I was just wondering what how you guys determine whether or not a song is fit for an RPG or not... :) Since there's obviously a wide range of styles in RPG composing, (compare the Mario music to Xenogears, compare FFVII music to Wild Arms, for example...) how does one know what sounds like a song fit for an RPG?

Good question.

Most people who compose for the fun of it, and not having it as a professional career generally compose in a Final Fantasy kind of way. A mixture of songs with thematic melodies, field music and 'bad guy' rhythms are what I connect with RPG's. Gnomish, if you wonder what it takes to create songs that fits the genre RPG, then I'd say to make good orchestration with solid melodies. Melodies are what connects the listener to a certain character/scene/whatever.

Although I haven't played that many RPGs, I'd say that if you can infuse into the music a the feeling of style/adventure/excitement, then you've done your job =) And Noir's right, themes and melodies are important, but make them sound stylish/adventurous/exciting =P

Strong melodies may not always be needed. For example, less dramatic "field" scenes could use more discreet background music. While perhaps not as technically exciting, the music then used for important scenes would be even more moving.

I feel that a good/ catchy theme that crosses between other songs in the game makes the music have an epic feel. You experance somthing new in each song, but it leads you back to the original.

Copied and pasted from Trumpetplaya42's thread :)

Well, most RPG songs are designed to be looped - the idea is that they merge into the background while you're playing. If you had too unique a piece then it distracts people from playing the game, though at the same time if it's too repetitive then people fail to even register the music playing. Most RPG composers from what I've seen use themes and motifs for different characters/locations that are loopable, and then they use variations upon these themes in other places. This is rather similar to anime and musicals, for example Phantom of the Opera uses variations of the title songs as background music during the show, and in animes e.g. .hack//SIGN character themes are varied for playing later on in the show so the music doesn't get dull when played over and over again (for example, BT's theme has two versions that are played - a piano solo and a violin/piano duet, and both sound different but you can recognise them as variations of a theme)