I laugh when I hear statements like that because I’m such a non-audiophile. I turn music off in my games because it’s such a distraction. It’s like trying to watch an NFL game, paying attention to what’s going on while some cheerleader is winking at me, shouting RAH RAH RAH, trying to get me all excited for the team. Just go away.
The bottom line is that the music I’m presented with in games is rarely matched to my natural emotional state. In movies, the music works because the presentation is literally scripted - the visuals and music are created as a matched pair. I can get swept up by that. In single player games, where interactions are heavily scripted I could again see music working out. But I stick to multiplayer games, where the interactions with other players are unscripted, and any music that tries to encourage me into some specific emotional state is going to be a major distraction.
The trick is to write in a way in which the listener’s emotional state is matched or enhanced. It’s also a good learning point for me to consider what emotional state I’m aiming to bring out specifically during gameplay.
Now that you point it out, most of the musics I remember liking from games were from cutscenes or at scripted events.
There is another case, though. Fast-paced reflex-based games (platformers, racing games), work for me, or at the other end of the scale, slower-paced strategy games. I think the point is, the rythm in those kinds of games is pretty constant, along with the general emotional state, so an adapted ambient music will work along it.
Similarly, some games have a track for the duration of a relatively constant state, for example the “moment of calm” used when the character is in a safe zone.
I’l point at Ico for a masterful use of music and sound design. Interestingly, its otherwise minimalistic, unobtrusive use of sounds for ambience make the closing cutscene stand out even more through its track.
Unfortunately, none of those really work in the case of I:B, so it’s possible I’ll end up turning off its music as well.
That’s a fine approach for film and even single player games. It’s impractical for multiplayer gaming where my emotional state is determined in large part by my interaction with other players, not with the game. If it’s with the game then it’s a single player experience.
Say I’m in the middle of combat, but the mood among the players is comedic. That calls for a completely different ambient soundscape.
It would be interesting to see someone take a YouTube video of a multiplayer game session and set it to music. Then try to come up with a way to do that automatically and in real time.
There are people that switch off music or even sound and that’s totally fine. Music, especially bad or repetitive one can get boring fast or just wont fit how you feel, throwing you off, and having an option to opt out helps there.
For people that do keep it on though, I think it is a really powerful tool. The “making music for MP is hard” part does apply and a lot of games know about that and only play extremely subtle or no music at all, or only in sitations to allert the player, like “time is running down” situations.
That’s also why I specifically wanted to talk in menu/loading/endgame music, the problem of difference of music to the gameplay or emotional state of the gamer isn’t that pronounced there.
Also note, the same music will play for the same conditions. The loading of a specific map, the losing with a specific faction etc.
It’s less about making music that fits the players mood, but making music that the player binds to a specific mood, that remind him of that mood, of the whole experience.
If writing your own music it would be a lot of work for a video. Lol.
You could easily make music that reflects a lighthearted, comedic attitude. Often what is funny is that which is overly serious.
Humor can come from making light of serious topics, or pretending that funny topics are serious. Like The Onion’s slogan is “America’s Finest News Source.” The humor that could come out of multiplayer games would be to make it overly serious. So, you’d incorporate over-the-top music that responds to certain things happening.
It’s a lot like the Halo multiplayer voice has a voice so serious that it’s over the top, and it makes the multiplayer experience entertaining in a humorous way.
The way Unreal Tournament did music was not to bind music to gameplay but bind music to levels. So whenever you were in a certain level you knew to expect a certain music that fit the theme of the level. Granted, UT is a straight twitch shooter with near-constant action so it’s not the best example, but it’s something to consider. To have music depending on your location, music that matches the theme of the place you are.
Another way to look at things is that games don’t need good music, they need good sound design that includes music. Because I’ve been watching some videos of the new Rainbow 6 Siege and I like the sound design. They have simple, subtle yet tension-creating music in the menus but there is quiet during the action to allow the player to understand what’s going on around them, with gunfire and gadgets operating making their own music, with some music added as timers run out adding to the tension. Again, I:B is a different kind of game, likely to have much different pace and sound needs, but it’s nice to consider that you don’t need to have the right music, you need to have the right sounds.
I would agree, especially if we’re talking about using short and topical musical pieces to suggest a mood. The Station Arrival piece. The Much Larger Hostile Ship Arrival piece. And so on. Naturally, work would have to be done to ensure that the pieces were used when appropriate. If I’m jabbering away on comms, I don’t expect to hear delicate works triggered. My jabbering is going to ruin the effect. If I’m in the middle of battle and I come over the limb of a planet to see a beautiful sunrise, I really don’t want to hear the Majestic Sunrise sound. That only plays if nothing else is going on.
In contrast, if I’m jabbering away on comms and the Much Larger Hostile Ship Arrival event is triggered, I expect to hear that piece. It probably fits into the other musical bits that are being triggered as I fly along in combat.
This is undoubtedly beyond the scope of Infinity:Battlescape, but I thought I’d mention it. They’ll just do the best they can with matching mood and music.
This probably isn’t that hard to achieve, especially with proximity based triggers. I can imagine each significant space station having its own unique feel given the music that accompanies it.
In fear of upsetting the feature creeps, I’d say this’d be a perfect update for them to do post launch.