Music Portfolio

Matthew Johannes

Game Designer | Composer | Pixel Artist

B I O

I am a Michigan-based indie game designer who loves all facets of game design—concept and story development, world building, character design, game balance, art and animation, and soundtrack composition. Entering my junior year as a Game Design major, game design capitalizes on all my obsessive interests. Each evening, I spend hours developing games, chatting with fellow creatives, playing bass, and composing music. Chasing new ideas and fine-tuning old ones brings me endless satisfaction. I never get bored, and it never gets old.

P R O J E C T S

Dine and Dash is a roguelike set inside a fast food restaurant. The player must fight their way through waves of employees to attempt to escape with a free meal. I started this game as my senior capstone project, and loved it so much, I've continued developing it and am working toward its release. Created as a solo project, all art, music, programming, and assets were made by me.

Music brief:
This sountrack was composed with mix of rock riffs and jazz instrumentation. My goal was to match the tone of the gameplay, which is both cool but unserious. Each track adapts to the gameplay — cutting to just the bass guitar while the player is outside of combat and returning to the full band when combat resumes. During boss battles, the music advances to a fuller, more intense, arrangement with more saxes, horns, and heavier drums. The moment the boss is defeated is underscored by a final stinger chord to end the track.

Timeline: 2024 - Present
Award: Excellence in Multimedia, CSI magnet program
Engine and software: Unity, Aesprite, Musescore, Audacity

IN GAME SAMPLE - "Out of the Frying Pan"

This video is a full playthrough of Dine and Dash level 1-2, the kitchen, featuring the track "Out of the Frying Pan." I wrote the riff for this piece on electric guitar, and then translated it in Musescore.

This video also features the track "Shopkeep Blues," a 12 bar blues arrangement of the Dine and Dash theme "Order Up!". This version plays through a vintage radio sitting on the counter in the shop rooms.

Below are the isolated tracks that make up the adaptive music for "Out of the Frying Pan."

Out of The Frying Pan - solo bass

00:00 / 03:53

Out of The Frying Pan - small band

00:00 / 03:53

Out of The Frying Pan - boss fight

00:00 / 03:44

OTHER DINE AND DASH TRACKS

Order Up!

00:00 / 03:34

Micromanagement

00:00 / 08:27

Shopkeep Blues

00:00 / 02:40

The Ballpits

00:00 / 06:51

Behind the Castle Walls

00:00 / 09:39

Shopkeep Waltz

00:00 / 02:23

The Nine to Five

00:00 / 08:21

The Corporate Ladder

00:00 / 06:21

CEO

00:00 / 11:09

Download Dine and Dash at itch.io

Time's Up is a turn-based roguelike I developed for the 2025 EGaDS! Texas Game Jam. The game features 60 waves, 10 unique enemy types, and 11 unique power ups. Inspired by Wii Play: Tanks!, the music adapts to the enemies currently on the board by adding a new layer to the score for each different enemy type as they appear.

Making this game was a fun experience. Having just 48 hours in a weekend to do it allowed me to see how I work under pressure and to practice time management. I enjoyed creating an entire game and soundtrack in such a short time span.

Music Brief:
Time's Up could only fit one piece of music due to the time constraints of the project.. The track focuses around a driving 7/8 pulse to fit the methodical feeling of the gameplay. Each layer was written to compliment each other and avoid dissonance as random enemies appear on screen. The loop is short, around 25 seconds, to make sure each new layer added will sound good when it comes in. The guitar and bass were recorded live.

Timeline: September 2025
Theme: Out of Time
Awards: Judge's Choice, 3rd Place People's Choice Winner
Engine and software: Unity, Aesprite, Musescore, Reaper, Audacity

IN GAME SAMPLE - "Time's Up Main Theme"

This video shows gameplay of a few waves in Time's Up, demonstrating how the different layers fade in and out depending on the enemy types currently on the board.

Below is a breakdown of the individual tracks associated with each enemy type, along with a full version of the theme with everything playing together.

TRACK BREAKDOWN

Time's Up - Full Theme

00:00 / 00:38

Castanets - Always

00:00 / 00:51

Bass - Any Enemies

00:00 / 00:37

Guitar - Longshot

00:00 / 00:30

Synth Bass - Bigbot

00:00 / 00:52

Square Synth - Shield Generator

00:00 / 00:52

Theramin - Sniper

00:00 / 00:51

Organ - Bishop

00:00 / 00:52

Clock - Bombbot

00:00 / 00:38

Horns & Taiko - Gorilla

00:00 / 00:53

Hi-Hat - Stealthbot

00:00 / 00:51

Synth Guitar - Mortar

00:00 / 00:53

Time's Up - Game Over

00:00 / 01:01

Download Times Up at itch.io

Closed Intelligence is a stealth game developed for a sophmore project. The player is one of the last humans on earth attempting to sneak into a data center to shut down the evil AI for good.

Music Brief:
The soundtrack for this game has a techno vibe in response to the furturistic setting. The music functions with two versions of the same theme: a lowkey version and a highkey version. The lowkey version plays while the player is exploring the facility, and the highkey version fades in whenever the player is spotted by the guards. The guitar in the highkey version was recorded live and is meant to mimic an alarm.

Timeline: March-April 2026
Engine and software: Unreal Engine, Adobe Illustrator, Musescore, Reaper, Audacity

IN GAME SAMPLE - "Stealth"

This video shows gameplay of Closed Intelligence and the way both versions of the stealth theme fade in and out in response to gameplay.

Stealth - Lowkey

00:00 / 02:27

Stealth - Highkey

00:00 / 02:27

Duality is a Pokemon fan game that I began in a Computer Science class, then continued to develop over three more school years and three summers. The project has over 24-hours of gameplay, 250+ unique creatures, 46 playable areas, and an over 80-song soundtrack. While it is a fan game inspired by my love of RPGs, only original creature designs were included. I managed and developed this project with a team of two friends.

Music Brief:
The Duality soundtrack was my first composition experience and my skills developed so much along the way. I experimented with many styles of instrumentation and used leitmotifs to maintain cohesion throughout the soundtrack. I currently use leitmotifs more intentionally to create specific moments but this project was a good jumping off point to my further work.

Timeline: 2019 - 2023
Engine and software: RPG Maker, Aseprite, Audacity, Musescore

IN GAME SAMPLE - "Route 19"

Route 19 is the last route in the game before victory road. To sell the importance of this area I used a repeating piano ostinato with heavy dramatic strings below it. The high string and Kalimba melodies help to add a bit of hopefulness to an otherwise dark track.

Route 19

00:00 / 06:37

IN GAME SAMPLE - "Battle Gym Leader"

This track plays for all of the gym battles in the game. It's more intense than the trainer and wild battle themes, but more playful than some of the later battle tracks as gym battles have lower stakes than any of the major plot-relevant encounters.

MUSIC PORTFOLIO

B I O

P R O J E C T S

IN GAME SAMPLE - "Out of the Frying Pan"

OTHER DINE AND DASH TRACKS

IN GAME SAMPLE - "Time's Up Main Theme"

TRACK BREAKDOWN

IN GAME SAMPLE - "Stealth"

This video shows gameplay of Closed Intelligence and the way both versions of the stealth theme fade in and out in response to gameplay.

IN GAME SAMPLE - "Route 19"

Route 19 is the last route in the game before victory road. To sell the importance of this area I used a repeating piano ostinato with heavy dramatic strings below it. The high string and Kalimba melodies help to add a bit of hopefulness to an otherwise dark track.

IN GAME SAMPLE - "Battle Gym Leader"

This track plays for all of the gym battles in the game. It's more intense than the trainer and wild battle themes, but more playful than some of the later battle tracks as gym battles have lower stakes than any of the major plot-relevant encounters.

OTHER HIGHLIGHT TRACKS

S O F T W A R E S K I L L S

GAME ENGINES

Unity

Unreal

SOFTWARE

Aseprite
Maya
Cinema 4D
MuseScore
Reaper
Audacity
RPG Maker

ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe InDesign

Adobe After Effects

Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Audition

O T H E R I N T E R E S T S

Dungeons & Dragons
Bass Guitar
Electric Guitar

MUSIC PORTFOLIO

B I O

P R O J E C T S

IN GAME SAMPLE - "Out of the Frying Pan"

OTHER DINE AND DASH TRACKS

IN GAME SAMPLE - "Time's Up Main Theme"

TRACK BREAKDOWN

IN GAME SAMPLE - "Stealth"

This video shows gameplay of Closed Intelligence and the way both versions of the stealth theme fade in and out in response to gameplay.

IN GAME SAMPLE - "Route 19"

Route 19 is the last route in the game before victory road. To sell the importance of this area I used a repeating piano ostinato with heavy dramatic strings below it. The high string and Kalimba melodies help to add a bit of hopefulness to an otherwise dark track.

IN GAME SAMPLE - "Battle Gym Leader"

This track plays for all of the gym battles in the game. It's more intense than the trainer and wild battle themes, but more playful than some of the later battle tracks as gym battles have lower stakes than any of the major plot-relevant encounters.

OTHER HIGHLIGHT TRACKS

S O F T W A R E S K I L L S

GAME ENGINES

Unity

Unreal

SOFTWARE

Aseprite Maya Cinema 4D MuseScore Reaper Audacity RPG Maker

​

ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe InDesign

Adobe After Effects

Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Audition​​​

O T H E R I N T E R E S T S

Dungeons & Dragons Bass Guitar Electric Guitar ​​​

Aseprite
Maya
Cinema 4D
MuseScore
Reaper
Audacity
RPG Maker

Adobe Audition

Dungeons & Dragons
Bass Guitar
Electric Guitar