Screenshots
Watch trailer on Steam ↗Music Power Up
microStudio · Published by microStudio · Official site ↗
Last updated 27 Sept 2026
As a musician in the 1980s, create music for early video games. Make your own sounds and melodies from scratch, or use pre-composed patterns. Play games, upgrade the music app, meet programmers, editors and musicians, find your next music job, in the crazy decade that started the digital revolution.
Free
Indie, Casual · 2027 · More free games
Explore the vibrant sounds of the 1980s as a musician, crafting tunes for classic games while navigating the digital revolution. Upgrade your music app and meet fellow creators in Music Power Up, released in 2027.
About this game
As a musician in the 1980s, create music and sound effects for video game releases! Meet programmers, editors, innovators, all passionate about their own projects, in the crazy decade that started the digital revolution. Make music, for real. Play games. Be rewarded. Upgrade your app, learn new features and new skills along the way.
Music Power Up is both a game and a music production application.
You will receive a magazine issue with a review of each game, along with articles about sound, music and microcomputers. You may even receive one of the 4 international music awards you can get during your career!
What happens next is up to you. The music app is now all yours and you can create and export as many new music tracks or sound effects as you wish, for real or imaginary games.
These 8-bit chips have their limitations, but Jenny knows how to break boundaries. Plus, 16-bit microcomputers are coming, as well as new ranges of digital synthesizers and samplers. A whole new world of digital music production is opening up for your next music job!
You will follow the evolution of computers, synthesizers and digital music. After starting with a limited feature set suitable for chiptune music, you will progressively unlock new features like filters, additional tracks, FM synthesis, wavetables, new modulation capabilities, sampling…
Note: If you're more interested in the music app than the story, you can skip the story … or you can use the full app for your own musical projects and follow the story at a slower pace.
Music Power Up is both a game and a music production application.
Story
You will start your career as a musician in the 80s. Meet other musicians, game programmers and editors, share their excitement in the early days of microcomputing. Visit the pub, the computer fair, the electronics store. Explore programs, play games and make music from your bedroom. You will soon be hired to create music for new game releases.Create video game music
Music Power Up includes a complete music studio with 4 to 8 tracks, a versatile drum box and featured-packed synthesizer. You can shape your sounds and create your melodies from scratch, or you can use pre-composed patterns, assemble your tracks and go into the details later. You can create your song in sequencer mode or in real time through the performance mode. Once you're happy with your soundtrack, submit your work - it's time to ship the game!You will receive a magazine issue with a review of each game, along with articles about sound, music and microcomputers. You may even receive one of the 4 international music awards you can get during your career!
Play games
During your early career, you will create music and sound effects for 10 video game titles, inspired by retro classics. Each one of the 10 games is actually playable and once you have completed your job, you can launch them as many times as you wish. Plus, they've got the best music … since you made it!What happens next is up to you. The music app is now all yours and you can create and export as many new music tracks or sound effects as you wish, for real or imaginary games.
Upgrade your app
You are very lucky to be friends with Jenny. As a self-taught programmer, she disassembled your music app and she is now adding features one at a time. You'll soon learn that this isn't the only project she's working on.These 8-bit chips have their limitations, but Jenny knows how to break boundaries. Plus, 16-bit microcomputers are coming, as well as new ranges of digital synthesizers and samplers. A whole new world of digital music production is opening up for your next music job!
You will follow the evolution of computers, synthesizers and digital music. After starting with a limited feature set suitable for chiptune music, you will progressively unlock new features like filters, additional tracks, FM synthesis, wavetables, new modulation capabilities, sampling…
Learn about sound and music
Receive magazines with articles about creating music and using sound synthesis (along with reviews of your last games). Chat with musicians, programmers, hackers, and meet people on Compunet. Your friend Jenny will walk you through the app so you will quickly learn how to use it efficiently. She also made this other program for you to learn more about the essence of sound and how it can be synthesized.Your career is only starting
After completing the game, you will be a master at using the app. Create as many soundtracks as you want, using all the features of Music Power Up!Note: If you're more interested in the music app than the story, you can skip the story … or you can use the full app for your own musical projects and follow the story at a slower pace.
Music App Features
- True real time sound synthesis
- Integrated sequencer
- 4 to 8 tracks (each track can chain several instruments)
- Performance mode allowing to jam and compose on the fly
- Sound FX production mode
- Hundreds of Sound Presets
- Premade loops and sets in many styles, ready to be reused or completely reshaped
- Export to WAV, OGG, MP3
- Very straightforward sampler ; sing in the mic and play your voice!
- Play with your computer keyboard
- Compatible with your MIDI keyboard
- Song files are compatible with the mobile / tablet version (Android and iOS)
Game (Story mode) Features
- Meet and mingle with 8 different characters, in different places
- 10 playable games inspired from retro-classics ; for which you will make the music
- 10 magazine issues
- 4 unique awards to collect
- Learn about sound synthesis: oscillators, pulse width modulation, ring modulation, filters, FM, LFOs, wavetables / additive synthesis, sampling, common effects.
- Learn a few tricks for making music
- Relive the digital revolution in the 80s, through an engaging fictional story.
Not sure if this is for you? Some more details:
- This is not a simulation or management game. You will really create music. A game publisher is waiting for your work, don't screw it up!
- You can easily create chiptune-sounding music, but this is not a SID emulator. It probably doesn't have the exact same sound and limitations as your favorite retro sound chip ; however, it can certainly produce very similar sounds.
- Music Power Up is not a tracker either ; you can make tracker-sounding music but there is nothing like a tracker interface.
System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
Minimum:
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10 or later
- Processor: x86 1.5 Ghz
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Integrated GPU or better
- Storage: 450 MB available space
Recommended
Recommended:
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10 or later
- Processor: x86 2 Ghz
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Integrated GPU or better
- Storage: 450 MB available space
Supported Languages
English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Japanese
Latest news
AnnouncementsOfficial
Nominated for IndieCade 2024!
We're thrilled to announce that Music Power Up has been nominated for IndieCade 2024! It will be competing in the Audio Design category as well as for 5 other awards. Many thanks to the team and jury at IndieCade! IndieCade 2024 will be running online and on Steam from November 8th to November 16th. Check out the event here: https://www.indiecade.com/festival-2024/games/Read full article on Community Announcements (microStudio)AnnouncementsOfficial
Back to School starting today - with Music Power Up
We are excited to announce that Music Power Up has been selected to be part of the Back to School Steam event by Mooncube Games! The Back to School event celebrates the new school year with discounted educational games designed to enhance learning and productivity. The event page is filled with a variety of awesome games that encourage creativity, learning, and productivity. Don’t miss it—check it out here! https://store.steampowered.com/sale/BacktoSchoolSale2024 A big thanks to Mooncube Games for organizing this event and for including Music Power Up!Read full article on Community Announcements (microStudio)AnnouncementsOfficial
Wholesome Games Steam Celebration
Wholesome Games is back in August, celebrating cozy, artistic, uplifting and emotionally resonant games from developers of all sizes from around the world. We are very happy to announce that Music Power Up was selected for this event! The event is live here from August 15th to August 22nd: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/wholesomegames Discover new games and find deals on your preferred wholesome games!Read full article on Community Announcements (microStudio)AnnouncementsOfficial
Music Power Up is part of Tiny Teams 2024!
Music Power Up has been selected to be part of Tiny Teams 2024! Tiny Teams is a festival that celebrates games made by solo developers and "micro-studios," showcasing everything from popular indie hits to hidden gems that could be the next "big thing." The festival takes place each summer. My announcement is a bit late, but the event is still running on Steam for one more day. Check out the amazing selection of games here: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/tinyteams2024 I’d also like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the team behind Music Power Up: - Gilles Pommereuil (that’s me!) started Music Power Up as a solo dev two years ago. I’m also the creator of the free and open-source game engine microStudio. - Jean Haffner is a recently graduated game artist who recently joined me to work full-time on the project. Jean spent a few weeks on the project in 2023 already and is extremely talented, taking our production to new heights I couldn't have dreamed of! - Félix Bougrat is a young, highly skilled developer who interned with us in June, contributing to 3 of the minigames we're preparing for Music Power Up. - An OG video game musician has recently started producing music for MPU. I’m thrilled to have him on the team, and we plan to reveal his name in a few months. Stay tuned!Read full article on Community Announcements (microStudio)AnnouncementsOfficial
Working on the Music Power Up Demo!
Three months ago, I started communicating about Music Power Up, and I have been truly impressed by the reception it has received so far! I've gotten a lot of positive feedback every time I've posted about the game (mostly on Reddit). I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone for your feedback; it's incredibly motivating, and now I'm even more excited. One early suggestion was to create a demo, and I think it's a fantastic idea. For me, it represents a chance to focus on perfecting the core game systems early on, before finalizing all the content (full story, mini-games, etc.). I've written a prologue for the story that I believe turned out quite well! Without giving away too much, you'll get to meet several characters, delve into the backstory, start learning about sound, play games, create music, and embark on your first job as a video game music composer. In both the demo and the full game, you'll have the ability to use the music app independently from the story. This allows you to create your own tracks and sound effects, save them, and export them. Music Power Up incorporates a mini-DAW that is both user-friendly and very capable! Naturally, the demo will have fewer features, reflecting the early stage of your career where not all functionalities are unlocked. However, you'll still be able to use it for crafting your own music. The demo will remain permanently available as a free "lite" version of Music Power Up. It is also set to become the official free music app on my game engine, microStudio. The demo is planned for release around June 2024. Stay tuned for more updates! And now, back to work :-)Read full article on Community Announcements (microStudio)
