Here is my collection of tracks that I composed and produced for the 21 days of Video Game Music Challenge, hosted in January 2020 by VGM Academy!

The challenge is simple: write an original piece of music every day for 21 days, on software, sheet, or just one instrument, record it and upload it, it can be 2 bars or 2 minutes long. You can come up with your own ideas or choose one of the writing prompts kindly created by VGM Academy, it's up to you!

I had great fun exploring new styles, challenging myself to think outside the box and exploring new ways of creating music based off the plethora of writing prompts.

Below you will find a description of the prompt and context for each day.

Special thanks to Miller Puckette for the brilliant program that is Pure Data and Korg for their excellent Gadget tracker on Switch.

I hope you enjoy!

www.clarkmelodies.com/music

www.twitch.tv/clarkmelodies

Day 1 - Auld Lang Sine
Happy new year everyone! Rather than writing music, i decided to teach my dear iMac how to play Auld Lang 'Sine' using Pure Data. He's a natural. I will later make a video of how the pure data patch works, plus a download link!

Day 2 - Dungeon in D
Messing around with reverb presets and an organ, with lots of delays.

Day 3 - Swing Spring
The ‘If it Aint Got That Swing’ brief. Made with Korg Gadget. On my Facebook page you can see this being played live!

Day 4 - The Drunken Music Box
‘A Pirate’s Life for Me’ and ‘Music Box’ briefs. Made with Korg Gadget. On my Facebook page you can see this being played live!

Day 5 - The Compound Compound
Decided to go compound time signatures brief. It's a theme for an army training compound!

Day 6 - A Dead Faced Cafe
Creating melodies from words. The mellotron plays 'A' ascending in octaves; the bass ostinato is 'D, E, A, D'; the melody is 'F, A, C, E, D'; finally the arpeggio is a repeated 'C, A, F, E'. A Dead Faced Cafe, sorta-retro-horror like Undertale setting.

Day 7 - Our Meeting at Frost
Todays brief: A flashback cutscene of a protagonist and their love interest, enjoying the beauty of the first snowfall of the year. They've been doing this for years, but this moment is wholly sentimental. I was definitely inspired by Breath of the Wild here.



Day 8 - Snack Attack!
I chose the prompt "Powered-Up" When our protagonist finds five magical doritos, he gains fire-breathing and starch-shield superpowers for a limited time. I used orchestral stabs from old N64 soundfonts, energetic drums and synth brass for that arcade/32bit feel

Day 9 - "Run, Forte, Run"
Running away from a ferocious beast. Notice the augmentation of the last eight bars. The choir sings the melody line at 1/4 speed (without the notes inbetween)

Day 10 - Duck Town
Last years global game jam exhaustion saw our lead programmer passing time by drawing ducks in MS Paint. I decided to create a theme to go with these badly drawn ducks. Ducktown.

Day 11 - Phase
much like Piano Phase BY Steve Reich, the marimba and celesta both play the same melody, a couple of BPMs apart. They go out of phase before being exactly one bar apart, synchronised again at around the 2 minute mark.

Day 12 - Pizz and Quiet.
An intro cutscene. A magician's collection of white gloves have been possessed by his arch nemesis. They irritate him so much that he can't get to sleep. Written for violin, cello and viola, played only in pizzicato style.

Day 13 - 808 of this World
Didn't have much time so just wanted to mess around with the Random slider on ES2 synth, which randomizes every single parameter.

Day 14 - The Comfort of Friends
I'm really struggling in my life at the moment so i wanted to write a theme to accompany either: the memories you share with the people you love or the times your friends will always be here for you. You choose!

DAY 15 - King Dorian’s Palace
Some chiptune for today! Upon visiting King Dorian's Palace, you will learn to present him with gifts of the correct tones and semitones. If he senses dissonance, he will banish you to the realm of Atonality.

Day 16 - The Annoying Robot Ever hear a song from mid-90s platformers that was a great song...ONCE. Then you had to endure it every time you failed the challenge, or every time the character reappeared, and it just got lodged in your head? Using only soundfonts, this is one of those songs.

Day 17 - Cumulus
Did the flying prompt "To The Skies" Music for your first flight above the clouds. This is 'Cumulus.'

Day 18 - Stories of Ancestry
Submitted to MusicWeeklies
The weary traveller looked upon the waves with great fear and uncertainty. This painting told stories of his ancestors, but he had no desire to repeat a brutal history to honor his bloodline.

Day 19 - The Party Takes A Nap
I love these little themes, when you find an inn for the night and you heal up. I'm still not sure how to come up with those intricate chords, so this attempt I spent 10 minutes on will have to do!

Day 20 - The Beautiful Abyss (Written in 2 hours Live on Twitch)

My first ever Twitch Livestream. I chose the ‘Underwater’ level prompt. Ended up channelling Eccojams vibes. (Ecco the Dolphin)

Day 21 - Handle With Care: A Delivery-Boy-Dating-Simulator (Written in 2 hours Live on Twitch)
Myself and SonyaFX @sonyavos on Twitter both exchanged writing prompts. The prompt she gave me was as follows:
This game is about a girl who’s in love with her delivery boy, she keeps ordering dresses in order to see him every day. So her house is overflown with dresses. The goal of the game is to complete quests, craft items and level up to gain enough self esteem to ask the boy out on a date. This music plays at the beginning of the game while the player figures out the game mechanics and discovers the environment.
I had great fun writing this. I wanted to embody some of Zelda's calmer more mellow tracks but with an uplifting feel utilising the Lydian mode. (Major scale with a raised fourth note) There is a call and response toward the end to evoke the girls first conversation with the boy as she builds up courage. The cellos represent a heartbeat when this new section starts.