My Music for Shmups

[casualcoder]

I just put out my instrumental work called "Smash Quiet." It's broken into atmospheric (quiet) tracks and aggressive/dance (smash), the later which could be adapted for shmups. Smash tracks are 10-18 in the player found here:

http://www.platinumaudiolab.com/index.p ... smashquiet

I'm trying to get the tracks into games and such, and as you know i'm heavily into shmups so if any of you happen to have leads I would be grateful. As it stands its under Creative Commons license so basically if EA sports comes calling they'll have to pay to use but an indie developer will pretty much get a free-pass. Thanks for checking it out if you care to.

EDIT: I realize there is a lot of material to ask people to go through themselves. So i'll narrow down the most likely shmup-friendly candidates to be:

12. Fall (Smash) http://soundcloud.com/snikolicproducer/ ... olic-smash
17. Sheep (Smash) http://soundcloud.com/snikolicproducer/ ... olic-smash
10. Tribal (Smash) http://soundcloud.com/snikolicproducer/ ... olic-smash
11. Locust (Smash) http://soundcloud.com/snikolicproducer/ ... olic-smash
14. Dose (Smash) http://soundcloud.com/snikolicproducer/ ... olic-smash
18. Sympathy (Smash) http://soundcloud.com/snikolicproducer/ ... olic-smash

Probably in that order.

[KAI]

What we have learn in all this years is that any kind of music can be used on a shmup (Rock, pop, jazz, techno, metal, etc).
I think there's no need to adapt music for shmups. Versatility is one of the biggest qualities of this game genre.

[casualcoder]

What we have learn in all this years is that any kind of music can be used on a shmup (Rock, pop, jazz, techno, metal, etc).
I think there's no need to adapt it to shmups. Versatility is one of the biggest qualities of this game genre.

Yes, though I'm still waiting to hear a shmup soundtrack with Bluegrass or Country. A shmup with old-school 2LiveCrew type gangsta rap... now that would be interesting.

By adapt I really just mean there will have to be different loop points and such because as a stage progresses it may or may not make sense to have a conventional buildup from verse, to chorus, to bridge. But your point is taken.

[KAI]

Some Taito and Milestone games have soundtracks with non-looped track who follow the stage progress.
I would also like to hear for example Tango on a shmup, but I was talking about popular genres.
Nice music BTW.

[Nana]

Sorry to derail, but I would really really love to hear tango as the soundtrack to a shmup. I think something like that would make for a wonderful atmosphere, and music focused on sophisticated dancing would naturally lend itself to complex bullet patterns

If this exists, somebody please let me know. Waltzes (was super stoked by the last stage in Deathsmiles for this reason) and bossa nova songs are also in dire need of shooting goodness - The Girl from Ipanema was practically made for one! I think Dangun Feveron really gets it.

As for the music in the OP, good stuff! Especially on the smash side of things. Tribal Smash reminds me of Mars Matrix a good bit. While I do think dance music is a good fit for a shmup, I'm not TOO into this style (trance) in particular. It's too clean and organized -- however, some of the more concentrated parts like the short bursts of silence in the aforementioned Tribal Smash song work great.

EDIT: And in response to the Taito soundtracks, Gekirindan's is absolutely AMAZING. I know some people dislike the lack of boss themes, but I was floored by it. Especially how all of the levels follow different arrangements of the same song.

[KAI]

TANGO DE IKARUGA, but it's a doujin album, not an OST.

[Aliquantic]

Yes, though I'm still waiting to hear a shmup soundtrack with Bluegrass or Country.

Does 194X: The Loop Master count with its rip-offs, most notably La Grange for me?

[Nana]

TANGO DE IKARUGA, but it's a doujin album, not an OST.

Oh man, that's awesome. Do you know where I could possibly buy/download/find this?

Couldn't find anything from actual games by searching, but this popped up on youtube and is quite pleasant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4oFA3_f ... ure=relmfu

[casualcoder]

As for the music in the OP, good stuff! Especially on the smash side of things. Tribal Smash reminds me of Mars Matrix a good bit. While I do think dance music is a good fit for a shmup, I'm not TOO into this style (trance) in particular. It's too clean and organized -- however, some of the more concentrated parts like the short bursts of silence in the aforementioned Tribal Smash song work great.
.

Nobody ever accused my style of being clean and organized. I know what you mean though. It's not my usual favorite style either although I wouldn't say any of my work in this realm is straight-forward dance or trance but, yeah, loopy for sure. One of my favorite OST's for shmups is for Deathsmiles. I like how its frenetic, campy and dark in an uptempo kind of way. If I ever get commissioned to do an OST I would probably want to attempt something more like that.