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Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Learning FamiTracker & Mixcraft (Eventually)

FamiTracker. Make 8-Bit tunes with this!
     Amid feelings of uncertainty in my ability to maintain a game studio alone I considered forcing myself to adapt to one aspect of game development I never truly tried before. I already learned programming, got a feel for good design practices, and practiced pixel art so what if I can do music on my own too? It may take a dedicated very long time to get any good at it, but it might be a worthwhile investment at some point.


     It all really comes down to be being alone in this despite not wanting to be. I just haven't met anyone as dedicated to game development as I am despite being in the major for 2 years. I can't expect anyone to sacrifice the stuff I did to get this far, especially with no guaranteed pay. I'm also dead-set on bringing a bunch of game ideas to life. Game's I've been dreaming up left & right that could keep me busy for ages! If I get a partner, who's to say he'she doesn't have 10 ideas to get off the ground.

     Being honest with myself, I don't want to make someone else's game and I just want to sharpen my own dreams to perfection. It's what I've been working so hard for since high school. A chance to bring my dreams into reality. 5 years later I'm still waiting for my reward and plan to continue waiting for about another 2 years.

     In short, I'm bookmarking tutorials for Mixcraft and FamiTracker (click the links to see examples of each in action) so I can start learning how to make music at some point. Gotta start with the basics of chiptunes because the limitations seem easier to comprehend than the vastness of synthesized music. My games all use pixel graphics anyway so chiptunes should fit well. MIDIs are used for Gameboy Advanced titles so I want something like that for my own games. Anvil Studio makes MIDI music but I really don't like how it sounds so I went for the more advanced Mixcraft which can really sound like anything. FamiTracker's 8-bit beats might blend well with my MS Paint art style but I'll never know unless I get started and try something.

     Learning FamiTracker will get me used to composing catchy tunes and Mixcraft will give me the tools to master them. I may even be able to combine the two somehow and have an 8-bit song with modern synthesized sound around it. But I'll worry about that stuff next semester when I have more time dedicated to learning new tricks. Right now I need to get Unicorn Training and it's little follow-up on the app stores before they close for Christmas! (And also so I can show my stuff to my family visiting on Thanksgiving.)

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