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Game Music Benefits From Interactivity, Budgets
Thanks to the New York Times for their article discussing the rising reputation of game music in the mainstream media (free reg. req.) Bigger budgets are discussed ("the game industry's success has made developers willing to pay for live orchestra recordings"), as well as interactive music ("...akin to writing music for a Broadway show in which audience members could determine the order of the scenes... Game-music composers don't know which path a player will choose or when, so they must be prepared for unpredictability.") Elsewhere, veteran former LucasArts composer Clint Bajakian tries to describe steps to interactive musical bridging: "You conceive of the elbow joints you're going to need", but Richard Kessler of the American Music Center is still skeptical of game soundtracks in general, saying: "On an artistic level, it's not in the film music league."
"On an artistic level, it's not in the film music league."? I think it's safe to say that Richard Kessler has never played Final Fantasy VI
It's sad when choosing an installation directory on your own qualifies you as an "advanced user."
My speakers are little and sound tinny. The music quality is barely perceptible because the onboard audio chip isn't any good.
Am I the only one who would rather see more spent on building a better gaming experience rather than on hiring the Berlin Philharmonic to make some *background* music?
One of the problems with good game music is that it forces developers to have a limited number of options when developing a game. The more choices a player can make, the more music is needed to fulfill those choices. If you look at all the great non-linear RPGs (Fallout, Balder's Gate, etc), almost none of them had music for particular situations, at most a town or "mood" theme. Linear games however, can develop tracks for specific characters, and even specific conversations or events with characters (how can the same music evoke the dozens of different characters you create yourself?)
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
XBox saves music tracks to its hard drive in the new WWF game. Is this what the article was talking about? Something like it at least?
I am a fan of many games that George "The Fat Man" Sanger has scored over the years, and I'm a huge fan of him and his team's music.
He wrote a book on game audio. I bought it, and read it. It really opened my eyes. His basic premise was that making music for games is impossible. He then gave a fairly detailed description of how he and his team goes about creating music for games. Crazy shit.
no thanks
Interactive music is something that has been underutilized, IMHO. I first noticed it in 1080 Snowboarding for N64 (in the halfpipe mode, the music changed whenever you were in the air), and it worked really well. Has it been used in many major games since then? It seems like everything I hear is prerecorded these days.
No, I see what you're saying, but I think he's still right.
Final Fantasy is pretty widely acknowledged to have some of the best music out there, even if you don't consider it the absolute best. While it's not bad, it's certainly not on par with the Star Wars music, some particularly good movie music.
I like video game music a bit, but it really isn't on par with film music. It has some nostalgia value to fans of the game, but currently there isn't as much money going into a big-name video game than a big-name movie (though EA is definitely working on that...).
May we never see th
Purchase good headphones. They're much less expensive than good speakers, and you can definitely appreciate music.
:-)
If you're spending upwards of $70 on a pair of headphones, you're probably going to get an enjoyable experience, from what I've seen (well, heard).
May we never see th
In the past, I've actually considered buying Quake I for its soundtrack. The game wasn't really interesting to me (lots of shades of black, wowie!), but the music kicked some major uhm.. behind. It's good to know that Trent Reznor will be making the music for Doom III. :-)
der Joachim
Geek runner, motorcyclist and professional know-it-all
It's great hardware, has the 'big brother' factor for being made by MS, doesn't have much in the way of titles (so far)...
;-). It's a great game that I'd probably play for a couple weeks under normal circumstances.
But one thing that XBox games can do is let you listen to your own music.
I have become addicted to the freestyle snowboarding game Amped in the last year (while taking a few co-workers with me
But because I can listen to a customizable soundtrack of either Amped-supplied music or my very own cd's (ripped to the hard drive under the XBox os-interface), the game has far outlived its normal lifespan.
Letting me listen to my own selection of music has upgraded this game from passing obsession to daily dose of relaxation.
"A matter of internal security, the age old cry of the oppressor" - Jean Luc Picard
The idea is that the piece can change key, tempo, interweave a different theme in a response to changing situations in a game. They introduced the MS software synth and DLS sound libaries at the same time, so the end result would not be dependant on the user inbuilt midi synthesiser. Higher end soundcard provide hardware support for DLS sythesised music.
Has anyone seen this being used effectively anywhere. It seems most modern games rely on prerecorded mp3 tracks as background music. Some just license the latest pop song rather than composing their own. DirectMusic could have created some really interesting effects.
There is a demo in the DirectX SDK of a barnyard scene an you can inteweave the melodic themes of different animals in real time. Has anyone developed something that makes the most of this technology?
Apparently it is avaiable in the Lithtech engine, but do any games actually use it?
"Taligent is still pure vapor. Maybe they'll be the last who jumps up on Openstep... "
"On an artistic level, it's not in the film music league."
You know, this is just so true. Someone like Harry Gregson-Williams, who did the Metal Gear Solid 2 score, is no match on artistic terms with the composer of films like Shrek and Phone Booth, Harry Gregson-Williams.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
With everyone commenting on the great works of music in the Final Fantasy series, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the name of the man behind that music, Nobuo Uesmatsu. Many people believe FF6 to be his best work. Look for Tina's Theme or Aria Di Mezzo Carattere and compare to the movie of your choice.
With video games pulling in similar amounts of money to movies these days, and having similar budgets, it's only right for composers to work with performaing talent that can match their vision.
When fighting phantom ganon in the most recent of zelda's incarnations the music reacts to the swinging of your sword against ganon's projectile. He fires a ball of magic at you and you both proceed to fire it back and forth at each other, the ball getting faster until one of you can't react quick enough (classic Zelda). The music rises and rises with each hit until you succeed or fail where it bursts into an appropriate tune of congratulation of consolation.
:)
Absolutely loved it
The first time an in-game soundtrack really caught my attention was in the Medal of Honor games...great stuff there.
A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men... --Willy Wonka
Plus, there's Jeremy Soule, a composer of Howard Shore's caliber whose best work has appeared in games such as Icewind Dale and Morrowind. (In fact, the Morrowind music CD that came with the collector's edition is one of my favorites for car listening.)
Nobuo Uematsu was mentioned earlier, and perhaps it's because so many people hated FF8 that they didn't bother to play through to the end, but the music during the closing credits was absolutely thrilling, especially as it wove its way into the FF theme at the end brilliantly.
Anybody who thinks that game music isn't reaching the same level as the music of other industries simply isn't playing the right games.
I have to agree with the article about Nobuo Uematsu's sophistication. Most of his work was done under constraints much greater then that of current composers. As Mr. Mirapaul points out; gaming music is getting better in part due to the properties arising from DVDs. Some of Mr. Uematsu's scores were done in 8 bits! Like a great sonnet writer Nobuo Uematsu used those constraints to their fullest extent.
Of his oeuvre I think "One Winged Angel" is the most highly lauded. I remember wanting the music so badly I Napstered it to be sure the quality was good then gulp plunked down $40 for the four CD set. --and at 53 I buy precious little music anymore (well, at least before iTunes that is). I consider it money well spent now.
Great game, great music.
I love the music in Europa Universalis 2. As the game progresses through the centuries, the game plays music from that period.
The soundtrack is professionally done and I really enjoy listening to it (even though it can be a bit repetitive at times).
You always have the play/stop button on your stereo to help, of course that requires the game to have the best option in game music -, to stop the music. Now this feature is lacking in most games, and that is a shame -, but I can't say that being able to put your own music in a game is a great big feature - unless you lack a CD player or a computer with audio out ports...
If you are really interested in music and audio for games I suggest you check out www.audiogang.org. It's a non-profit organization of game audio pros, programmers, producers and students. It's a great place to learn the ins and outs of game audio.
"Game music benefited by interactivity"
This is exactly my thought. After playing FF games with music I loved it. People who haven't played it hate it all. I rest my case.
Karma: -2^0.5 . Mainly due to the imbibing of dihydrogen monoxide