Game Over

Not to steal attention from melodicSmiley's theme, I have one of my own.

A piece written for a "game over" or similarly sad situation in a video game. Very few instruments used. I created this a while ago and just came back to revise it a bit with added strings.

I don't have a DAW and create all my work in Anvil Studio. I then converted it to mp3 with a different instrument set.

Game Over

Beautiful theme here, I love the lush backing.

The piano could have a bit more accompaniment here, and that section at :50 has some odd rhythms, but it's still great stuff.

Do you use a MIDI keyboard for the arrangement?

I'm glad you like it. More accompaniment, you say? I'm glad I added those backing parts or else it would have been really bare, haha.

I wish I had at least a MIDI keyboard setup, but I don't. Anvil Studio has a little piano that is clicked to get whatever notes you need... almost like a piano roll. So I just click, click, click.

Same with Delusional, I really like this. It's a great little piece, with the synths/waves/something electronic :P really helping bringing it to life. There's nothing much wrong ATM in orchestration.

However, in order to get a good mockup, you really still need a DAW. You don't need EWQL Composers Collection + VSL + Logic - I only use freebies.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/lmms/ is your friend for a DAW, free and ALMOST on par with commercial quality stuff.

Happy composing :phones:

Haha, I think you're talking about the MIDI Goblin Pad. Thanks for the comment and link for the DAW! I'll try it out.

Add a little more emotion in the piano track with some velocity variations and you got yourself a good theme.

As I made it in a simple MIDI creator, I couldn't change the velocity of each individual note D:. Once I figure out how to work a DAW, I could see that as possible.

EDIT: could => couldn't

Nice and simple chord progression.

Nice slow, sombre tone. It can easily loop if it needs to. Can you turn up the synth that comes in at 0:12? I think it's the most interesting than the piano. The piano becomes more important at 0:37 but until then, the bell-like synth should be a tad bit louder.

Here's an idea to mull over: put yourself in the shoes of the gamer playing the game that you've scored. You've just died and now you've hit the game over screen. The menu options "Retry" and "Quit" are highlighted for you. Chances are, you're going to choose on of those options in the first couple of seconds you see them. Here's my suggestion: if all people are going to hear his the first 5-10 seconds of your piece. You should focus on making that beginning really really good. Don't throw away the rest of of your piece. Just ask yourself if those first few seconds are going to function properly for a game over sequence.

I checked out Anvil Studio and it looked pretty good for freeware. Like guitarplaya suggested, find out how to change the velocities. Your piano line could definitely use some phrasing especially when you have repeated notes at 0:37. Without a little phrasing on those repeated notes, it sounds like the piano is stuttering.

Nice work, darushibu. Posting a link to melodicsmiley's version was a very gentlemanly thing to do.

Peace on Earth,

-John

I can tell you I thought the same thing about the volume of the synth at :12... I just didn't have a way to do it until now. I'm trying to figure out how to work LMMS that CheeseLord linked to.

Now that you mention it, it should have been pretty obvious to make the beginning of the piece really good! It's just now that I realized that's how all video games do their game over music. I'll work on that. Your advice is much appreciated.

It seems the most important thing I have to learn right now is how to use note velocities! I'm on it.

It seems the most important thing I have to learn right now is how to use note velocities! I'm on it.

It's incredibly important!

Glad you appreciated the advice.

-John

I literally have nothing new to add to what John and the others told you — he hit my main concern which was regarding the fact that NO one is going to sit and listen to this whole thing when they die — they're pissed that they got killed and they want to get back in the action. Listen to most game over themes, they tend to last well under 20 seconds for that very reason. Either re-work the impact point and climax location or just re-purpose this piece for a different situation in the game.

I won't comment on production because you're obviously still new to it. Reaper is a more robust alternative if you're not liking LMMS, FYI.

I was thinking I create a more memorable beginning and have the rest of the song just for those cool people that'll listen to the whole thing, haha.

I tried LMMS and it's really unstable... at least on Vista. =(

Thanks for the Reaper link, but my friend was able to let me have a copy of FL Studio. I hear people say that it could be better, but is good enough for newbies like me.

On that topic, I can't figure out how to stop the popping coming from when I play my MIDI in FL Studio. I'm pretty sure that's because it's making the peak meter go past the red the whole time, but I don't know how to fix that. Does anyone know what's going on?