What is music to a game?

[Neweegee]

I've been thinking about this a lot, especially as a game developer. It's hard to pinpoint where music stands in game design.
To oversimplify, graphics is what draws a you in, gameplay is what keeps you playing, but where does music stand?

Music and sound in general is the one of the few things you can turn off and still play the game as normal otherwise(most of the time). Not only that, but some of the more recent games only use music during a few parts, like some FPS and Sim-Racers.

It's clear that good music can increase the enjoyment of a game(like Sonic CD and Donkey Kong Country 3 on GBA) especially when there's excellent tracks that you keep replaying a stage just to hear, and a weak soundtrack makes things worse(like Sonic 4) perhaps to the point where you'd rather mute the sound, but I still don't know what perspective to look at it from.

Besides rhythm and other clearly music-based games, what would you say music is to a game?

[Mariotroid]

Music is the soundtrack of a game. It helps set the right mood. Be it fast paced or slow paced. Fast paced makes you think you need to progress faster, like the hurry up from Bomberman or the alarm from Super Metroid. Slow music eases you down, like the beautiful track that plays in some water levels in Super Mario 64 (like fire sure docks). And breathtaking orchestral music is key to fill a player with wonder and excitement. Like Pherdrana Drifts or sone tunes from Mario Galaxy.

This is how I see music in games, and how I see music as a game developer.

[VinnyVideo]

Music might not be the first thing you notice with a game, but it's often the thing that makes the difference between a memorable game a forgettable game. I don't think Mario would be what he is today if the original Super Mario Bros. had used a forgettable overworld theme for World 1-1.

Mariotroid's post is a very good post, although "fire sure docks" is a funny bit of AutoCorrect!

Course clear! You got a card.

[darkblueyoshi]

There's audio and video. You need both senses in a game. Music audibly accompanies the game.

It depends on what game you're making. Not all games need memorable music. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has forgettable ambient music because of the slow-paced gameplay. First person shooters are that way, too. Notice how dungeon themes and overworld themes contrast in previous Zelda titles.

Mario games are fast-paced. You won't hear the same background music for too long, because you only have a few minutes to complete a level.

[Zero Kirby]

Music or lack thereof can be essential to an experience, to be sure. I've noticed that offensive soundtracks can detract noticeably from even very enjoyable gameplay, whereas excellent soundtracks can boost up somewhat blander gameplay.

Something I like to do very often is create customized soundtracks for video games using a bunch of tunes taken from other games. While they may not necessarily fit together in terms of genre or style, I try to find ones that fit the mood or area in the game. This tends to result in a lot of Kirby, Sonic, and Mario tracks bumping elbows but ends up being pretty fun in my opinion.

The Epic Mickey soundtrack, for example, works very well for GoldenEye on the Wii.


I'm so obsessive about this sort of thing I created a Breath of the Wild playlist with individual songs by region, so yes, I think music's pretty dang important.

One of my favourite trends in game soundtracks are evolving soundtracks, ones that change with the stage or situation. Probably the crowning example being Irate Eight from Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze. It starts out as a somewhat higher-tempo version of Aquatic Ambience, with a few hints of some other familiar tune mixed in... but wait something in the background just moved and all of a sudden, Aquatic Ambience is in the background, and the familiar tune takes over the song... and it's Lockjaw's Saga. And the change is so subtle and so well-done it's almost like these two completely disparate melodies were always meant to be mixed together into one whole.

Falcon Punch is the result of the Sun heating fists. It drives the Blue Falcon. Heating causes destruction of water into the pain, where it then hurts, creating rain. Rain creates flowing water in tears, which can then be converted into other forms through more pain.



This fight has only just begun...

[Retriever II]

I find it surprisingly hard to organize my thoughts on this, so I'll just drop an anecdote.

Take a game like Ori and the Blind Forest, a game with pretty stunning production values across the board. Take away the music, and you have a very pretty game that feels emotionally dead. While the bare game mechanics keep us distracted and the graphics fill us with wonder, the music is telling us how we feel. It conveys the most powerful moments.

It totally depends on the genre and the individual game, but music can lend a much deeper richness to a game than it would have otherwise. It may even be the only thing you remember at the end.

[Willsaber]

Take a game like Ori and the Blind Forest, a game with pretty stunning production values across the board. Take away the music, and you have a very pretty game that feels emotionally dead. While the bare game mechanics keep us distracted and the graphics fill us with wonder, the music is telling us how we feel.

Well I mean, in this case, Ori's literal button-mashing game mechanics don't take much attention so they barely distract the player, but I get your point in general.

Making terrible posts since 2014

[Neweegee]

Thanks a lot, guys! That's a lot of well-thought ways of explaining it.
Putting together everything thing said, it really does give me a much better understanding of how and why music is used in games.

I know one of my favorite games, Donkey Kong Country 2, had a very strong (darkish?) tone that separated it from other platformers and kept me playing the game so much, and now that I really think about it, it might have mostly been the music!

I'm glad I finally have a grasp on this, I know it'll definitely help as a developer. It makes me want to do more research on soundtracks in games.

[Turret 3471]

I don't really have anything to say about this subject, in fact plenty has already been said. It's just... there's one thing I wanted to point out...
Never mention Sonic 4 having a "weak" soundtrack, ok?... that music is godly.

o hey, you can find me on YouTube, Twitter, and Soundcloud too!

[Catonator]

To oversimplify, graphics is what draws a you in

hah

Basically anything you see or hear in games is extra. A 3D model of an enemy in a first person shooter exists as a representation of a hitbox, and nothing more. The code and base game logic are really the only necessary parts of a game. Any further visual flare is just eyecandy. But obviously a game where everything looks plain and uninteresting is, well, uninteresting. And that's where music stands as well. You can make an interesting game without music (Minecraft does this mostly), but music is great for setting the mood. I don't think you'd ever feel scared in a horror game if you didn't have foreboding music.

I'm not sure where I was going with this sdfsdfs bye

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signatures are hard pls listen to music thxbye