwork (Use AI to Generate)

Visuals can greatly assist a composer in understanding the mood and atmosphere you’re trying to convey. Find 1-3 images that embody the emotions of the scene you’re working on. Usually one image is enough.

With recent advancements in AI technology, you can generate stunning artwork that perfectly captures the mood.

It does require some prompt writing skills, but this is a skill all game developers should know. I recommend learning this.

To get started, you can try setting up Stable Diffusion on your computer, or utilize AI art generators out there. These tend to offer free credits as well.

One of the most exciting developments in the world of digital art is the use of AI to generate reference artwork. AI-powered tools can analyze vast amounts of existing artwork, identify common elements and styles, and generate new images that draw on these influences. This can be a valuable tool for artists and designers looking for inspiration or trying to develop a particular style. AI-generated artwork can also be used as a reference for specific techniques or effects, providing a visual guide for artists to follow. While some may argue that AI-generated artwork lacks the creativity and uniqueness of human-created art, others see it as a powerful tool that can inspire new forms of artistic expression. As AI technology continues to advance, we can expect to see even more exciting developments in the world of reference artwork and digital art as a whole.