How to soundtrack your game.

[Armageddon]

anyone knows if there is a sound mod for hl2 or an other source game? i mean like you have the high res texture and skin mod...

Here is a mod about sound: http://halflife2.filefront.com/file/Hal ... _v10;88943 And FF update most of the sounds too,...

[jister]

who knows the scene in (think it was) lost highway, where this guy gets a beating but the music is like very minimalistic jazz like almost only a cymbal going ting ting ting ting?
well it work, the scene became more violent then with some death metal on it...
wonder if things like that would work in a game?

[ghost12332]

Underworld Evolution has an absolutely brilliant special feature where they take off their music, which is orchestral. To further show you how much of a mood difference it makes they place in action music (Distorted Guitar, drums, general heavy metal) at certain parts then cut back out to the orchestra.

Great thing to watch if your into that kinda stuff

[poisonic]

hehe im a composer too lol http://www.myspace.com/poisonicmusic some music of my colection real terror atmospere
this is not my only style

greets

Bert

[YokaI]

Most people never replay SP games. As a composer myself maybe I'll write up the process I go through writing a piece.

I replay through single player games quite a bit if the soundtrack is good enough to entice me once more when playing through.

Nothing is better than hearing the melodies once more after such a long time of not playing! Final Fantasy games usually get me to play through once more after about a year or two of leaving it in my collection. Same with some other RPGs and single player games.

[abathor]

You wanna know whats really scary? Left turns it's a known fact, left turns are scarier than right turns

Not in England. We drive on the right. And if you think left turns are scary, come and experience a fucking roundabout.

[dissonance]

I've always wanted to spend 15 minutes or so writing some psuedocode outlining this little soundtrack idea i've been keeping in the back of my mind.
Factor in the amount and proximity of enemies and their combat status (unaware, aiming, pissed, etc) and increase the tempo as these increase. Different types of enemies would get their own instruments - combine_s gets strings, striders/hunters get woodwinds, etc - and layer on tracks depending on quantity of aforementioned foes. Splash a bit of operatic vocals on top when the player is below 25% health, and you'll have one amazing "how do i make this sound good?"
aaand that's the big problem with this idea. As far as I can tell, it would sound like some gigantic clusterfuck of sound.

[Mess]

Alot of games already use similar techniques... it definitely works!

One thing I would change is the idea of increasing tempo - would create problems both code-wise and musically. Might be cool to add extra texture to the percussion over time, starting with a 1/4 kick and then adding 4/4 hats, 8/4 Mirembe, etc to add an increased sense of pace without actually changing the tempo.

[ghost12332]

I've always wanted to spend 15 minutes or so writing some psuedocode outlining this little soundtrack idea i've been keeping in the back of my mind.
Factor in the amount and proximity of enemies and their combat status (unaware, aiming, pissed, etc) and increase the tempo as these increase. Different types of enemies would get their own instruments - combine_s gets strings, striders/hunters get woodwinds, etc - and layer on tracks depending on quantity of aforementioned foes. Splash a bit of operatic vocals on top when the player is below 25% health, and you'll have one amazing "how do i make this sound good?"
aaand that's the big problem with this idea. As far as I can tell, it would sound like some gigantic clusterfuck of sound.

Very easy to do, already thought about implementing this.

In the musical scale, you can generally follow the rule that notes C, E, G, B, and D will go togethor without clashing to much (D adds tension). Then, D, F, A, C all work.

[jister]

yes if you keep with in the harmonic scales (and there are a lot) it should work. same for the rhythm, as long as the tempo says the same, you can multiply your "one" as much as you want.

[Duke Nukem]

yeah, it would be really cool if the music fits into some triggered enemy-actions

[jister]

just don't find the time in writing that "how to..." thingy! to busy modeling...
if one of you guys wanna have a go at it...? be my guest.

[joe_rogers_11155]

You wanna know whats really scary? Left turns it's a known fact, left turns are scarier than right turns

Hey, that's not funny. I can't turn left. Like...I can't make left turns. Now THAT'S scary. I mean, how am I supposed to get home from work!?

Yes...just like Michael Scott.

Hey Jister, if you get around to writing your article, consider this a bit of a starting point. (because you've already got first post so you should be the one who eventually edits that post with your finished article)

So I think music plays a great role in not just the action of a game, but also in the storytelling of a game.

Consider a dramatic action sequence, which includes the player running at high speeds, killing baddies, and scrounging for health kits in a sea of crates. We have all been there. What we might not realize is that the soundtrack for that battle lasts only about a minute, two minutes if you're playing an ambitious game. Because that's how fast these things happen. An ambush is usually decided in a matter of quick gunfire, strafing, and assaulting. A vibrant guitar riff and some banging drums tells the story of that ambush well.

Now, consider the moments just before the ambush. Let's say the player is in an area that was quickly abandoned, say Pripyat (those who have played S.T.A.L.K.E.R. or Call of Duty 4 can really relish the scene I'm portraying). In my mind I can see two uses of sound for storytelling - silence and ambience. In the silence stage, the player wanders the abandoned apartments, listening to the dripping water, the creaking wooden floor boards, and the faint barking of wild hounds. No music is sometimes better than having music, because it has a way of isolating the player. He doesn't feel like he's playing a game as much as he's experiencing an environment. And this can go for about five to ten minutes, depending on your ability to entertain the player without throwing waves of troopers at him. So thus, the experience is real to him.

But now, the player walks into a playground with a dead child's prop_ragdoll laying in it. Cue the ambience. You can play a short (again, one to two minutes), moving violin solo at a low volume (ala Bioshock) that, as the player is exploring the blasted playground, begins to slowly become more ominous (also ala Bioshock), all the way up to the first explosion that signals the Combine ambush. Cue the action sequence.

So I think the lesson to learn here is that rather than having a long metal song playing on and on, long after the experienced fragger has slaughtered his foes...you can have shorter, better quality pieces of music that detail a small part of your map and flood it with emotion. Which is the next big thing anyways right? When's the last time you played a mod that took you aback with breathtaking musical quality?

(Mine was Bioshock. Having just played it in the last month for the first time, I can say that I have learned a lot from Bioshock's immersive, constant musical storytelling. Some will pair Bioshock with Fallout 3, for having the radio staion. And I mean no harm to GNR when I say "not true" because you can turn off the radio whenever you want. Even the 50's radios playing long into the radioactive crypts of middle-class wasteland paled in comparison to the way Bioshock layered it's similar 50's songs onto an in-progress ballroom party, whose spliced-up guests had left the room moments before your arrival.)

So yea. Maybe I'll write the article. Or maybe I just did. I dunno.

PS: Hey guys!! Want an interesting experience from Left 4 Dead? Well check this out...so Valve has conditioned us (like the Pavlovian dogs we are) to respond to musical cues such as the trumpets of the hordes, the shocking sounds of a teammate who just went down, or the now-obvoius music that signals a Tank's approach. So here's something to increase the difficulty a little bit, if you haven't done this before:

Simply turn the music off in the Options menu.

Now go play a campaign on the difficulty you're used to. And come back and tell me how it went.

[vcool]

I dunno, it feels very awkard to see a Tank approaching without his backing track. It feels empty, and it is much less tense without the music.

[joe_rogers_11155]

Eh. I'm just trying to light a little fire. I personally like it because you can hear the shamblings of the horde from pretty far off sometimes. It's creepy as hell, especially when the max number of zombies is boosted for a goof. I enjoy either boosting their numbers or boosting their health. When you boost their health it basically requires a headshot to kill them.

You know, just like in real life.