Game Music, How important is it to you? Options

[Stern]

Ello Gamemakers of R3!

(I wasn't sure where to post this, but hopefully this is the right place.)

I recently brought up the topic of; game music in general, with a couple of friends of mine. Most of them simply said; "I usually mute the music and play my own." I thought that was a bit weird, but I didn't think much of it because they're people who generally aren't very interested in music at all.

Anyways that short discussion gave me the idea of this topic. Hopefully this forum will spring some interesting discussions.

I usually find myself listening to game music on spotify (similar to iTunes). A good soundtrack is, to me, what makes a game memorable. When it comes to RPGs, I think that music is just as important as the story and the art direction. I know there's a lot of people that disagrees with this.

So in short; How important is the music in a game to you?

If you don't really have an opinion, take a look at these questions, they should get something out of you

Your projects:

• How important is music in your project(s)?
• Do you treat music as an afterthought?
• How much time (compared to art, story, gameplay) do you spend on composing/creating or finding music?

In other games:

• Do you ever find yourself muting the music when playing a game?
• Have a bad soundtrack ruined an otherwise good game for you?
• Have you ever found yourself playing a game ONLY beause it has a good soundtrack?
• Does the importance of music differ depending on genre?

I'm looking forward to hear what you think!

This post has been edited by st3rnb0rn: Apr 18 2011, 12:05 PM

[Lurvid]

How important is music to me?
Music is life man.
Music is the absolute manifestation of imagination. The compression of inspiration. The extension of the very heart and soul.
I sound like a hippy.
But really, music sets a scene, even if the scene isn't there. Music to a willing ear is like binary to a computer. It's the instruction sheet to the Ikea furniture of life. As in, you have to be high or insane to fully understand it.
An intelligent person can turn a single composition into a world inside their heads. That's actually where I got all my inspiration from. A game without music is like a painting without colors. It's just some monochrome bullshit made by some hipster who takes it in the ass every night by his Italian boyfriend. You can't make a game without music, it's like making a cake without icing. No, no it's worse than that. It's like making a person without a soul.

[Veke]

To me, listening to music is a major part of getting inspirations for scenes in my projects. And that's game music I listen, and very likely, the track that I will be using in that scene I get inspired for.

No, I NEVER treat music as an afterthought. Almost always, when I've thought of a scene for my project, I have the music for that planned as well. That is, unless, I notice when I try it myself, I notice that it doesn't fit the scene quite well, in which case I replace the music.

As for "spending time on music" I don't really know what to answer there. I listen to game music in my freetime, when I'm doing something else or I'm just bored. And so, as I mentioned above, when I'm actually *working* on my project, I have the music choice pretty much thought up.

It'd be worth to mention that for my current project I'm using the work of only one indie game musician. I rather randomly came to make this decision, though I obviously loved all that indie musician's work. But I've noticed, a conscious choice like this is helping me greatly, since I don't need to look all over the Internet, unsure which midi to use. I have a *finite* supply of tracks to use, but so far they have proved enough for any scene. Though I'm using tracks from 2-3 soundtracks he has composed, it's still better consistency than no consistency at all.

I don't ever remember to have muted the music in a game, though playing Sonic Adventure 2's Knuckles stages (with hip-hop music) I got close to. But really, music does set the mood for the scene, playing your own music in a plot-centered game would kill the feel. No, a bad soundtrack never ruined a game for me, because I haven't played a game with a soundtrack that bad. It's actually kind of surprising, very rarely do games totally screw up the music. And then, I obviously love game music, but I wouldn't play a game just for the music since I can just as well listen to the soundtrack otherwise.

The importance of music does depend on the game's genre, but there are many ways to go with music. Some games play music on a constant loop, some spare music only for certain scenes. Yet I think, music is an important part of nearly any video game. Cough, Nethack, cough.

This post has been edited by Veke: Apr 18 2011, 10:44 AM

[Klokinator]

My favorite anime is and will always be Death Note. It took me a long time to realize tht it wouldn't be half as good as it is if it was missing the music. The music sets the tune, the emotion, the theme of each episode. Like the one episode where a certain character dies. First there's oft sad music, as Light pretends he's horribly sad, but then after he leaves the room, powerful pulse pounding music starts up, and he says the infamous line "Yes, this is it! I've WON!"

I like Naruto, but the music is pretty lacking. There were only a couple episodes with a decent background music going, and overall it never grabbed me that much. Same for DBZ. I think Code Geass has awesome music too, but I digress, this topic is about games, not shows.

[Arbor]

I like music in games, but there are some times when I like hearing normal sounds more than constant music. Demons Souls was amazing at that. Normal sounds up until you faced a boss.

With the game I'm working on, I'm putting a lot of thought into the music, trying to go for a more ambient sound than obvious music. Its incredibly important I feel. And when its bad, its really bad.

I'll only mute music when I'm listening to a book ^^

This post has been edited by Arbor: Apr 18 2011, 12:09 PM

[Titanhex]

Music is, to me, the last necessity, just below sound effects.

It's the final touch. It's like mapping, even when it's amazing it doesn't make the game, but it does break the game when it's awful. It's the collective part of a game, and failing to understand it and give it attention will come back to bite you in the ass. It sets the mood for every dramatic scene, and alters your emotions to where they should be with smooth transitions from one part of the game to the next.

It's not near as important as game play features and story. But it is important. If you truly want to analyze the importance of a game's music, try playing a game without any music on whatsoever. Also, your friends who turn off music when playing a game are likely refering to games with little to no story transitions. Likely shooters, where 80% of the game is spent in battle thus requiring only one type of music: Fight.

This post has been edited by Titanhex: Apr 19 2011, 02:08 AM

[Milton Monday]

After writing the outline of my story, the first thing I did was pick out what tracks I was going to use, hopefully as placeholders rather than the actual soundtrack; and I actually write the fleshed-out script while listening to the tracks I'm planning to use in that scene. I'd like an original soundtrack, of course. However, I have absolutely zero musical talent, and I'm not going to hire a composer, or anyone else, until the project is otherwise finished. I don't want anyone to go though a boatload of effort for a game that might never be completed. Music is much more important than most people give credit, it creates mood in the story and sets the pace of the gameplay. So, finalizing the music is the last step for me, but it's far from an afterthought.

One thing that really peeves me off in RPG soundtracks, though, the vast majority of commercial games included; what is with everyone's insistence on giving dungeons that sleepy, lullaby-like music? Dungeons are supposed to be very unpleasant places filled to the brim with vicious monsters and deathtraps; excitement and danger around every corner. The hero's in there fighting for dear life and you're playing frickin' elevator music in the background! Dungeon music should be energetic and edgy, with a hint of menace; not peaceful and serene!

[Samurai Green]

I think music is what makes the game enjoyable. It sets the mood, the pace, and is just as good as a story teller then the words and actions of the characters themselves. Music can be called the great communicator, and can transcend all languages and you can still tell what the music is about. Hence why even though I might not understand Japanese, I really enjoy listening to popular artists from Japan.

As for the game I'm making? Music is really important. I am spending time picking out what I think might be good for this scene, this battle, ect.

[Stern]

I'm glad to see so many replies and it seems that most of you have the same mindset as myself.

I like music in games, but there are some times when I like hearing normal sounds more than constant music. Demons Souls was amazing at that. Normal sounds up until you faced a boss.

Yeah that's getting more common nowadays. It's really powerful if done right. Portal 2 did it really well.

One thing that really peeves me off in RPG soundtracks, though, the vast majority of commercial games included; what is with everyone's insistence on giving dungeons that sleepy, lullaby-like music? Dungeons are supposed to be very unpleasant places filled to the brim with vicious monsters and deathtraps; excitement and danger around every corner. The hero's in there fighting for dear life and you're playing frickin' elevator music in the background! Dungeon music should be energetic and edgy, with a hint of menace; not peaceful and serene!

Elevator music? I understand if you mean that the music is sort of quiet/mysterious/eerie, but if they're playing "elevator music" in a cave or dungeon they're doing it wrong. On the other hand If you do mean eerie music, that might be because it's unexplored territory, the party may not know about the dangers of lurking creatures and when they do you get the battle music. I get what you mean though, some games really overdo it on the lullaby feeling.

[Titanhex]

For me one of the worst lullaby music games was Suikoden 3. I literally, seriously, and actually fell asleep on more than one occasion just playing that game. Happened with Disgaea 3 too, but the gameplay in Disgaea 3 was better than Suikoden 3's.

I think the music say just outside a town can be more pleasant and calm, but there should always be an upbeat feel to it so you're not nodding off during gameplay. A good example of gameplay music done right is that of the Final Fantasy's in regards to Nobuo Uematsu. He knows every instrument and the symbolism behind each one, and can rearrange them into different meanings. With this talent honed over many many years, he was able to create different songs that would fit perfectly into the scene they were meant for. His songs always had enough dramatics to keep you captivated at pivotal points, and maintained an engaging quality at all times.

I think one of the important things to remember when making music for areas that contain battle is the actual battle music itself. You want a clean enough transition to occur that it doesn't make the player grimace, but you want the differences between the current music and the battle music to clash so your player themselves goes from wandering mode to fighting mode. As you return to wandering you will be looking for the next battle afterwards to feel the adrenaline. Final Fantasy 7 actually does this really well.

With all this in mind, music can be very important to the RPG genre, never to be overlooked. However, if you don't know what you're doing then you should probably change the volume of music in your game to be quieter and just let sound and ambiance try to be brought to the forefront. Bad music can ruin a game.

[minius]

How important is the music in a game to you?
Music, for me, is literally top-priority when rating games.
I choose games based on music.
How important is music in your project(s)?
It's exceedingly important.
I'm building my stages around the theme songs, rather than composing songs based on the scenery.
This way, it's an almost bulletproof plan that my stages will match their songs and express them.
P:
How much time (compared to art, story, gameplay) do you spend on composing/creating or finding music?
For half-assed tunes, it can take me about 30-45 minutes to throw together a song.
If I have a tune or beat thought up beforehand, or I feel like the song I've started is going in the right direction and needs to be added to, it can take up to 2-3 hours to finish it.
Though... I do take a really long time on art; I pixel dot-by-dot and make sure my lighting and colours work well.
Lol.
Do you ever find yourself muting the music when playing a game?
The only game I've muted music on: Animal Crossing (City Folk), ONE time, because it was late at night and I wanted to listen to my iPod instead.
Hahh.
Other than that, no.
I make everyone else in the household shush when I'm playing games because I love video game music.
Have you ever found yourself playing a game ONLY beause it has a good soundtrack?
Yes - my main example is Secret of Mana - I got that awhile ago, since I like the music.
But other than that, most of the games I have are from series, and I play them because I know what to expect from them and I know I'll like them; rather than knowing what their music sounds like beforehand, if that makes sense.
Does the importance of music differ depending on genre?
As in, should some genres have no music?
NEVERRRR!
Though I think different genres of games should have different genres of music.
Take Skies of Arcadia versus Jet Set Radio Future, for example.

And lol @ what Lurvid said.

[amerk]

There are people, as you've said, who will never listen to the game music. There are games, however, where alternative music is required in order to keep my sanity.

However, when creating your own game, chances are you will need to borrow existing audio unless you know how to make your own. If there is a very popular soundtrack to a game you like, my advice is not to use it, because more than likely it's been overused a hundred times before.

Look for something different (slyph.org, for example).

Also, when I pick music for a game, I don't just randomly pick the first thing I see because I like it. Plenty of tracks I like have been tossed aside, because beyond my appreciation for them, they don't fit into my game properly. I visualize the landscape the music should depict, and I think about how it will flow from one scene to another. An crude example may be: a soft, tranquil piece will work better following a dark toned theme than a hyper cheerful theme.

Just some things to think about.

[Stern]

However, when creating your own game, chances are you will need to borrow existing audio unless you know how to make your own. If there is a very popular soundtrack to a game you like, my advice is not to use it, because more than likely it's been overused a hundred times before.

I don't have to worry about that. However you do bring up a very very good point. The general rule I had before I started making my own scores was; If it's from a renown franchise, the quality or fit doesn't matter, it's off-limits. Mainly because people hear the song and get reminded of the particular game it's from and you don't want people thinking of, or even worse, comparing with another game when they're playing your game

I'm glad to see that so many had an opinion on this topic in general