A Not-How-To Compose a Map Theme with "Wrong Note" Arpeggios (Rescoring Shovel Knight / Opaloid Kingdom)

A J Greengrove

Published:

In this Not-How-To anti-tutorial, I compose game music (map theme) inspired by the “Wrong-Note” prelude, as I wrote & videoed in The “Wrong-Note” Prelude of Final Fantasy I (1987 NES). After the arpeggios there’s an ascending-fifths (aka “mountain”) sequence and a classic ii-V-(I reinterpreted as III) turnaround. I recommend skipping with the use of timestamps, unless the composing process itself interests you or maybe viewing in the background.

This is more of a prototype, but it is the first installment of a live-composition series called The Alchemy of Game Music Themes.

Originally the idea was to just to simply use the music theory concepts of the Final Fantasy Prelude. But the truth is, I composed the first half on a whim, and while it’s not musically all that complex, it would be a hindrance to analyze everything to full extent here. As an example of getting bogged down is the very first harmony: as a Bbmaj7/F, it shares both qualities of starting with VI but also starting on a III because of the bass. Discussing these kinds of details further shall await later times.

Timestamps to skip the video:

0:00:00 Revenge of the Nyancat -climax teaser (episode starts in 25:16)
0:00:02 Preview (notice the fakebit sounds, almost like chiptune)
0:00:12 Setting up & “explaining” (chaotically) the premise the livestream
0:01:00 Shovel Knight
0:01:20 Bass line (+ chaotic talking)
0:02:08 Playing the ascending-fifths (“mountain”) sequence with the guitar
0:02:46 So Milton Babitt once mentioned Schoenberg not laying out an overall plan for a composition: and because of that, never finishing it.
0:04:29 Playing the beginning arpeggios tentatively with the guitar
0:04:45 @StevenMelin once explained: in games, the sounds fill the middle frequencies, so us composers fill the highs and lows
0:05:07 Sketching the ascending-fifths (“mountain”) sequence but didn’t know where it would harmonically land us
0:05:36 Before “palm mute”, Fernando Sor used “etouffez”: think palm mute with the left hand(!). Sounds soft & cool!
0:07:16 Too detailed to fully cover here, but in short: the question of the sequence’s step with the semitone is placed in the ascending-fifths (“mountain”) sequence
0:08:18 Testing the plagal IVb3 but didn’t work
0:08:45 Sketching the final turnaround
0:09:54 Initial mention of counterpoint: I finished the more rich texture after the livestreams that had already dragged on quite a while
0:11:14 The second live stream begins. Trying to explain things more clearly, didn’t really.
0:12:38 Trying to compose a theme that works in menu and map: actually, worked better in game “Opaloid Kingdom”
0:16:00 Sketching the end of the game audio loop
0:17:18 This is when tiredness starts to kick in, and chaos emerges.
0:17:57 Elision: the B part elides into the C part without a clear boundary (not demonstrated clearly here).
0:20:31 Sketching the percussive aspects of this piece
0:21:50 @StevenMelin once explained: when game music matches the “rhythms”: actions & movements etc of the game, that’s good
0:22:17 Shoving “figueta” with the guitar: instead of alternate picking. Better for weaving improvised counterpoint.
0:24:33 Beverage Break begins
0:25:16 Revenge of the Nyancat -episode begins
0:25:58 Revenge of the Nyancat -episode climax
0:27:39 I understood to make it map theme, not menu
0:29:44 The guitar is not… (? Guess the mystery!) -episode
0:32:27 Using Csound’s flanger opcode for the guitar. Nice.
0:34:01 I realized this piece works better in Opaloid Kingdom than Shovel Knight
0:34:41 Final Results Preview Screen

After an insane amount of (re-)editing, I’ll just leave this as is: as I said above, there’s just too much to cover. I’ll break down the stuff into bite-sized pieces and cover all of them eventually, re-editing this post as I go.