So to go more in depth...

The Music Maker Jam software is available for Android and IOS devices as well as PCs (I got mine through the Microsoft Store). It is a "freemium" software, meaning you can use it for free, but it has a limited range of tools to use and better features such as different mixes, beats and chords come with in-app purchases or a subscription ($4.99/month for me, and I don't plan on keeping it that long).

The reason I have not yet shared music independently of a release is because for me, music is a lot more harshly judged than art. With art, the only limit for the content itself is your imagination, no matter how limited your tools are, you can draw ANYTHING that comes to mind. With music, the range of different sounds you can make depend on what is available to you - ex: if I only have six chords to use, all songs I make will have some resonance to them no matter how they're arranged- making it monotonous (which has a higher chance of turning off the project's appeal since the story is very comprehensive). Being musically inspired by Robert Glasper (known for being able to put repetition to excellent use in his collaborations), I find appeal in such a phenomenon, but I cannot speak for anyone else so I have to be extra careful to deliver some variety with the limited tools I have.

And I know some of you will ask "Why not just find help?" It's hard to find volunteers to begin with, but even harder to find some with a good fit for what you create, especially since so few people are interested in the content itself (not that it's a requirement, but it REALLY helps when the person is invested in the story enough to really look at it and go "if I were watching this as a show/movie, what would I imagine the soundtrack to be like"?) I'm not a great musician, but as the saying goes "if you want something done right, it's best to do it yourself"!

The final music will play in the game regardless, but if I am confident enough in the tracks themselves I will make use of GJ's music player.

Anyways, that's my solodev TED talk for the day!

Please play the demo of the game at either of these links:

https://gamejolt.com/games/ef-prequel-return-to-eternity/1030272

https://e11ed0rad0.itch.io/eternal-frenemies-return-to-eternity-demo

#rpg #renpy #visualnovel #music #musicmakerjam #vngame #solodev #storygame #interactive #rpg #soundtrack #eternalfrenemiesproject