Just over a week ago, I took part in the GMTK Game Jam 2025. It’s the largest annual game jam by number of entrants, and also happened to be my first.
This year’s theme was Loop: a wonderfully open-ended theme that left plenty of room for interpretation and creativity.
After a few false starts on the GMTK team finder, I was lucky enough to find a great team at the last minute who were looking for a music composer and SFX artist. Together, we made The Circle of Life.
Here are a few things I learned throughout the process:
1. Musical comfort zone
If I were to label my musical style, it would fall somewhere between ambient, cinematic, and soundscape, with a bit of melodic and emotive thrown in for good measure. Lovely for my own artistic expression, not so much for a casual game about the animal kingdom.
Here are some early attempts to give you an idea of what I mean:
Attempt 1
Pretty, but it felt more suited to meditation than to a lighthearted game.
Attempt 2
More upbeat and playful, which was an improvement, but still didn’t fully capture the game’s bright and fun art style.
Attempt 3
This is what we used in the finished game. I’m happy with how it sits in the overall experience.
Looking back, this process could have been much faster if I had wrote a clearer brief with more defined examples of similar music. I had started with a brief, but I didn’t test it enough against the game vision, or get enough feedback from the team early on.
2. Layering
One of the most interesting parts of composing for games compared to film or other media is that games are non-linear. Players are constantly taking actions, and the game reacts in real time.
I’ve always liked games that use dynamically layered music, but this was my first time attempting it myself. My biggest learning here is to write vertically: group instruments into layers that can be added or removed independently, so the music can adapt seamlessly as gameplay changes.
I was able to implement this in a small way: during the shop scene, a pared-back arrangement plays; during the loop, the full ensemble comes in. I wish I’d had more time to expand on this idea, but I was proud of the effect.
3. SFX is a hard job
Creating sounds that can effectively communicate what is happening, without becoming irritating after the 50th time they play, is not easy.
Our game featured a lot of animal noises, and these were especially tricky because they’re so distinct. I ended up relying heavily on freesound.org for many of the SFX, using Logic Pro to tweak them with pitch shifting, time stretching, and other small adjustments.
Next time, I’d make sure to allow more time for this part of the process.
Final thoughts
I’m proud of what I was able to do in just 72 hours. The most valuable thing I gained was confidence, both in my ability to adapt my musical style to a completely different context, and in my ability to collaborate quickly with strangers.
I’ll definitely be back for another game jam in the near future. Brackeys 2025.2 is just around the corner, after all 😀