Game Sounds

I was having a look around for some background game music (mainly battle music) for my space combat game today (ended up finding a good one) but having looked through a huge amount of content on the Asset Store and Audiojungle mainly, I've got the impression that a lot of composers don't understand that background music is supposed to stay in the background.

So many of the candidates would come close, but would either feature jarringly heavy drums, or would suddenly get crashed by some strident solo from a violin, plucky stringed instrument or synth tone, that ruins the subtle atmosphere faster than a jackhammer in a yoga class.

It seems like there's a lot of effort to make these tracks stand on their own, but the whole point is that they do not do that. They are meant merely to fill the background behind whatever you want the player to actually listen to. They are meant to be mostly forgettable.

In my opinion, there are really only two kinds of music in games - the ones that you want the player to notice, and the ones you don't. And in fact except for menu music or soundtracks and such, 99% of game music is something you do not want the player to be actively paying attention to. You don't want the game to sound like a recording of MTV. Voices, sound effects, soundscapes, and the ability to add partial silence, has much more priority.

Having a look at all these tracks, so many of them I just can't imagine using in any game, because they don't highlight anything besides themselves. Apart from soundtracks, music has to be a sidekick, not a star.

What do you reckon, is it just me?

PS since it's kind of similar, I find that for voiceovers, there are many candidates who's portfolios at least are dominated by WAY too overdone and quirky voices. I think it's fair to say that in most games, what you want for a voiceover is someone who sounds cinematically normal - i.e., not like your next door neighbour, but representative of a normal person in a cinematic context. These voices also are very hard to find imo.

 

This guy has some nice stuff that's not too obnoxious. I used some of it in the one game I have made so far.

http://soundimage.org/

 

A lot of good stuff there, I listened to some of it but couldn't find the type of track I was looking for. In any case, I've found what I needed.

I guess the main point is that I found so many great candidates for ambient music that would have been really nice had they not suddenly gone into some kind of semi-solo that pulled them right out of the background. I really don't think it was just my taste - I couldn't imagine it helping the atmosphere of any game. There's a certain point where ambient music becomes lively enough that you suddenly feel like you're listening to the radio or something, and that's not what you want in a game.

 

This guy:
https://incompetech.com/music/
Offers good royalty free music under CC-Attribution license.

However, when I was looking through asset store last time (which was a long time ago) finding sound effects - even for folio - was ridiculously difficult. Basically, anything with voice in it was unusable, and digging through thousands of effects was a chore. Regarding this part:

I think that music can contribute to roughly half of the impression your game makes.
Boss battle or battle tracks should actually take the lead and instill feeling of awe (when appropriate) into player, even though they shouldn't tire the player out.

For example:

This is a final boss theme from silent hill 3. You can't really replace it with anything that "doesn't try to take the lead", because you'll have a very bland fight if you do that.

Another good example is:

This is from red alert 3 where after 15 minutes escort mission they let you pilot giant samurai robot with 3 katanas and stomp enemy bases to dust. In this case it is also critically important for the experience, because in this part of the game this is what makes you feel like you're actually piloting a giant robot of doom.

There are also examples like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s87D6SVHFI

Basically.... in many cases central game mechanic is not THAT interesting by itself, and you need something to trigger specific feeling in the player and/or get adrenaline pumping. That's what music is for. So music shouldn't always take backseat.

 

Well, that music in Silent Hill is still just supporting the game - it would sound somewhat nonsensical if you just listened to it on it's own, but with the accompanying visuals it gives the scene life. I suppose what I'm talking about isn't entirely a question of volume.

It's the same with the Street Fighter one - it's pretty anonymous in terms of melody, very repetitive and doesn't change a lot.

One thing I noticed with the above 2 is that there is a lot of 'soundscape' behind the individual instruments that helps to make them blend together and not be as noticeable individually.

The last one is an example of music I wouldn't think would fit in a game (was it the soundtrack or actually played in the game?). It's a really nice piece, but it's way too detailed and varied imo to fit as a background track.

Basically any time ambient music makes you take notice and want to stop and listen, imo it is not playing its role.

PS thanks for the link. Btw I'm not wanting to skimp on money in the music, I was looking through mostly fairly pricey stuff on audiojungle and such. Paid stuff tends to be better quality music-wise but very often still doesn't fit the role.

 

It is actually on my playlist and it works fine on its own.

It is used in the game fairly often. Not in combat, of course.

Also.. have you ever played racing games?

Here's flatout 2 soundtrack, for example:
http://nfssoundtrack.com/flatout2/

Example:

Works fine.

Honestly, there are a lot of the situations when music takes the lead.
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Basically, the way I see it... music usually is not a "supporting" element, but instead it is half of the gameplay experience. Take it out, and the game will get significantly worse.

 

Driving games (possibly sport games in general) and non-ambient music go hand-in-hand in a way that doesn't work in other genres. I think it's because these games are hardly ever a question of atmosphere.

Put that music in any kind of RPG or atmospheric game you can think of, and I don't think it would work at all.

That is exactly what a supporting element is. It constitutes a lot of the game/atmosphere, and you couldn't take it out without greatly reducing the quality. But that doesn't mean it's even meant to be noticed at all, most of the time.

Basically I think music in most games should make you feel something relevant to where you are and what you're doing in the game world, without you consciously being aware of it. There are always exceptions that work here and there, but overall that's the way it best fits into a game imo.

 

I disagree. Supporting element that is not supposed to be noticeable is something you can throw out with no onsequences.

If you can't throw something out, it is no longer a supporting element and becomes a critically important one. Similarly, something that contributes to half of the experience is no longer an unimportant thing.

Game music is meant to be noticed. It is not meant to tire player out, however.

 

I doubt anyone notices the foundation of their house, but if you threw it out you'd be in trouble.

All that music ^ is very nice to listen to, but how does it go in actual gameplay?

How much of the time are you actively noticing the music in the following video?

 

It goes very well along with actual gameplay.

Uh, all of it? I finished witcher 3, music is an important element of it.

You do realize that in most games gameplay and combat are not incredibly interesting by itself, right? Because of this musical score is a very important part of having fun while playing. It sets the mood, powers your imagination, and it is an important part of making the world convincing.

Also, I feel that this thread has devolved into some sort of semantic argument.

 

Well if 1 minute is too long, then maybe try 00:23.

Yeah, I think it has turned into a semantic argument. Basically we are saying exactly the same thing, except that I'm saying that during gameplay, you should not be aware of the music most of the time - like in that video I linked. It should do everything you mentioned such as setting the mood, powering your imagination etc, but without it intruding into your conscious awareness (unless you're listening for it of course). And it is an extremely important part of the game!

Just because something is not supposed to be consciously perceived doesn't mean it isn't important, in fact it's probably more important since it has more power to make you feel something that feels like it's originating from yourself.

Listening to the theme music at full blast on youtube is a different story, it's something I like to do but not when I'm playing a game.

 

Likewise. I'll drop the subject.