Shmup Music Feedback and Ideas?

[radiohunter]

Hi everyone, I'm one of the two musicians working on a shmup in development called Devil Engine (https://sinoc.itch.io/devilengine). I'm currently doing the music for stage 3, set in a jungle

I'd appreciate some feedback on it so far, and would particularly welcome ideas on how to extend it.
https://clyp.it/4snh4iyh#

Thanks!

[Rue]

How well does it synchronize with the stage itself? You should probably look into doing that, as the linearity of shmups allow you to completely orchestrate the music along with the game.

[radiohunter]

That's an interesting idea, I haven't been doing that so far, the track usually just loops once or twice. Usually there's a transition of some sort after the mid boss. Thanks for the idea!

[Rue]

If you're looking for some examples, Samidare/RefRain, BLUE REVOLVER, Crimzon Clover, and the Touhou series in general has a good sense of music/stage synchronization that divide the stages, sometimes even entire attack patterns into parts, giving more impact to certain events and makes them easier to memorize. There are plenty of examples outside of those, but I'm naming things from what I've played recently.

It's more like an extra that should be taken into consideration, and there's really nothing wrong with utilizing loops. A lot of the synchronization is arbitrary most the time, usually depending on how well the player plays and how fast they can kill things. The dev can also alter the stage to fit it, just be mindful of the length and pacing he's aiming for.