Retro Fantasy RPG Music Starter Pack - How it came to be

This was a fun music pack to create. It was born as a collection of accidents.

Cover for the Retro Fantasy RPG Music Starter Pack, created by Armando Flores

Accident I

Since January 2026, I started working on new music aimed at an adventure-style game music pack.

I wanted to create several tracks based on the same melody. So I created a couple of melodies and worked on some different versions.

I also had the itch to release a free music pack, as a way of attracting more traffic to my other products.

So I had the idea of creating some single-instrument arrangements of the melodies I was working on. I thought that the free music pack could be a collection of those arrangements and offer a bigger, paid product with more complex arrangements and instrumentations.

Then, when I was working on the “simpler” arrangements, I wanted to create several versions of those too.

The “original version” would be recorded with live instruments or produced with high-quality virtual instruments. And then, I would create lo-fi versions featuring retro instruments.

My first choice was a Mellotron emulation, that would be used for acoustic guitars, choirs, pianos, cellos, and harpsichords.

I created those versions fast since they required less work than the hi-fi versions.

Then my priorities changed, and those tracks were left unattended.

Accident II

In late February and early March, I decided to try some game jams on itch.io.

The first one in which I decided to participate was a composer weekend jam hosted by scoringtech.net.

The theme of the weekend jam was to select a specific aesthetic and create music with that limitation during the weekend.

I decided to work on Dungeon Synth music. Specifically inspired by Burzum’s Daudi Baldrs.

I liked the game between a basic synth sound and simple samples.

So I loaded a couple of my vintage synths virtual instruments and worked on some tracks.

During 2025, I created a Dungeon Synth music pack (originally titled Dark Orchestral Ambients). But it was more inspired by Elden Ring’s OST. Simple atmospheric and hybrid tracks. With long and sparse melodic content.

I loved creating that album. But for this jam, I wanted to approach the sound and play with now “cheap” sounding instruments.

As soon as I started playing with those instruments, I thought about the 16-bit/SNES era OSTs. Not in one specific soundtrack.

I created 4 tracks during that weekend jam. And it was at that point that I started thinking about creating another retro-sounding music pack. I had only published my 2021 “16-bit Action Platformer Music Pack”, and I wanted to create more retro music but was unsure if I wanted to approach working in a purist way. And I also wanted to get some new sounds, specifically for that aim. So I didn’t work on any retro music.

But now, I achieved some tracks that had the sound that I wanted. And I found out which instruments I could use to achieve that sound.

So it was decided: I was going to work on a retro-sounding music pack. But my intention was to create a free version and a premium version. I wasn’t sure which tracks would be used on each version.

Accident III

As soon as the composer weekend jam ended, I was excited and wanted to participate in another, this time game-oriented, jam.

Luckily, there was a game jam starting. So I joined and started to look for a team.

I have to be honest. I had only participated in game jams with one of my cousins and my brother. I had no experience with online and international game jams.

So I found out that finding a team right at the jam’s starting date is, at least on that jam, not the smartest move.

I couldn’t find a team. So I decided to create a couple of tracks during the duration of the jam and offer them as a free download within the game jam community.

Since I was really excited with the results of my previous jam tracks, I wanted to work on similar music.

So I worked on more retro-sounding, dungeon-synth-inspired music.

By the weekend, I had 7 retro-sounding tracks completed. So I had 4 tracks from the first jam, and 7 from this last one. And then I remembered about the retro arrangements that I had worked on in January. There were 4 additional tracks ready.

So I mixed and mastered everything, and now I had a 15-track collection of retro music.

Final Thoughts

This is the first music pack that I release as a free download. I love how the music came to be, and I’m glad that I got to know better some of the tools that I owned since some years ago. I’m also glad that I was able to create something that evokes an era of gaming that was so important to me.

Now I hope that this free pack helps position the rest of my music. I was careless with the previous releases and hoped that they would sell on their own.

Now I’m aware of so many mistakes and misconceptions that I had. Hopefully, this free pack takes me one step closer to my goals with game music.

But I also hope that anyone who downloads it enjoys it. It is music that’s important to me.

Thanks for reading and take care.

The pack is available for download at:

Unity: To be released

FAB: https://www.fab.com/listings/7e9aa8c5-b1bc-44f9-9348-cc4300824cdd

Game Dev Market: https://www.gamedevmarket.net/asset/retro-fantasy-rpg-music-starter-pack-15-tracks-30-files-16-bit-low-poly

itch.io: https://rodrigo-flores-music.itch.io/retro-fantasy-rpg-music-starter-pack