What is musics’ role in video games?
As I grow older, I reflect on how I’m spending my time in this world, and without a doubt, I can say a majority of it was spent either playing video games or watching people play video games and I don’t regret it. From watching an orange British cat play Minecraft on an Xbox 360 to me playing call of duty with my friends and arguing with them about who is letting the team down. Across all the games I’ve experienced the thing that sticks out the most, the thing that allows me to remember the experiences I had with these games is the music. It’s so weird that it wasn’t the gameplay or the story of the game, it was the music. For something that feels so minor has such an important role in the game. I want to know what makes music in games so important. What is music’s role and how exactly can it be used to create such memorable moments? I expect to find many people stating the obvious like saying that the music in games is there to make the players’ experience better by setting the tone and filling in the boring silence there would be without music. But I want to go in a level deeper, I want to know how game developers make their music decisions and how the music they use to create such memorable moments.
A video I found on youtube that was lucky recommend to me, called “Adaptive Music (In Gaming) Is Amazing” made by someone that goes by the name of “Noodle” a somewhat notable YouTuber creates a video displaying not only the reason music is important in video games but how music can be used in games. He also uses examples of what he thinks are good examples of the music that is used in video games which are called Adaptive Music. The video uses nice visuals and comedy to maintain the viewer’s attention. The visuals consist of cute pictures of the creator’s character. I think the main use of these visuals is to express his ideas entertainingly. After a joke to open the video he starts by asking the viewer to think of their favorite song from a game or soundtrack and then telling them that “no matter what you thought of the music it did make your experience with the game better, right?” and with this statement, he introduces Adaptive music stating “yea, that what adaptive music about, the music adapting to what’s up here(him referring to his video)”. He goes on to explain that creating a game that has timed transition based on what’s happening in the games is very difficult and confusing to do, then he introduces two options a game developer can do, one of which is that the music just fades in and out, which he makes apparent that is very boring for a game to do and two adaptive music, The video is broken up in sections the first part is talking about music progression over time in games. He mentions briefly how back in the day when games were first created it was really difficult to add different types of music in games because the technology at the time wasn’t advanced enough to have many different types of music in one game. But as time went on and technology advanced so do the things game developers can do with music. Noodle explains that there are a few ways games can do adaptive music. One way is called mixing horizontally which is just going from song to song or transitioning which as he mentioned earlier is kinda boring. The other way a game can do adaptive music is to mix vertically which is when a game uses a different version of the same song in different areas of the game to create a different vibe, so for example there be the main bit of music when the player is just walking around in a normal area and if the player we to go underwater, for instance, the tone would shift or the same song would be played by a different instrument. This video was very useful in figuring out how game developers make the music in games go with their media so nicely to create memorable melodies by timing the music’s transition perfectly with a change in scenes or areas.
Another video I found on youtube by a different creator called “the power of video game music” by a man that goes by the name NakeyJakey a Youtuber with a decent following and creates videos mainly about video games made this video, a video talking the music of video games impact on the actual player and how the music creates a lasting effect on the player. And he shows his points by using examples from various games and explaining how the music had its effect. Jake begins the video by telling the audience that “video game music is kinda crazy, in the sense that it’s not like anything else..” accompanying this statement are just various clips of video games. Jake doesn’t use any unique visuals to catch his audience’s attention instead I think he’s playing into his strength and creating and telling jokes to maintain the audience’s attention. For example, Jake uses this topic of music to create jokes by creating very bad rap using the music in one of the games he is talking about to make his video entertaining to his audience. Throughout the video jake first mentions the music in games that tells the player the overall feeling of the game and how it positively impacts the player. For example, he mentions Vice City GTA(a 2006 mob game) and how the music in that game makes him feel like he is scarface(a 1983 mob movie) like he’s taking part in illegal activities in the game he feels like a gangster. He goes on to mention that music in games is also a way to let a player know what to do or what’s going to happen by outright telling the player, he mentions resident evil(a horror game) and how safe rooms always played the same music gave a huge relief for the player because now they are sure that they are safe. He adds here that because the players of games spend so much time listening to the game’s music it will stick to the player along with the game’s impression and how good the game was to the player. The last way music is used in games jake mentions is the parts that come out of nowhere to make a scene more memorable. One game he mentions is Metal Gear Solid 3. Jake talks about a scene in the game where the player is spending a long time just climbing a ladder, to go with this scene the game developers added a woman singing the game’s theme in the background. This ladder scene is just before a major turning point in the game and the music is there to psyche the player up about what’s to come and remind the player of what the whole point of the journey in-game is about. This whole video showed music’s role in games which is to make it so that games have a lasting impression by using music to create a vibe for the player or to surprise the player with a memorable moment they will take with them for the rest of their life.
In the article “hail the nightmare: music sound and materiality in bloodborne “ written by Alexander Kolassa, a lecturer in open university in music and a Ph.D. in music composition. The source is about FromSoftware( a game company famous for their difficult games), the 2015 game Bloodborne based in late 18th century London with heavy elements of H.P Lovecraft’s horror. He goes into depth talking about the game’s design choices and music choices and how it amplifies the players’ experience. The article paints an in-depth picture of how the game starts and its overall atmosphere. As mentioned in the article, Bloodborne is created by Hidetaka Miyazaki, Who is famous for his brand of games which are very difficult and very punishing but at the same time very gratifying to play and finish. Most of Miyazaki’s games are based on knights and dragons none of these games are meant to insight fear in the player, Bloodborne stands out the most, and is based on Lovecraftian horror. He goes on to mention the game’s music and how well it goes with the gameplay, “Bloodborne’s tortured and twisting, temporally unstable score – the one that rears its head with the arrival of the game’s monsters” Kolassa calling the music tortured and unstable to show how unnerving music is in the game. FromSoftware put incredible effort into the music using six different composers working through multiple years. The style they chose was victorian gothic, they were going for a very dark and gloomy feeling for the music, they aimed to create music to both unnerve and enchant the player. Hp Lovecraft is an American writer whose short stories are most known for producing an overwhelming sense of sheer hopelessness and terror these stories are thought to be impossible to turn into any visual media but with a terrifying marriage of music and gameplay bloodborne can do the impossible. The composers of Bloodborne were able to create music that mirrors Lovecraft’s works and because the music matches the atmosphere of the game so well, the game’s experience is multiplied. Kolassa goes on to add an example of how music adds to the experience of gameplay the chorus of the score for one of the boss fights is sung by a male choir in Latin and how the notes were used to add to the uncomfortable feeling like the player is witnessing a satanic cult. The game uses so many different techniques to leave its mark on the player, bloodborne is a game whose most defining feature is its music and how it uses it to create a lasting impression on the player.
In the end, it amazes me how hard it is to make music for games and how many small moving parts there are in adding music in games from vertically and horizontally mixing to deciding if music should be the center of the scene or to let it be in the background just to aid the passing moments in the games. More game developers should do this using music like this may be a pain but in the long run, it will make your game a lot more memorable. If there is anything at all you should take away from this, is that music isn’t just a sound to go along with the game you are playing, it is a device that is used in many different ways to leave its mark on you, it’s so when you remember the time you played that game you think of the music and remember the epic fight you had against the game’s boss and you get a smile on your face. NakeyJakey put it the best “music is an insanely valuable tool, especially when creating video games… music isn’t just music anymore it is something intangible that has been stapled to your identity as a reminder of what you love to do ”.
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