Music has been a part of history for a very very long time. Almost every culture has used music in some sort of way, whether that is jazz, or classical music. The type of music also greatly affects the mood and atmosphere of the setting. Music can also be played in virtual media, and is just as important to the mood and setting. Music in video games is a great example of what, and not what to do. I will explain, and give some examples of proper and improper usage of music in video games.
Using the right genre of music for the moment
There are a lot of music styles, and all of them invoke a different emotion. You have to know the right time to play. Of course I will not go over every single type of music, because this blog post needs to be readable, but I will still cover a few and give examples
Classical music
It is best to use this music in a calmer scenario. This music is generally calmer, but can also be intense. This type of music is not commonly seen among video games, as it is tough to fit it into a genre.
Retro music
This music is a good song to play in older types of games, these can play in all sorts of
scenarios because Retro is a wide scale.
Electronic music
Not to be confused with retro style music. This type of music is one of the widest ranges of music, because this type of music can use lots of instruments. All retro music is electronic, but not all electronic music is retro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzK3z8MLSpA
Misc.
You can mix and match music together, and it will still sound pretty good. Although be advised when doing this, as you can easily mess up and make the music sound like just 2 different song fragments played at the same time.
Soundfonts matter
What is a soundfont?
A soundfont is a sort of “template” for music. Take example certain instruments will be prevalent across lots of the songs in the media. Think of the funky upbeat themes of Mario 64.
Some examples.
While we’re on the topic of Mario 64. This is one of the oldest examples of a soundfont in video games, as the music uses the same instruments throughout the game.
Another good example of soundfonts is Plants Vs Zombies, while this game is still newer than Mario 64, it uses even more prevalent use of soundfonts.
A final example of this is a not as popular game, but still a good example. This game is known as Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling. This is the newest game on this list, but almost if not all of its music uses the exact same instruments throughout the game.
Usage of motifs
What is a motif?
A motif is a reoccurring set of notes in music typically to signify something in the music. A classic example of this is the last theme in a game using snippets of the first theme. Motifs can also be remixed to sound better, but still remain relatively the same.
Examples
We come back to Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling with motifs. (You’ll never guess which game is my favorite on this list). They use motifs throughout the game and you only realize it during the final boss, or earlier with other motifs being used differently.
(This one plays at 2:07)
Atmosphere matters as well!
While music is important, the atmosphere helps you actually feel what is happening. If you play classical music when the atmosphere is very intense it wont work very well unless you know what you’re doing.
Ambience is also a very important part of games. The background sounds have a huge influence on the Atmosphere itself
What not to do when making music
Music can sound really appealing, but there are certain things that you don’t want to do while making music. A lot of these can mess up the feeling of the song.
Bad beginnings
The beginning of a song should be your first impression of the rest of the song, so starting out bad could have a really bad effect on an otherwise really good song
I know I already included these songs in the soundfont section, but it is unfortunately a great example of what would have been a near perfect song ruined at the beginning of the work.
Mediocre beat drops
The beat drop of the song should be the best part that you look forward to when you keep coming back to the song. If the beat drop is mediocre then you probably won’t come back.
While this song is a pretty good song. The beat drop is mediocre therefore it doesn’t really have a part that you look forward to. This negatively affects the impact of the song.
Beat drop is too good
While a bad beat drop isn’t the best, a way too good one isn’t better either. This makes you only want to listen to that part of the song, which makes you tired of the song, and not want to listen to it.
This song also is an example of not the best beginning, but the song is kinda mediocre until the beat drops. The beat drop is the best part of the song by far. I get the idea that the song starts out with a feeling of helplessness then starts ramping up to show hope, but the way it was executed just isn’t that good.
I hope I persuaded you into viewing how impactful music is in games.