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Top Tip! – Music for Brainstorming

  • Post category:Advice / Game Design
  • Reading time:5 mins read

What I Used To Do

Generally when I brainstorm from scratch it is very volatile and iterative, throwing ideas into a pot and seeing which ones sink or swim.

However, if you have the benefit of knowing a little about the context of what you’re making and/or you know something a little like it in media that has a fitting soundtrack (e.g. you are making a J-Horror game and you know of some great J-Horror movie/game soundtracks) then take advantage of it! I’ll tell you how.

For some background, I’m a bit of an immersion freak since I’ve been tempered with TTRPGs over the last few years. With it, though, I found a pretty neat trick that has personally helped me a ton with brainstorming design ideas/scenarios in everything I do, not just games.

The Magic Trick

The trick is simple…

Listen to music whilst you think!

Specifically, listen to that fitting soundtrack that you feel best encapsulates the atmosphere or general vibe you are going for. Dark Fantasy? Sticking on the Dark Souls 3 soundtrack is often my go to. Funky Y2K? Jet Set Radio is a great bet. Gritty military horror? Gears of War has your back. Although games aren’t the only things in the world that have soundtracks, it does have the general benefit of representing a lot of different scenarios – choose what you like most depending on your mood. Movies are also great but they tend to be more longform, evolving and more inconsistent if you are looking for a very specific mood.

Stick on the soundtrack whilst you think. They key is to imagine scenarios, like almost a little “diarama” in your brain of the game playing out. Just having the right choice of music always paints a very vivid picture in my mind, which everything falls into place from. Luckily for us, there’s a brilliant soundtrack for almost anything you’d ever want to make, you just need to know where to find it.

If you love design but maybe aren’t aware of all the media properties in the world, try asking a friend for recommendations! I do this all the time.

To Kick You Off: A Couple Favourites

Here’s a list of good soundtracks to kick you off based on a handful of genres/vibes:

Horror

  • Amnesia: The Dark Descent
  • Siren: Blood Curse
  • Bloodborne
  • Penumbra (Series)
  • Resident Evil 2

Fantasy

  • Elden Ring
  • Baldurs Gate 3
  • Dark Souls 3
  • Star Wars

Military

  • Gears of War (Series)
  • Command and Conquer (Series)

Quirky

  • Jet Set Radio
  • Ace Attorney (Series)

Metal

  • Metal: Hellsinger
  • Doom 2018
  • Doom: Eternal
  • Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance