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HOW TO WRITE VIDEO GAME MUSIC

a thinkspace interactive course


Video Games

SAVE 35%

$249 $159

Or pair with Sampled Orchestration to save more and get a free mini-course 'Story of a Cue'


LEARN TO COMPOSE AND PRODUCE FOR THE FAST-GROWING SCENE

The gaming industry is growing rapidly and offers great opportunities for composers. But scoring for games is very different to film or TV. In this course, hosted by Guy Michelmore, you'll learn how to compose and produce for games from a host of industry professionals, including the composers behind Fast & Furious, The Walking Dead and Peaky Blinders games.
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LEArN FROM INDUSTRY-LEADING GAMES COMPOSERS

Let a team of true industry professionals teach you how to master the creative and technical challenges of composing for games.

You’ll learn about the different systems used to implement music and how your writing style needs to adapt to match these needs.

You'll also learn how to approach composing for cutscenes and cinematics, and be introduced to the technical knowledge you need to implement your audio directly into the game. Plus there's a bonus module on how to find work in this industry.

RICHARD WILKINSON

Games Composer
(Peaky Blinders: The King's Random, Narcos: Rise Of The Cartels)

STEPHEN BAYSTED

Games Composer
(Fast & Furious: Crossroads, The Walking Dead: Assult)

CHRISTINE HALS

Games and Film Composer
(God of War: Ragnarök, Frozen, Frozen II)

TOBI WEISS

Games Composer
(Gilded Shadows, Hippoxxus)

GUY MICHELMORE

(COURSE HOST)

Composer, ThinkSpace Founder and CEO
(Marvel, Disney, Dreamworks)

BRADLEY JORDAN

(COURSE CO-HOST)

Composer and Music Editor 

COURSE BREAKDOWN

1. WRITING MUSIC THAT LOOPS

Writing music that loops is a key skill any composer needs when working on games. We will demonstrate how to make your music loop and the creative considerations that you need to make to do so.

2. COMPOSING FOR HORIZONTAL SYSTEMS

Horizontal music systems are the most common approach to composition and technical implementation when writing for video games. Here we show you what that means, how you can write music for this type of implementation technique, and what extra elements you might need to incorporate to make it work effectively.

3. COMPOSING FOR VERTICAL SYSTEMS

If you're not working in a horizontal system, you're likely going to be working in a vertical system. These different systems are useful in different circumstances, and what works for one project might not work for another. This module explores the differences between Horizontal and Vertical systems and how each must be approached.

4. SCORING CINEMATICS

Cinematics and cutscenes are a big part of communicating narrative in video games, so much so that it’s very much like film scoring. In this module we’ll show you how to spot and score for these types of ‘films’ and how it differs from typical media scoring.

5. INTRODUCTION TO IMPLEMENTATION

Composers don’t always have a lot to do with the implementation of their work, but it can be something that you will find yourself doing in smaller development teams. Here we introduce you to FMOD and Wwise and how this software is a core tool in implementing interactive and dynamic music directly into the game

6. CAREER ADVICE (BONUS MODULE)

This is an introduction to how the world of work looks in the video game music industry. Here we have chats with some of the instructors seen throughout the course about how you can go about preparing yourself for work and what that might look like to someone looking to enter the industry.

WATCH A FREE SAMPLE

Composing for Sims-style games

In this full length scoring demonstration from the course, instructors Richard Wilkinson and Bradley Jordan show you how to take inspiration from soundtracks you love and use it as the foundation for your own compositions.

Enjoying the video? The full course has over 25 hours of tutorials to dive into.

“I've really enjoyed the course – especially the tutorials and interactions between Bradley and Richard Wilkinson. Very helpful!”

Glenn, How To Write Video Game Music student

“I’m really enjoying these excellent courses and how they complement each other. They are really enhancing my understanding of music composition and production.”

Mark, How To Write Video Game Music student

PERSONALISED INTERACTIVE LEARNING

This course is powered by ThinkSpace Interactive – offering so much more than just great video tutorials. We have developed exclusive new technologies to help you understand topics more easily, progress faster, and bring us closer to you!

INTERACTIVE VIDEO 

Interactive video and quizzes mean that you can not only test your knowledge as you progress, but we also give you the opportunity to introduce yourself and tell us what you're looking for from the course. The course remembers your choices and will be relevant throughout the program when analysing your progress. 

MinusONE ASSIGNMENTS

Learning how to write your own music can be overwhelming when starting from scratch. Now we provide you with stems that build most of a track, but "minus one" important stem. This allows you to focus purely on the one instrument group that module is focussing on, without thinking too much about the composition or its structure.

"Wow! The interactive challenges are fun to do. Really immersive learning experience!"

'Pieces'
ThinkSpace Interactive course student

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Learn at your own pace with on-demand video tutorials


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In-video questions to personalise your learning journey


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MinusONE challenges help you focus on particular instruments 


Join composers around the world on DISCORD

We want to bring our students closer together, as we understand online learning can be isolating at times. With this course you will also get access to our exclusive ThinkSpace Community Discord channel. Anyone on this course, and other courses that use ThinkSpace Interactive, can join.

We hope you use this community as a relaxed environment to share your work with each other and ask questions amongst other people in similar situations as you. We've had plenty of experience running a Discord server for our Postgraduate Degree students, and we're very excited to bring this to our other courses too.

Buy Today, start anytime

Guy Michelmore at Piano
Guy Michelmore Teaching Music Theory
Guy Michelmore Composing on Guitar
  • Taught by industry-leading game composers
  • Master the creative and technical skills required to write music for games
  • Interactive videos and quizzes for personalised learning
  • Lifelong access to our worldwide Discord network of composers
Buy Now — $249 $159

Lifetime access. Start, finish and revisit anytime.
30-day money-back policy

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Frequently Asked Questions

If you are thinking about taking the course, there are some requirements you may want to consider. Here are the most frequently asked student questions to help you to assess whether the course is right for you.

have a question? contact us

Need some advice? Or just want to talk music? We’re always here to lend a professional ear.

contact@thinkspace.ac.uk

+44 (0)1243 256049