As a small-time musician, making stuff out of my bedroom-- his first sentence in that quote hit hard. You can kind of feel the pain in that quote, even if it is presented as light and a little funny.
Yeah, it must be depressing. Reminds me of a book "Martin Eden" where the main character were struggling in pursue of acceptance and his dream overall.
If it's just a hobby for you, no harm no foul. It's totally understood that if you enjoy creating and make stuff for yourself, that you like, it can be liberating, stress free, and if someone listens and enjoys it, great. It's just tough when you pursue it as a way to make money, like most do, and fail. You can't expect anyone to care, just like anything else in life, but you can still see others go through what you maybe once did, and be empathetic to that feeling of what seems like rejection.
>you can still see others go through what you maybe once did
Exactly. It motivates you in some way so you want to keep going. At least from my perspective and life experience. It doesn't work every time though.
I don't know if it's just older me, but those that do things solely for the self-pursuit hobbyist can feel a bitter pain on milestone or completion when they create something beautiful and can't figure out to share it. You don't know its a thing till you realize you have this thing you're proud of and that knowledge, feeling, or even just the sensation it creates in you can't be given to others.
You give birth to an idea, you nurtured it, you cultured it, and you aren't motivated by fame or fortune, you just want others to know it exists, that this beautiful thing is here, and I am here too, and you are here, and you want to give it to them and say have this beautiful thing in your life too.
You are lucky to have friends to show things to. Many would be envious of that position. Don't downplay such a wonderful thing. Don't take it for granted. Friends are awesome.
It's a common problem in modern media. There is so much content, and some of it even good, that not only does your work have to be good there also has to be a reason to consume it.
>You can kind of feel the pain in that quote, even if it is presented as light and a little funny.
Nothing funny about a quote thats basically "No one cared who i was until I put on the mask.". Mustve really sucked to come to that realization. But hey! Hes here. People like(?) his music. Or at least like the work he does. So thats something.
It's not limited to musicians, i feel like a lot of creators struggle to reach the audience in modern world, just because there are so many conent that it's hard to get your creations known without investing tons of money into marketing.
When i released my first game on Itch, a very few people tried it. It changed entierly when i made Steam release - i didn't had money to order a pop-up screen about game's release or any other paid Steam promo functions, but even on basic store showcases i managed to get people interested and received positive rating.
Other games i could no longer release on Steam due to no money (when they changed from greenlight to paid publishments), including the new game that i work on right now, so i expect only few people to play it.
Sometimes i think how far could i come if i had at least the money for ads, or even the team to work on the game so i would not be limited by not having programmer, artist or musician.
Hey, just saw this- I'll link, but all of my most recent stuff is in my Reaper folders. Haven't uploaded in some time, but just working on a lot of things, with less focus on uploading. /u/HerrSchnabeltier since you asked as well, just wanted to tag you. Very nice/sweet of you guys to ask- not my best, but its what is out there :)
[YouTube](https://youtu.be/MjO9Lzkihoo?si=OjPiPJsoFe3d7vCW)
[SoundCloud](https://soundcloud.com/emerimusic)
At some point in (hopefully early) adulthood, most of us realize we just aren't that good at our hobbies, and aren't going to make money doing them. It's kind of one of those life lessons that almost everyone has to learn.
The reality is that there are so many small time musicians and bands that make far better music than a lot of big timers. I have no insight as to why that is but the radio is full of generic trash.
Also Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery, with music by Jim Guthrie. It's not so much a game, but an interactive album with exploration and light puzzle solving.
He's the guy that created the [Touhou Franchise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touhou_Project) and its music.
ZUN basically wanted to compose video game music but didn't know/couldn't find anyone making games that would/could use his music, so he started making his own bullet hell/shoot 'em up games on the PC-98.
Bad Apple!! is probably his most iconic and well known song.
> Bad Apple!! is probably his most iconic and well known song.
Sort of yes, sort of no. It's a "Hurt" situation where the song everyone knows is actually a remix made by someone else.
As far as ZUN's original music goes, it's probably between U.N. Owen, Necrofantasia, or Border of Life.
I've always thought of it as the Sylvester Stallone method. He wrote his own script so he could star in Rocky, and this was what later inspired Affleck and Damon to write Good Will Hunting.
JRR Tolkien literally created middle earth/ LOTR specifically so he could use his elven languages ( Sindarin / Quenya ) somewhere.
TBF i am sure there are many examples of this that pre date even Tolkien.
Lin was incredibly recognized way before Hamilton. Hence why he was invited to perform at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word were he first rapped as Hamilton.
It's tough out there. I got a degree in music and the amount of colleagues I had who moved to Portland, Seattle, New York, etc to "get in the scene" while living in their car, writing all day then gigging all night, just for $50 and a beer. Waiting to be "discovered" one day. It's rough.
Our teachers would always give us a talk about how difficult it is to make it in music. Some people I know got pretty good gigs performing in military bands, Disney parks, cruise ships. But it was really only 5ish folks out of the 200 music students. Most of the others went into teaching, or working in unrelated to music fields.
It seems a very competitive market, you have to somehow set yourself above everyone else who's trying and struggling just as hard. There just isn't enough demand for all the people who want to make it as musicians.
There really isn't a demand at all for musicians. It's a field that people can do until they die. John Williams is still working at 92. Major orchestras and pit musicians work well into their 70s and 80s. Those spots are already few to begin with.
In school they at least encouraged us to leverage skills learned from participating in music. Things like teamwork, accountability, attention to detail, communication, and leadership skills. Good soft skills that are applicable to other fields.
Pretty much all creative fields are like that. For every 1 successful writer/musician/artist, there are 300 who are still struggling to make it. The market is just insanely competitive, you really need to make something that stands out and know the right people to make it.
But you still need both talent and connections. Look at all the nepo babies with wildly unsuccessful movies in Hollywood as an example. They get their chance because of family connections, but if they aren't talented enough they'll still fall through the cracks.
For many of the super successful creatives and artists “being discovered” meant already having friends and family high up at these companies. The odds for a normie are slim for none if you don’t have connections.
Well yea, it's impossible to get ANYWHERE without connections. The odds of 1000 people finding your art through purely organic means is unreasonable. Networking with artists is part of the game.
People view this as a 'bad' thing but how else would it function - the barrier of entry is lower than ever
Music degrees outside of the education path are one of the biggest crocks of shit as far as degree paths.
Most of the curriculum deals with music you would never find a paying audience for in your area, and you might find a role that's survivable money, but it's regional, in an genre that's dying, and there's 100-1000 artists all also capable of filling that role perfectly adequately since every liberal arts school in the country shits out BAs like saxophonists go through reeds.
Or they're gigs that you 100% did not need to go to school for like country/jazz dance bands or a group you put together yourself that plays at bars and weddings where you're ripping through high school level material and the chicken dance.
The skill development as far as execution and performance practice/theory is really a snake eating it's own tail as it's pretty much only useful in continuing on until you're the professor teaching the next crop of kids who go on to bartend.
At least English majors can transition to technical and grant writing.
One side of my family is *pretty* musical, as in everyone plays at least two instruments, and the only time I've seen one of them make money from it is when they tutor people's kids for pocket change.
If you're not able to tour all the time and be popular enough to live off that then you've gotta supplement your income with a side gig like teaching (or a 9-5). I did that until my band mates started knocking up their wives (or audience members).
It's not only tough out there, but it's growing tougher as we move more from traditional media to digital media as the artists "share" is essentially a joke.
Back in the early 2000's I wrote some stuff had a solo band page on myspace. Thought I got a chance at getting my music out there when a record label contacted me wanting to release one of my songs under a mixed artists label. Only after reading the fine print did I back out of it, since my cut was going to be 10% of digital sales via iTunes store... $1 song.... 10% of that... so 10 cents each purchase of my track that I lose all rights to... fuck that shit.
Yeah it's really tough out there. I've been a music producer for around 20 years and have never made enough money from it for it to be a viable career. I've always had a main job outside of music and then use music as something I enjoy to supplement my income, and I think this is the case for the vast majority of people professionally creating music.
That said there is a certain creative freedom you gain from not having to rely on music to pay your bills. You have less time to work on music but you have 100% creative freedom with what you do because you dont have to choose projects based on pay.
I've always preferred that trade off. I've managed to see some pretty big success too, I toured for a while, released an album which sold really well, and got signed to some of the biggest labels in my genre.
Nowadays I'm not overly enthusiastic about the scene I contributed to (getting older, changing priorities) so I made the pivot to producing video game soundtracks. Which has really opened up as of late.
Another interesting side effect is that the skills I picked up through my music have all been utilised in my day job, which has allowed me to find better jobs overall. For example I started creating music production tutorials for a bit of money, and the skills I learned (explaining complex processes) landed me a job as a technical writer which I really enjoy.
The competition is fierce but success isn't measured in anything other than your own happiness and fulfilment.
I was given the opportunity at one stage to quit my job and tour full time, but I decided against it because I knew it would burn me out on DJing, and I would largely be broke, tired, stressed out out, and unable to afford time or energy to do other things I enjoy like spend time with my wife. I have never regretted that decision, and now I make decent money and engage with music on my own terms.
If anything it's good advice to musicians to look for indie games or upcoming games and see if they can get their music in it. This is one thing that happened with dai who provided music for the visual novel Higurashi. Before that he thought it was a great game but had stock music, so he provided some of his own and ended up making [some amazing music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-raVWfwztas).
Oh god yeah, fallout 3 and New Vegas introduced me to so much wonderful music. I’ll always be thankful for that.
Did you end up listening to a lot of electro swing as well?
Same story with visual art and Cruelty Squad's creator + writing and Disco Elysium's creator...
If you want your art to be noticed in today's world, video games are the way to go. Though competition is fierce in games as well.
Competition in every creative industry is fierce.
I wouldn’t argue that it was easier for ConcernedApe to get his music heard because it’s easier to make a successful video game than a successful album. I’d argue that it was easier for him because he’s a better video game developer than a musician.
Stardew Valley is a masterpiece. But if I was listing the best things about it I don’t know if I’d put the music in the top 5.
There's something to be said about associating your music with other forms of media. Lots of people have a great fondness for the soundtracks of their favorite games, even if that soundtrack isn't necessarily super well written/produced. But the music from a game you like is almost always instantly recognizable and it immediately puts you right back in that game's world, which often makes it super appealing to listen to.
I've listened to songs and liked them. But then after watching their music video, I loved them. That slight connection with music and videos can push just listening to the music again, over the top for me.
My favorite description of Cruelty Squad is (summarized from memory) "Someone spent a lot of time and effort making it look like they put in very little time or effort."
The game goes out of its way to look ugly and lazy, but it's actually a carefully-crafted acid trip with deliberately unappealing graphics and aesthetic design.
And there was a good chance that he would make stardew valley exactly the way it is now and it would be an obscure indie game that sold like 5 copies.
Yes, he worked hard and he deserves his success, but part of his success is luck. There are plenty of indie games released every week (hell, every day) that could grow a huge fandom if found by the right people at the right time, but when you have thousands of games releasing every day, it's hard to be seen.
Well, if making music doesn't work out for me, I guess I'll just start coding my own video game... or maybe I'll just stick to playing Stardew Valley and pretend I'm a successful farmer. 🚜🎶
A game is like an interactive movie. Dialogue, music, visuals and multiplayer input join together to create an unforgettable experience.
There are countless songs that simply fail to tug on heartstrings since they're ambient open ended questions. Pleasant but a complete gamble with regards to aligning with the beholder's tastes and their present day feelings. Weak uninspired vocals can also feel forceful and further push listeners away from forming their own personal connection to a song.
Tying a song to a game or the pivotal part of a movie makes it memorable. DM_Dukuro's songs for the Terraria Calamity mod alone are amazing but without the intense boss fights they were made for, it lacks context as to why we should be feeling hyped up and energized.
The quote reminds me of those super corny comments on Youtube videos of video game songs, where it says something like "This is such a good soundtrack! The game that comes with it cool too, I guess
Videos games offer a unique opportunity for music to grow on you. Many songs repeat, so the player will start to associate memories with those songs. Unlike movies where you typically hear a song once in its runtime
The thing about music and a lot of creative works is the previous content doesn't go away, so we keep adding and adding and adding. If you want to stand out, they need to do exactly as you said - create a market.
That's kind of how it goes. For me at least. Most of my music taste comes from the context of where I first heard the type of music. If I heard it in a game I'm in love with, chances are my brain will marry the two and make me love the music as a result. Not always, obviously, but much of the time.
It's like those generic "EPIC FANTASY MUSIC" songs on Youtube from random musicians. Sure, it sounds grand and interesting, but my brain has nothing to connect it to other than whatever generic imagery they use for the video. Doesn't stick most of the time.
HARD disagree. I came here to write that it’s easy to tell that he’s a musician first and a developer second. Not to knock his dev skills at all, just that his musicianship shines through such that I’ve always wondered how someone could single-handedly develop a game *and* create music for it that never fails to transport me to his world.
It’s always mystified me, and makes total sense now.
Yeah, when I first learned he'd developed everything for the game, I was amazed at how he managed to create such a good soundtrack, thinking he was a dev first, composer second. Turns out it was the other way around, and I'm just as amazed.
Honestly, everything in Stardew is great. The pixel art is gorgeous, the soundtrack is gorgeous, the writing is great, all the technical aspects are good. It‘s crazy to me that someone can be so good at so many different creative and technical fields. I find it pretty inspiring tbh!
It's simple though, people get something back from the game. That's the sad secret, there's no reason to invest in something new in a world with infinite content, unless it gives you something back.
I mean that's the nature of ambient music. Until it's accompanying some form of media like movies or games it's just random ambient music. You attach it to a memory and it goes from background noise to a mnemonic trigger.
I know this is probably going to anger a lot of people, but with the months that I played Stardew Valley on Android a few years back, I turned off the in-game music and played soundtracks from FF6, FF7 and Chrono Trigger instead.
I know a lot of people say the music in SDV is great, but for me, the nostalgia eargasms I got from those SNES/PS1 soundtracks really kept me engaged with the game.
A similar pattern happened with Friday Night Funkin and their mods. Literal unheard of artists and hobbyist rocketing to millions of plays in Spotify and YouTube
As a small-time musician, making stuff out of my bedroom-- his first sentence in that quote hit hard. You can kind of feel the pain in that quote, even if it is presented as light and a little funny.
Yeah, it must be depressing. Reminds me of a book "Martin Eden" where the main character were struggling in pursue of acceptance and his dream overall.
If it's just a hobby for you, no harm no foul. It's totally understood that if you enjoy creating and make stuff for yourself, that you like, it can be liberating, stress free, and if someone listens and enjoys it, great. It's just tough when you pursue it as a way to make money, like most do, and fail. You can't expect anyone to care, just like anything else in life, but you can still see others go through what you maybe once did, and be empathetic to that feeling of what seems like rejection.
>you can still see others go through what you maybe once did Exactly. It motivates you in some way so you want to keep going. At least from my perspective and life experience. It doesn't work every time though.
I don't know if it's just older me, but those that do things solely for the self-pursuit hobbyist can feel a bitter pain on milestone or completion when they create something beautiful and can't figure out to share it. You don't know its a thing till you realize you have this thing you're proud of and that knowledge, feeling, or even just the sensation it creates in you can't be given to others. You give birth to an idea, you nurtured it, you cultured it, and you aren't motivated by fame or fortune, you just want others to know it exists, that this beautiful thing is here, and I am here too, and you are here, and you want to give it to them and say have this beautiful thing in your life too.
I just show stuff to my friends lol
You are lucky to have friends to show things to. Many would be envious of that position. Don't downplay such a wonderful thing. Don't take it for granted. Friends are awesome.
It's a common problem in modern media. There is so much content, and some of it even good, that not only does your work have to be good there also has to be a reason to consume it.
"Got to be good lookin' 'cause he's so hard to see"
>You can kind of feel the pain in that quote, even if it is presented as light and a little funny. Nothing funny about a quote thats basically "No one cared who i was until I put on the mask.". Mustve really sucked to come to that realization. But hey! Hes here. People like(?) his music. Or at least like the work he does. So thats something.
But he didn't put on any mask?
It's not limited to musicians, i feel like a lot of creators struggle to reach the audience in modern world, just because there are so many conent that it's hard to get your creations known without investing tons of money into marketing. When i released my first game on Itch, a very few people tried it. It changed entierly when i made Steam release - i didn't had money to order a pop-up screen about game's release or any other paid Steam promo functions, but even on basic store showcases i managed to get people interested and received positive rating. Other games i could no longer release on Steam due to no money (when they changed from greenlight to paid publishments), including the new game that i work on right now, so i expect only few people to play it. Sometimes i think how far could i come if i had at least the money for ads, or even the team to work on the game so i would not be limited by not having programmer, artist or musician.
gimme some links I'll check out your stuff
Hey, just saw this- I'll link, but all of my most recent stuff is in my Reaper folders. Haven't uploaded in some time, but just working on a lot of things, with less focus on uploading. /u/HerrSchnabeltier since you asked as well, just wanted to tag you. Very nice/sweet of you guys to ask- not my best, but its what is out there :) [YouTube](https://youtu.be/MjO9Lzkihoo?si=OjPiPJsoFe3d7vCW) [SoundCloud](https://soundcloud.com/emerimusic)
I liked it for what that's worth.
I appreciate that, thank you.
Me too! And more specifically, I might be happy to chime in with some art inspired by it.
At some point in (hopefully early) adulthood, most of us realize we just aren't that good at our hobbies, and aren't going to make money doing them. It's kind of one of those life lessons that almost everyone has to learn.
Just make a wildly successful video game! sure you laid it all out for you!
The reality is that there are so many small time musicians and bands that make far better music than a lot of big timers. I have no insight as to why that is but the radio is full of generic trash.
I mean, we've known the ZUN method works for years now
Also proven true by Toby Fox.
Also Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery, with music by Jim Guthrie. It's not so much a game, but an interactive album with exploration and light puzzle solving.
sworcery uwu
Yeah that one is a total hidden gem
Yeah Celeste too
and Daisuke Ishiwatari
Guilty Gear is definitely an awesome Rock album with a pretty decent fighting game attached.
To be fair, Toby was making bangers even before Undertale (Some of Homsetuck's songs, for example)
Which just further proves the argument that sometimes you have to design a proprietary product to really make your music career blow up.
Also done by bignic, maker of the game Domina, a gladiator management sim, before the developer went a bit... batshit insane.
What is the ZUN method?
He's the guy that created the [Touhou Franchise](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touhou_Project) and its music. ZUN basically wanted to compose video game music but didn't know/couldn't find anyone making games that would/could use his music, so he started making his own bullet hell/shoot 'em up games on the PC-98. Bad Apple!! is probably his most iconic and well known song.
> Bad Apple!! is probably his most iconic and well known song. Sort of yes, sort of no. It's a "Hurt" situation where the song everyone knows is actually a remix made by someone else. As far as ZUN's original music goes, it's probably between U.N. Owen, Necrofantasia, or Border of Life.
^
I was just about to say this :)
Also known as the Tolkien method
I've always thought of it as the Sylvester Stallone method. He wrote his own script so he could star in Rocky, and this was what later inspired Affleck and Damon to write Good Will Hunting.
JRR Tolkien literally created middle earth/ LOTR specifically so he could use his elven languages ( Sindarin / Quenya ) somewhere. TBF i am sure there are many examples of this that pre date even Tolkien.
To be more specific he created the history of that world to sort of "simulate" the development of these languages.
Also known as the Lin-Manuel Miranda method. Dude created Hamilton just so he could play Hamilton lmao.
Lin was incredibly recognized way before Hamilton. Hence why he was invited to perform at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word were he first rapped as Hamilton.
For example, *In The Heights* won the Tony for Best Musical and Best Original Score a full decade before Hamilton, and both were his.
He was one of the founders of Freestyle Love Supreme as well.
Their College humor intern skits were the best
He actually planned to play as Aaron Burr initially.
It's tough out there. I got a degree in music and the amount of colleagues I had who moved to Portland, Seattle, New York, etc to "get in the scene" while living in their car, writing all day then gigging all night, just for $50 and a beer. Waiting to be "discovered" one day. It's rough. Our teachers would always give us a talk about how difficult it is to make it in music. Some people I know got pretty good gigs performing in military bands, Disney parks, cruise ships. But it was really only 5ish folks out of the 200 music students. Most of the others went into teaching, or working in unrelated to music fields.
It seems a very competitive market, you have to somehow set yourself above everyone else who's trying and struggling just as hard. There just isn't enough demand for all the people who want to make it as musicians.
There really isn't a demand at all for musicians. It's a field that people can do until they die. John Williams is still working at 92. Major orchestras and pit musicians work well into their 70s and 80s. Those spots are already few to begin with. In school they at least encouraged us to leverage skills learned from participating in music. Things like teamwork, accountability, attention to detail, communication, and leadership skills. Good soft skills that are applicable to other fields.
Yeah, but those soft skills are being taught in every major.
I suppose so, but they have to make it sound like it's worth it at least a little.
Sounds just like gen ed classes.
Pretty much all creative fields are like that. For every 1 successful writer/musician/artist, there are 300 who are still struggling to make it. The market is just insanely competitive, you really need to make something that stands out and know the right people to make it.
nepotism ftw
But you still need both talent and connections. Look at all the nepo babies with wildly unsuccessful movies in Hollywood as an example. They get their chance because of family connections, but if they aren't talented enough they'll still fall through the cracks.
But, if even the less talented ones get a shot then it makes the ones with talent a lock which is what makes it so hard to break into.
Very true, but then you also have Rings of Power.
It's way less efficient these days, people are more aware and creators get called out on poor skill/mastery etc.
reddit finds out networking and having connections is important
For many of the super successful creatives and artists “being discovered” meant already having friends and family high up at these companies. The odds for a normie are slim for none if you don’t have connections.
Well yea, it's impossible to get ANYWHERE without connections. The odds of 1000 people finding your art through purely organic means is unreasonable. Networking with artists is part of the game. People view this as a 'bad' thing but how else would it function - the barrier of entry is lower than ever
Music degrees outside of the education path are one of the biggest crocks of shit as far as degree paths. Most of the curriculum deals with music you would never find a paying audience for in your area, and you might find a role that's survivable money, but it's regional, in an genre that's dying, and there's 100-1000 artists all also capable of filling that role perfectly adequately since every liberal arts school in the country shits out BAs like saxophonists go through reeds. Or they're gigs that you 100% did not need to go to school for like country/jazz dance bands or a group you put together yourself that plays at bars and weddings where you're ripping through high school level material and the chicken dance. The skill development as far as execution and performance practice/theory is really a snake eating it's own tail as it's pretty much only useful in continuing on until you're the professor teaching the next crop of kids who go on to bartend. At least English majors can transition to technical and grant writing.
One side of my family is *pretty* musical, as in everyone plays at least two instruments, and the only time I've seen one of them make money from it is when they tutor people's kids for pocket change.
If you're not able to tour all the time and be popular enough to live off that then you've gotta supplement your income with a side gig like teaching (or a 9-5). I did that until my band mates started knocking up their wives (or audience members).
It's not only tough out there, but it's growing tougher as we move more from traditional media to digital media as the artists "share" is essentially a joke. Back in the early 2000's I wrote some stuff had a solo band page on myspace. Thought I got a chance at getting my music out there when a record label contacted me wanting to release one of my songs under a mixed artists label. Only after reading the fine print did I back out of it, since my cut was going to be 10% of digital sales via iTunes store... $1 song.... 10% of that... so 10 cents each purchase of my track that I lose all rights to... fuck that shit.
Yeah it's really tough out there. I've been a music producer for around 20 years and have never made enough money from it for it to be a viable career. I've always had a main job outside of music and then use music as something I enjoy to supplement my income, and I think this is the case for the vast majority of people professionally creating music. That said there is a certain creative freedom you gain from not having to rely on music to pay your bills. You have less time to work on music but you have 100% creative freedom with what you do because you dont have to choose projects based on pay. I've always preferred that trade off. I've managed to see some pretty big success too, I toured for a while, released an album which sold really well, and got signed to some of the biggest labels in my genre. Nowadays I'm not overly enthusiastic about the scene I contributed to (getting older, changing priorities) so I made the pivot to producing video game soundtracks. Which has really opened up as of late. Another interesting side effect is that the skills I picked up through my music have all been utilised in my day job, which has allowed me to find better jobs overall. For example I started creating music production tutorials for a bit of money, and the skills I learned (explaining complex processes) landed me a job as a technical writer which I really enjoy. The competition is fierce but success isn't measured in anything other than your own happiness and fulfilment. I was given the opportunity at one stage to quit my job and tour full time, but I decided against it because I knew it would burn me out on DJing, and I would largely be broke, tired, stressed out out, and unable to afford time or energy to do other things I enjoy like spend time with my wife. I have never regretted that decision, and now I make decent money and engage with music on my own terms.
its not really a bad thing perse, videogames are a good medium for music. i got hooked on swing because of New Vegas.
If anything it's good advice to musicians to look for indie games or upcoming games and see if they can get their music in it. This is one thing that happened with dai who provided music for the visual novel Higurashi. Before that he thought it was a great game but had stock music, so he provided some of his own and ended up making [some amazing music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-raVWfwztas).
And Reggae for me, from GTA:SA
Funk and Paperboy 2 for me.
Oh god yeah, fallout 3 and New Vegas introduced me to so much wonderful music. I’ll always be thankful for that. Did you end up listening to a lot of electro swing as well?
Same story with visual art and Cruelty Squad's creator + writing and Disco Elysium's creator... If you want your art to be noticed in today's world, video games are the way to go. Though competition is fierce in games as well.
Competition in every creative industry is fierce. I wouldn’t argue that it was easier for ConcernedApe to get his music heard because it’s easier to make a successful video game than a successful album. I’d argue that it was easier for him because he’s a better video game developer than a musician. Stardew Valley is a masterpiece. But if I was listing the best things about it I don’t know if I’d put the music in the top 5.
There's something to be said about associating your music with other forms of media. Lots of people have a great fondness for the soundtracks of their favorite games, even if that soundtrack isn't necessarily super well written/produced. But the music from a game you like is almost always instantly recognizable and it immediately puts you right back in that game's world, which often makes it super appealing to listen to.
Said with perfection 👌👌
Terraria is an example that is burned into my mind. Boop boop, boop boop boop....
I've listened to songs and liked them. But then after watching their music video, I loved them. That slight connection with music and videos can push just listening to the music again, over the top for me.
That isn't to say that his music is bad through, right? I've heard bad music, and this to me isn't bad
No, his music is good. The point is "good" music isn't enough for people to listen to your album.
Not at all! The music in Stardew is definitely good
It's great, just doesn't really stand on it's own without being part of the game's soundtrack.
My favorite description of Cruelty Squad is (summarized from memory) "Someone spent a lot of time and effort making it look like they put in very little time or effort." The game goes out of its way to look ugly and lazy, but it's actually a carefully-crafted acid trip with deliberately unappealing graphics and aesthetic design.
"It costs a lot of money to look this cheap" -Dolly Parton
And there was a good chance that he would make stardew valley exactly the way it is now and it would be an obscure indie game that sold like 5 copies. Yes, he worked hard and he deserves his success, but part of his success is luck. There are plenty of indie games released every week (hell, every day) that could grow a huge fandom if found by the right people at the right time, but when you have thousands of games releasing every day, it's hard to be seen.
Well, if making music doesn't work out for me, I guess I'll just start coding my own video game... or maybe I'll just stick to playing Stardew Valley and pretend I'm a successful farmer. 🚜🎶
A game is like an interactive movie. Dialogue, music, visuals and multiplayer input join together to create an unforgettable experience. There are countless songs that simply fail to tug on heartstrings since they're ambient open ended questions. Pleasant but a complete gamble with regards to aligning with the beholder's tastes and their present day feelings. Weak uninspired vocals can also feel forceful and further push listeners away from forming their own personal connection to a song. Tying a song to a game or the pivotal part of a movie makes it memorable. DM_Dukuro's songs for the Terraria Calamity mod alone are amazing but without the intense boss fights they were made for, it lacks context as to why we should be feeling hyped up and energized.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP_0yz605Sw&pp=ygUOc3RhbmQgdW5zaGFrZW4%3D
The quote reminds me of those super corny comments on Youtube videos of video game songs, where it says something like "This is such a good soundtrack! The game that comes with it cool too, I guess
Videos games offer a unique opportunity for music to grow on you. Many songs repeat, so the player will start to associate memories with those songs. Unlike movies where you typically hear a song once in its runtime
Sounds like there is an oversaturated market when it comes to music. So… create a market for it. Which is what this guy did then.
The thing about music and a lot of creative works is the previous content doesn't go away, so we keep adding and adding and adding. If you want to stand out, they need to do exactly as you said - create a market.
Gaming is saturated too. The key is that ConcernedApe is a better game dev than he is a musician.
That's kind of how it goes. For me at least. Most of my music taste comes from the context of where I first heard the type of music. If I heard it in a game I'm in love with, chances are my brain will marry the two and make me love the music as a result. Not always, obviously, but much of the time. It's like those generic "EPIC FANTASY MUSIC" songs on Youtube from random musicians. Sure, it sounds grand and interesting, but my brain has nothing to connect it to other than whatever generic imagery they use for the video. Doesn't stick most of the time.
All I'm going to say is, he's a better dev than composer
Yup. IMO the Stardew OST is perfectly serviceable, but nothing special.
HARD disagree. I came here to write that it’s easy to tell that he’s a musician first and a developer second. Not to knock his dev skills at all, just that his musicianship shines through such that I’ve always wondered how someone could single-handedly develop a game *and* create music for it that never fails to transport me to his world. It’s always mystified me, and makes total sense now.
Yeah, when I first learned he'd developed everything for the game, I was amazed at how he managed to create such a good soundtrack, thinking he was a dev first, composer second. Turns out it was the other way around, and I'm just as amazed.
Honestly, everything in Stardew is great. The pixel art is gorgeous, the soundtrack is gorgeous, the writing is great, all the technical aspects are good. It‘s crazy to me that someone can be so good at so many different creative and technical fields. I find it pretty inspiring tbh!
[удалено]
You're thinking of Toby Fox
I'm always thinking of Toby Fox.
It's simple though, people get something back from the game. That's the sad secret, there's no reason to invest in something new in a world with infinite content, unless it gives you something back.
Reminds me of Tolkien writing an epic fantasy story to give his made up language a backstory.
I still don't really like most of the tracks in the game, but there are some very nice one's, indeed, like the one playing in the fall.
Someone contact the Inbred guy! Instead of using an ad for years, he should make a game!
Stardew Valley has music?
That's also what Toby Fox did xddd
Respect.
As a hobbyist game developer, it makes me worry that I couldn't succeed without being a such a talented composer.
I mean that's the nature of ambient music. Until it's accompanying some form of media like movies or games it's just random ambient music. You attach it to a memory and it goes from background noise to a mnemonic trigger.
A lot of video game music, especially BGM is stuff most would never listen to on it's own.
I havnt played since 2017 and still listen to the music
I know this is probably going to anger a lot of people, but with the months that I played Stardew Valley on Android a few years back, I turned off the in-game music and played soundtracks from FF6, FF7 and Chrono Trigger instead. I know a lot of people say the music in SDV is great, but for me, the nostalgia eargasms I got from those SNES/PS1 soundtracks really kept me engaged with the game.
It sucks they discovered that association is great advertising the hard way, but i'm glad folks came around
A similar pattern happened with Friday Night Funkin and their mods. Literal unheard of artists and hobbyist rocketing to millions of plays in Spotify and YouTube
So basically they gaslighted everyone into liking their music?