Mapping by Music

I want to know if this is just me or if anyone else does this too. Whenever I start a project, the first thing I do is select the music and come up with the level titles. Then I build the level to match. Again, does anyone else do this or am I just weird?

that is exactly what I do :). I think matching music and mapnames to match a level's attitude/atmosphere is definitely important.


Often times I'll play the midi I intend to use on loop a couple times while laying out the outline for the map, to put me in the right mood or something... idk....

No, I don't do that but I do often map with theme-appropriate music playing in the background.

No, I don't, and picking a fitting music for a map is always hard for me. That said, I might try your approach, it seems interesting and the results may turn out better. Thank you for sharing the idea.

Yeah, I quite often come up with map names first because I like to start with themes or concepts and the name often goes hand in hand with this.

Recently, I've been picking music ahead of mapping as well but I previously used to always sort out music last.

sometimes I know what midi I'll use before starting the map, sometimes I decide in the process, sometimes I decide long after the map is already done, sometiems etc

Music plays a huge role for me too. With my current project, which is a tribute to Doom & Doom 2 and which uses the original Doom music, I do use the approach in question :)

I'm at 95% on map01, 60% on map02, and 5% on maps 3-5, but I already have the map names and music selection planned.

Oh, and I guess we could call ourselves bonafide music lovers, as the first thing we do is to listen to some :)

But anyhow, I don't necessarily need to or desire to put on a jam in order to get inspired. I've played enough games, heard music and seen movies and absorbed impressions during my life to have at least some stock of inspiration to guide me the along the way.

Altough, I have experienced times where my creativity has been great, and in those times music will act as distracting because I just want to literally work, and in peace, on materiliazing ideas and inspiration.

I almost always listen to music while I map. It's good for inspiration and motivation, at least for me. And sometimes the music I end up using on the map is similar to the stuff that I listen to while making it (and sometimes its the exact same track that I end up using in the map).

I never listen to music when mapping, or doing much else. The only time I use music when mapping is when I'm picking music to play in the level.

When I build I just have a general idea of the setting, and a loose idea of where I want the Doom Guy to end up. So I make a level with a theme...then over time I'll make a new level connecting to that theme and so on until they change into the final area. So far in my current WAD You start in a base on I'd say level 1, then the next area is a base too, but all offices/administrative and so on...and then you go into the sewers and from there you end up in some dungeons with the idea that they were around before the base.

I do all this without music, I don't need it...I just map. I hear enough music when it plays during play-testing the map anyway.

I'm usually listening to music when doing anything at all, Doom-related or no. It's not often music related to whatever I'm working on, although sometimes it is.

I do find myself listening to my music library at length looking for inspiration, though. Sometimes I find hours have flown by when all I did was listen to music while the ideas for plot or level elements just came spewing forth in my head.

My main approach to music is "random play all", so I don't think music really effects my mapping. I have used song titles as map names if the map is strongly themed ("White Light" and "Blood Red" spring to mind), but I don't think I've ever made a map for a song or track before. Music and name just get added when I think of them, which is pretty variable.

Often times I'll play the midi I intend to use on loop a couple times while laying out the outline for the map, to put me in the right mood or something... idk....

Yep, same here.

..."A couple times" being, one hour or so.

As an useful side effect, this lets me weed out midis that seemed cool on a first listen but eventually become grating over time.

Ribbiks said:

that is exactly what I do :). I think matching music and mapnames to match a level's attitude/atmosphere is definitely important.


Often times I'll play the midi I intend to use on loop a couple times while laying out the outline for the map, to put me in the right mood or something... idk....

Yeah, this is pretty much me right here. :P