How to Plan Music for Your Game: A Guide for Indie Developers

It can feel overwhelming, but let's make it exciting instead (Image designed by myself, in Canva)

You're excited to start implementing music into your game to help bring your world to life... but wait, what tracks do you actually need? Where, when? And how many? This is one of the most common initial challenges I help developers with. Although it is often an evolving answer (unless music is implemented towards the end of development) the question:

“How many music tracks does my game need?”

Always gets asked. And frankly, the answer is likely less than you think.

Planning music for a game is not just about filling every area with a unique soundtrack. Good game music is about supporting the player experience, reinforcing emotion, and helping create a memorable identity for your world.

This is also something many developers leave until very late in production. By that point, budgets are tighter, timelines are shorter, and music decisions often become rushed. Planning earlier gives you a much better chance of creating a soundtrack that actually feels connected to the game.

As composers, helping developers scope and plan their soundtrack is often part of the job. But even if you are handling things yourself, understanding the basics of music planning can save a huge amount of time, money, and stress later on.

So let’s break down how to actually plan the music needs of your game.

Start With The Player Experience, Not The Track Count

Before you think about how many tracks you need, think about what the player should feel throughout the game. Music exists to support emotion and atmosphere. So instead of asking: “How many songs should we have?”

Ask instead: “What emotional experiences does the player go through?”

For example:

• Exploration

• Discovery

• Tension

• Safety

• Wonder

• Isolation

• Chaos

• Triumph

• Loss

• Mystery

Once you start thinking this way, planning music becomes much easier because you are designing emotional support for gameplay rather than simply creating a list of tracks.

A peaceful village and a dangerous dungeon may both technically be “locations”, but emotionally they require completely different musical approaches. And if you have multiple forms of dungeons for example, they might have very distinct emotional "feels" to them as well.

Likewise, some moments may not need music at all. Silence can be just as powerful when used intentionally. Striking a balance between music, ambience and silence is usually the healthiest approach.

Break Your Game Into Soundtrack Zones/Categories

One of the easiest ways to plan a soundtrack is to divide the game into what I like to think of as “sound zones”. These are the key gameplay spaces, systems, or emotional moments that may require distinct music.

For example:

• Main menu

• Intro cinematic

• Hub town

• Exploration areas

• Combat encounters

• Boss fights

• Puzzle sections

• Narrative scenes

• Shops or safe zones

• Ending sequence

• Credits

This immediately makes the process feel more manageable. Instead of trying to imagine an entire soundtrack at once, you are simply looking at individual puzzle pieces of the player experience.

You may also notice that some areas can share musical ideas. That is actually a good thing.

Many great game soundtracks rely on recurring themes, motifs, or instrumentation to create consistency and identity.

You Probably Need Fewer Tracks Than You Think

Developers often assume they need a completely unique track for every single area in the game. But in reality, a smaller number of well designed tracks can often make a soundtrack more effective overall.

A single strong theme can be adapted into:

• Combat versions

• Slower emotional versions

• Ambient versions

• Orchestral versions

• Lo-fi or minimal variations

• Menu arrangements

This helps to create consistency while also reducing scope (and cost). Many games also benefit greatly from:

• Looping music

• Layered stems

• Adaptive music systems

• Transition states

• Dynamic instrumentation

For example, combat music may fade in additional percussion or intensity layers instead of fully changing tracks. This can make a soundtrack feel much larger and more reactive without requiring dozens of entirely separate compositions.

If your budget or timeline is limited, focusing on a smaller number of stronger musical ideas is usually far more effective than trying to create endless tracks with little identity. A composer will be able to work with you in this way, limiting the total amount of tracks while still delivering a complete an effective soundtrack to immerse your players.

Prioritise The Moments Players Will Remember Most

Not every part of your game requires the same level of musical attention. Prioritise the moments players are most likely to remember, or when you want them to experience peaks of emotion or drama.

Usually these are things like:

• The main menu

• Opening moments

• First gameplay experience

• Major boss fights

• Character development events

• Emotional story scenes

• Trailers

• Ending sequences

These are the moments where music often has the biggest emotional impact. A strong main menu theme alone can massively shape first impressions of a game as well. Anyone else used to leave the Mass Effect main menu open for hours? Just me?

Likewise, a memorable boss track or ending piece can become something players associate with your game long after they finish playing. On the other hand, some lower intensity gameplay sections may work perfectly well with simpler ambient music or lighter looping tracks. Not every scene needs to (or should) constantly demand attention.

Think About Repetition Early

One of the fastest ways for music to become frustrating is repetition fatigue.

keep in mind that your players may:

• Spend hours exploring

• Repeatedly retry fights

• Spend many hours farming resources

• Spend a long time navigating menus

• Replaying sections multiple times

This means your music often needs to survive extended listening sessions.

A short loop that sounds great for 30 seconds may become exhausting after an hour.

When planning music, think about:

• Track length

• Looping quality

• Variation

• Intensity balance

• How frequently tracks repeat

• Whether certain music may become distracting over time

This is especially important in genres with long gameplay sessions like:

• RPGs

• Survival games

• Strategy games

• Simulation games

• Roguelikes

Sometimes subtle and atmospheric music works better over long periods than highly aggressive or overly busy compositions. Adaptive music becomes more important when players are likely to spend a very long time in the same environments, or replaying elements many times over.

Create A Simple Music Planning Document

You do not need a complicated system to start planning your soundtrack, even a basic spreadsheet or document can help massively.

Here is a simple example structure to try out:

Area/Event	Mood	Priority	Notes
Main Menu	Emotional and mysterious	High	First impression of the game
Hub Town	Warm and safe	Medium	Should feel comforting
Forest Exploration	Calm and adventurous	High	Needs good looping
Combat	Fast paced and tense	High	Could use adaptive layers
Boss Fight	Intense and dramatic	Very High	Major emotional moment
Ending	Reflective and emotional	Very High	Needs payoff and closure

Laying things out in this way or similar helps you:

• Scope your soundtrack realistically

• Identify priorities

• Communicate ideas clearly

• Work with composers more effectively

• Avoid discovering missing music late in development

Even rough planning like this is far better than trying to figure everything out at the very end of production.

Don’t Leave Music Until The End

This is one of the biggest mistakes indie projects make. Music is often treated as something to “drop in at the end”, and while it's possible to create a good experience with that approach... audio influences how players emotionally experience almost every part of a game.

At least thinking about it early can help you to:

• Reinforce worldbuilding

• Improve pacing

• Strengthen emotional moments

• Make gameplay feel more satisfying

• Create a stronger identity for the project

It can also affect trailers, marketing, demos, crowdfunding campaigns, and Steam page presentation long before launch. You do not need every detail fully planned from day one, but thinking about music earlier usually leads to far stronger results.

Composers Exist To Help You Throughout The Process

A lot of developers assume they need to fully plan their soundtrack before speaking with a composer. That is rarely true, and it's very common for composers to help developers plan out soundtracks and audio in a range of ways.

Part of a composer’s job is often helping to:

• Reduce unnecessary scope

• Identify where music matters most

• Create thematic consistency

• Plan adaptive systems

• Decide what can be reused or varied

• Shape the overall musical identity of the game

• Help with tracks for marketing needs

Even early conversations can help clarify the direction of a soundtrack and prevent expensive changes later on. The earlier music becomes part of the creative process, the more integrated and intentional it usually feels.

Final Thoughts

Planning music for your game is not about creating as many tracks as possible, or planning every track out perfectly in precise detail. It is about understanding the emotional journey of the player and supporting that experience intentionally.

A smaller soundtrack with strong themes, thoughtful placement, and good implementation will almost always feel more memorable than a huge collection of disconnected tracks. Once you start thinking about your game's music as a more complete experience from the player's perspective, things naturally take shape.

And if you are unsure where to begin, even a simple music planning document can make a huge difference before a single note is ever written. And if you don't know how to start on what your game should sound check out this other post I wrote on that very topic.

And of course, feel free to get in touch with me or DM on socials for advice. I'm happy to help. I hope you found this post useful!

As every, wishing you all the best with your development journey!