Video Game App Secrets

How to Use the Text to Video Game Music Generator

Welcome, intrepid composer! This guide will show you how to turn your words into awesome 8-bit video game music. The most important thing to know is that the music is not random. Every note, rhythm, and harmony is determined by the specific words you type.

Note: There is a 150-word limit on the text input to ensure the app runs smoothly.

Here’s how it works.

Part 1: How Your Text Becomes the Main Melody

When you type something into the text box and hit play, the generator analyzes your words in three ways to create the main melody.

1. The Rhythm Style

The overall feel of the melody is determined by your text's structure:

Syncopated Rhythm (Jazzy Feel): If your text has a number of words that is a multiple of 3 (like 3, 6, 9 words), the melody will have a syncopated, off-beat feel (using dotted eighth and sixteenth notes).
Flowing Rhythm (Smooth Feel): If your text has a lot of vowels or contains the letter 'o' more than 10 times, the melody will be smooth and flowing, with longer notes.
Staccato Rhythm (Bouncy Feel): For everything else, the melody will be bouncy and detached, with shorter notes.

2. The Melodic Style

The notes themselves are chosen based on your first word:

Scalar Melody (Uses more notes): If your first word is long (7+ letters), the melody will be more complex and move up and down the scale.
Leaping Melody (Dramatic Jumps): If your first word has a bunch of consonants together (like in the word "strength"), the melody will make big, dramatic jumps between notes.
Chordal Melody (Simple & Strong): This is the default style, creating a simple melody based on the core notes of the scale (the 1st, 3rd, and 5th).

3. Note and Rhythm Overrides (The Fun Part!)

This is where you get more control. The first letter of each word can change the rhythm or the note that plays.

Rhythm Overrides:

If a word starts with 'e', 'a', 'o', or 't', it will play a simpler rhythm of quarter and eighth notes, no matter what the overall "Rhythm Style" is. This is great for creating a mix of simple and complex phrases.

Note Overrides:

While most notes are based on the core harmony (1st, 3rd, 5th), certain letters trigger special "color" notes:

'p' = Plays the 4th note of the scale.
'l' = Plays the 6th note of the scale.
'm' = Plays the 2nd note of the scale.
's' (on a long word) = Plays the 7th note of the scale for a little tension.

Part 2: Creating Custom Songs with Power-Ups

To get really creative, turn on Power-Up Mode using the toggle switch. This lets you enter "cheat codes" to build a longer song, measure by measure.

The basic commands are:

up: Plays one measure of your original melody.
down: Plays a smoother, simpler version of your melody.
left: Plays a counter-melody based on your text.
right: Plays a harmony part based on your text.
fill: Plays a one-measure percussive fill.
null: Plays one measure of silence (a rest).

You can string them together like this: up left up fill

The "Left," "Right," and "Fill" Command Rules

These are special because they react to your original text:

The left Command: Looks at the third word of your text.

If it's a long word, you get a syncopated arpeggio.
If it has a lot of vowels, you get a flowing scale pattern.
Otherwise, you get a simple bassline.

The right Command: Looks at your total word count.

Even number of words = Plays a "parallel harmony" (a classic video game sound).
Odd number of words = Plays in "contrary motion" (the melody goes down when the original goes up).

The fill Command: Looks at the last character of your text.

! = Creates an energetic, driving fill.
? = Creates a syncopated, questioning fill.
. = Creates a simple, powerful fill.
(anything else) = The fill is based on the length of your last word.

Part 3: Advanced Cheat Codes (a, d, t, and 2)

You can add prefixes to the cheat codes for even more control.

The Two-Measure Command: 2

Add a 2 before any command to make it last for two measures instead of one. This is great for playing the full original melody or creating longer, more developed sections.

Example: 2up (plays the full 2-measure melody), 2left, 2fill

The Arpeggio Command: a

Add a before a command to create an arpeggio (a broken chord). This works best on aleft or aright.

Example: aup or aleft

You can also combine it with t to make the arpeggio a triplet.

Example: taleft (triplet arpeggio) or taright

The Diatonic Sample Command: d

The d prefix creates a simple scale-based melody that is completely determined by the words in your text. It uses the first four words of your input for the four directions:

dup: Melody based on your 1st word.
ddown: Melody based on your 2nd word.
dleft: Melody based on your 3rd word.
dright: Melody based on your 4th word.

The rules are:

Rhythm: Long words create faster 16th notes; short words create 8th notes.
Direction: Words with an even vowel count make the scale go up. Odd vowel counts make it go down.

Part 4: Other Cool Features

Hit by a Turtle Shell: This button randomizes all your settings for a fun, chaotic surprise.
Automatic Rhythm Style: The default drum and bass pattern is chosen based on the length of your first sentence! Short sentences get slower beats, and long sentences get more intense ones. This is saved when you hit "Reset".

Now you know all the secrets! Go make some music.