The Double-Edged Nature of Video Game Music
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- Ever thought about the existential randomness of the music in video games?
No?....
Ok, then don't watch this video.
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I feel like sideways made with channel as a passive aggressive message against his music school
4:53 especially haha
I'm kind of surprised you didn't bring up Mick Gordon. Both Doom and Killer Instinct gave soundtracks that adapt to the players action, with Doom in particular having dozens of variations for each chord and transition.
My exact thoughts.
Same I was gonna say.
I remember when i was younger and into animal/creature sim games, i found Wolf Quest. The music in that game was all pre-recorded but did switch to specific parts depending on what you were doing (chasing elk, in proximity to bears or coyotes, chasing small animals, etc). The soundtrack I think is still up for download and it's all just one audio file, each part after the other. I also remember trying to find a spore soundtrack only to learn it was mostly procedurally generated.
I remember playing Xwing Alliance back in the day. It was the classic star wars music, but each piece was cut in certain places that meant it could have separate bits from other tracks inserted. Nothing like having a dogfight and the imperial March quietly builds as a star destroyer arrives. It was very good.
This is why games like Ace Combat 7 have to script certain moments during the stage so the main Swell to Daredevil is timed to the deactivation of the Arsenal Bird's shield
I’m sure that there is a way to program in certain aspects to begin to crescendo or layer more instruments in when a player reaches a key point. You’d probably have to use shorter repeats and have a more ambient sound going on for this to work.
I may have played a game a few years ago that I think, even if it wasn't particularly reactive, used its soundtrack extremely well, especially with regards to leitmotifs.
You probably can't guess what it is, though.
This really is getting me thinking...
In the matter of videogame music you should check the nier automata soundtrack out if you haven't already. The composer made the soundtrack in a way that he could control those big moments that you speak of
One game I know that is able to sync the music to your actions is Touhou. Most of the games, most notably the 8th and 15th, are able to sync up what is being thrown at you in accordance with the music, assuming you are running the game at 60fps.
late to the party but on this topic I just have to rec Rez (and in general anything Tetsuya Mizuguchi-related)
I mean... A lot of games have super procedural music... Breath of the Wild even has orchestra hits whenever you strike an enemy.
Have you played Wandersong? I think you could like it.
DOOM (2016). 'Nuff said.
came out a year before this
smh
Fun fact:
In NieR: Automata, every time you use the Hack command, the music becomes an 8-bit (early electronic sounds) version of the song that was playing in the background, picking up at the exact place the last song left off. But the weird thing is, there are no 8-bit files in the game. That’s because they actually created a program that will, on the fly, make an 8-bit version of each song- processing or fading out the background, vocals and all- each time you Hack, that stops running as soon as you’re done.
This can still be seen in the last area of the game, because of a glitch. Technically there are 2 songs playing, but one mutes itself and switches to the other depending on where you are and what you’re doing... except when Hacking. The music program makes a song out if both tracks at once, by accident. (Even now, I don’t think it’s been patched).
When they made a CD with just the Hacking songs, technically, they had to create concrete, replayable versions for the first time. And since they didn’t reproduce every song... that mean some of those song only exist when the game is being played and the midi program is running, for only as long as you are Hacking.
*shrug* Not quite the same as a “chance” song, but pretty interesting, I think.
(edited to correct my use of the word “midi” with “8-bit”. Thanks, Bryan E. A :) )
I think you're confused, a midi file contains information for the notes and timing for musical means, the way it sounds is the result of wich device performs the info. stored in the file.
What Nier: Automata might do is that a mp3 file simulates an old sound device when you enter hack mode.
It could be that there's 2 mp3 type of files: the ones when you are hacking and the ones you don't, resulting in simply switching between the two.
Bryan E. A.:
Oh! You’re right. I remembered this rather poorly. But take out my use of the word “midi”, and I still got the gist of this process right. In fact, here’s the original article, from a member of Platinum Games their self:
www.platinumgames.com/official-blog/article/9581
They go into much more detail.
I’ll edit the original comment to be more accurate. :)
Ok that's plausible, but wasting RAM to make the songs instead of space to store each song? wtf, might be one of the things that makes the game low as snails in my pc.
That's honestly one of my fave details about music in Nier:Automata. Doing a hack or even going into the menu will change the music 😭
@@Peeplii alright Nier’s a pretty good game but that’s not at all groudbreaking haha
In the game Undertale there’s a part in it where Toby Fox got tricky (game dev and composer). It loops the first part of the song over and over until you move to the next room, where it cuts to the second part. Then the second part is timed for players who keep moving at the well estimated pace so that the music builds up and bursts at a certain point.
Wait really? In what part? I remembered Undertale as that one game in which one of the tracks finished with a fadeout and then akwardly looped back to the start.
@@hellothepixel1107 In the second home part where the monsters are dialoguing about Asriel's and Chara's demise
God damn, that was in depth. Amazing work.
exurb1a exurb1aaaaa
Your Vids are amazing dude
Music is a fun thing aint it. Even if youre not majoring in it
exurb1a HI!
I love you man
You should tell us who these composers you keep referencing. I don't recognize them by their faces.
What, at 5:40? The guy at the top left is Mike Morasky. He's responsible for the music in Portal (along with Kelly Bailey), Portal 2, Left 4 Dead, L4D2, Team Fortress 2, and even CS:GO.
Below Mike is Koji Kondo, who's responsible for a ton of Nintendo games. We're looking at many games from the Mario series, Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong*, Star Fox, and much more. Definitely a musical powerhouse.
To the right of him is Martin 'The Elder' O'Donnell, responsible for all the Halo games made by Bungie. He's easily one of my favorite composers of all time. Uh, don't know about the other two guys here, sorry.
Also, I hope that you have played at least one of these games under each composer here. It's one thing to listen to one of the soundtracks here on RUclips, but it's enhanced when you're playing it with the game. That's why these guys are on the screen right now; they've figured out how to let the player experience their music optimally, even under the restrictions explained in the video.
*Edit: David Wise is apparently responsible for Donkey Kong, not Koji Kondo.
Guy in the top-middle picture is Austin Wintory, composer of music forJourney, the Banner Saga, Assassins Creed: Syndicate, and Absolver.
Yo thank you so much! Didn't expect to get such a detailed answer. Wow.
I actually now recognize the top right guy as Grant Kirkhope from the Game Grumps first guest grumps. Didn't know he composed music.
I mean, the music he wrote was the reason he was on GG. They spent the whole episode talking about the music he wrote.
New Sideways video heck YES I wanna get LEARNED on a topic I know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT because it's INTERESTING
VERY GOOD DESCRIPTION OF WHAT I FEEL EVERYTIME THANKS INTERNET
o3o
Yep.
Finding a channel like this is awesome! I know LESS than jack about music if that's possible, but finding a presentation or teacher that makes you enjoy learning about something you know nothing about is the best thing. :D
boy is this an adhd mood
You could do an entire episode on the Portal 2 soundtrack. Like how Triple Laser Phase could play for years and no two parts would be exactly the same. Or how some music changes depending on how fast you're moving.
Fuck I know! Pure genius
He really should.
A lot of the test elements even add their own sounds that blend right in with the music-- the 16th note arpeggios when you jump off of blue gel, the louder version when you make a jump off an orange gel ramp, the slow chords when you get in an excursion funnel... oh yeah, and the percussion runs in that one faith plate test.
Wait, how does Triple Laser Phase do that?
Is it several simultaneous loops with different lengths such that they take an extremely long time to line up?
Or how the Machiavellian Bach song repeats itself a few times before becoming gradually more technological sounding. Then, in the actual test chamber when you step onto an aerial faith plate, the tech version plays for whatever part of the actual song was playing before you jumped.
What is your opinion on games like Rhythm Heaven, Rayman Legends, or other games where, instead of the player having influence over the music, the music is a direct influence on how the game is played? These types of tracks also do not tend to loop. For example, ruclips.net/video/7Tl2oQ57ggk/видео.html During this level, if you died, the music would pick up at a checkpoint during the level and the song.
Additionally, during the development of Super Mario Galaxy, they had the orchestrated soundtrack for some motion-controlled levels recorded multiple times, each at different tempos and with different instruments. The soundtrack would then adapt to how fast the player was moving. Does this fall under re-orchestration, or something else?
Dynamic music?
Something like that, yes.
I'd like to know what he thinks about rhythm games too. Like Crypt of the Necromancer, for example. It still has that idetermancy, but the music is intrinsically part of the mechanics in the game. That game also has an awesome soundtrack.
Hi, I'm an amateur EDM producer and rhythm game fan. One thing I've noticed about rhythm games is that a well-designed level has to marry its music to both the emotional effect of the level and the patterns that appear in the level. An exaggerated example is the"boss songs" in rhythm games, the hardest levels the games have to offer. These songs almost universally have long sixteenth note runs at fast tempos, so the songs have to be written in a style that accommodates that. In addition, boss songs are supposed to be intimidating, so they universally have either antagonistic or heroic melodies. That's why so many boss songs are written in styles like drum 'n' bass, hardcore, or technically-focused metal.
These principals cover pretty much every well-designed rhythm game level. Some levels focus on hard-to-read rhythms, so the songs have to use lots of syncopation and have a playful or mischievous emotion to go with it. Easy songs need to be inviting and have obvious rhythms, so they tend to be either happy or songs people will recognize and lack heavy syncopation that deemphasizes major down beats. Some levels are about dramatic tempo changes, which puts obvious restrictions on the music composed or selected and often requires sections with different tempos to have noticably different styles. And so on and so forth.
This is focused specifically on rhythm games like Dance Dance Revolution and Rock Band, but I think the ideas apply to games like Crypt of the Necrodancer as well. For example, part of the reason Death Metal is challenging as a boss in Necrodancer is because his music is much faster than the music used anywhere else in the game, which forces you to play at a frantic pace.
Audiblade An interesting read, thanks for taking the time for such a well written comment. :3
Surprised you didn't mention how Journey and Metal Gear Rising both have it set so certain parts of their track are cut through in order to match the on-screen actions. Like Journey's slide to the underground when you launch of the ramp it always hits the same segment of music, or how in Rising whenever the first boss's QTE activates it will ALWAYS cut to the moment in the track that goes "RULES OF NATURE!!" Like you said, the music has to be structured improperly at times to make sense in context, but those two examples I gave would be nice additions to show how developers have tried to overcome those obstacles.
BriHard Journey's sound track is glorious
He kinda mentioned the idea of it, talking about Mario, just on a lesser scale. That is one of my favorite things in video games. You hardly notice it when it happens, but it effects the moment so much.
The information of this video is outdated.
Today's compositors have total control over the soundtrack depending on what player will do/events. It is called Adaptive music and composing. With software as Elias Software it is possible to synchronise every movement/action with the music to a beat time! It is painful and long process to develop such soundtrack - that is why most studios go with more simple approach - but nevertheless it is totally possible!
Check it
ruclips.net/video/zgMz4kWe4zw/видео.html
You posted the same thing twice bro.
Whatever bro.. my post is for someone who is not familiar with the concept, direct him towards adaptive music composing. It is useful information, particularity in the context of this video that puts this concept in the realms of the impossible. I myself do compose and I have found this information in similar conversation. if you compose for games this can be life changing stuff.
I like how Touhou games have the soundtrack composed first and the game is then structured around the songs...
...doesn't relate to the video to much, but I thought I'd share that! ;)
Bullet hell games are a bit different because developer can predict what the player will see at specific time.
ZUN is a genius for doing that. That way, the music will always match and not feel out of place if it’s the basis of that stage or game.
@@BmacSoundsLab and that's a huge risk since now
Music REALLY matters and thus you better have good music to accommodate this design
@ Orchid Snow-Crystal - Well ZUN sacrificed all his artistic skill for musical skill and became a god so I think we're good there
@@quartz_gg9090 can't agree more!
Splatoon 2’s Inkopolis News music loops, and then when it’s done, it just somehow leads right into the end, every time, no matter what pace you go through text at. The same thing goes for the battle music.
Jamie Klein Yeah I’ve tried to figure out how the News song works for a while now. Im guessing there’s certain variables that activate at certain places in the song. When the news is done and it hits one of those variables, it plays the outro.
I also like how, in Splatoon 2, Marina’s record scratches sync up to the music. It’s little touches like that that can make a game’s sound design really stand out.
BotW's music does this in villages when it becomes night and i still dont know how.
Homer Maltby It makes use of a trick a lot of games (Fire Emblem Fates for example) where it plays 2 songs at the same time, but one has it’s volume all the way down. When nighttime hits, the night theme’s (usually a more somber version of the day theme that syncs up perfectly) volume raises as the day theme’s volume lowers.
Mookal H I know a lot of games do that, but it sounds different in BotW... Like the tempo slows down and everything
When you play against Octavio in the first game, the music changes as well without stopping the song.
Someday I'd love to hear you talk about Undertale and Deltarune.
Somehow the track "undertale" in Undertale when you visit new home synchs up perfectly every time.
It syncs because the track is segmented into pieces that play in different parts of New Home. So it will play a loop of one part of the song until you proceed to the next area, with a transition for each new part.
I love how every time you want a "big blast" song you go to Star Wars, because we both no that when Williams swung that baton for the first time, pure gold shot out of it
the Portal 2 soundtrack is lovely
I'm not the only one who intentionally waits for 'swells' or 'climaxes' in soundtracks to do something 'cool' in games?
Most recent example I can think of off the top of my head is the third and final movement of Monster Hunter World's Rotten Vale large monster battle music, where a deceptively quiet french horn sets off the melody as an orchestra surges in the background, and the timpani sets a martial tone to the song. Very uplifting piece without being ridiculously over-the-top with WOW THIS IS SO EPIC... and I will intentionally be really careful not to do too much to the giant red good boi until that moment comes, then go for the biggest moves and highest damage I can.
You should check out Doom 2016's soundtrack by Mick Gordon. It does exactly what you've described. there's a video by Raycevick on how Gordon was able to make such a soundtrack possible by separating the music into chunks.
In turn based games
I wait untill the best part of the theme or the drop to do the final attack
In other types of games I start to dodge while waiting
I think that game music is more unique than a standard film or television score because if must stand on its own. This creates a bit of a disconnect, as unlike in film, the score is not a completely subservient tool of the story. The most similar comparison I can think of in non interactive media would be musicals, since a large piece of the work is dedicated to it.
Because of this situation, game music is more identifiable, I believe. I can remember at least a dozen songs from Mario. I can barely think of more than the main theme with any given film.
They often incorporate different versions of the main themes to ensure that cues are met. The Last of Us, Super Mario 64 and gears of war are a few examples.
You haven't seen many films then. The Godfather? Jaws? Indiana Jones? Star Wars Predator? Halloween? Taxi Driver? Good The Bad and The Ugly? Or any of Sergio Leons westerns for that matter? And that's just the popular ones too
Try Undertale, especially Asriel's Boss Fight
Alien Isolation had a system where the track that signals the alien's presence would trigger when it was nearby and then crescendo when it actually appeared. It was a really cool use of music that helped increase tension, especially since most of the game is silent or prefers ambiance.
Doom(2016) soundtrack fixes everything
...because?
PauLtus B haven’t played it but I think he’s saying that because it’s very dynamic
+Blaze Taleo
I get that, but it wouldn't be the first one, the video itself mentioned that.
you can't, the game doesn't come with the soundtrack
Rick sanchez The handsome scientist It does actually.
And then there's Minecraft, where the music just plays in the background, without too much relevance to the player's specific actions...
But still it gets its significance by chance... when we experience a particular moment such as the sunrise over our recently built house and associating certain notes or pieces with that exact moment. So the music is not completely independent from player's actions but in some cases, it still interacts :)
@@marafortune3713 In that sense, each player is essentially defining their own personal set of leitmotifs, by associating certain elements of the soundtrack with specific feelings or experiences.
isn't the doom soundtrack aleatoric? instead of composing full songs Mick Gordon composed a lot of variations of a lot of small sections of a song and the sound system of the game picks them at random, and can repeat them and skip them, kind of like "in C", depending on what's going on on screen, I think he did something similar for killer instinct too
That audio structure reminds me of Photoshop Flowey. Not quote th same system exactly, but rather the music is a bunch of short similar clips of audio (mostly to maintain the leitmotif) which change based on the stage of the battle, which can itself repeat or (depending on how many fails) change order.
@@SnoFitzroy
It does not change based on the stage of battle it changes on the players actions. The song changes at each stage yes, but there are many different variations of that song that change on what the player is doing. It is exactly what this guy describes in this video.
@@SnoFitzroy kinda
@@samanthacino Then what was the point of mixing nearly 50 variations of each different song separated into chunks so each transition is smooth? You watched the GDC video with Mick Gordon right?
I Ching derives its method of randomness from the casting of yarrow stems, traditionally. The book is used to interpret the results.
In Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, I was always impressed by how the music adapted when you would make contact with your sword and how it transitioned from the battle theme
That's why I love Undertale, the final fight is a whole score alone.
Kinda disappointed that Doom 2017's solos during glory kills want mentioned. Ether way good vid man
Nerf Guy 2016
For this, I present the new innovative for video game music...
Untitled Goose Game
I think Mario Kart 8 does this fantastically. Whenever you’re in first, a disco beat starts playing, and in certain tracks, the music will change as you go through the course, such as Mount Wario flawlessly transitions by adding little in between measures. Breath of the Wild also does this thing where when you hit an enemy, on the next appropriate beat, a cymbal crash or drum beat or piano riff will play.
I think the piece "Failing," for solo string bass, is another good example of aleatoric music. Not only is the end partially improvised, but the piece is made to be so difficult that it would be nearly impossible to play without failing. Because this is meant to be part of the piece, every performance is different.
You should check out how the music works in the 3ds fire emblem games. Essentially how it works is when you are looking at your units on the map, it plays a simplified, calmer version, but as soon as two units meet in battle, the screen zooms into a more detailed view and the music becomes much more upbeat and frantic, but that interesting part is its the same song. The way it transitions is amazing and totally adds to the experience of the game in my opinion
Yo, I've got opinions on Fire Emblem Fates overall, but the music in this just like you describe is absolutely fantastic.
That's kind of vertical re-orchestration, isn't it?
Mt. Wario?
the mobile game Monument Valley had a really interesting method for dealing with this. The majority of the backing music is made up of atmospheric drones, but when the player interacts with the different elements of a puzzle, each motion plays a note lying somewhere within the harmonic structure of the background drone texture. The player completes the piece of music by completing the level.
On the subject of how the composer doesn't know when the player will press start, the composer for Octopath Traveler, Yasunori Nishiki, did something quite interesting. He had the characters battle theme play over the cutscene and when you finally pressed 'A' enough times and got to the actual battle, a transition piece would play tying the character's theme to the boss battle music. I can't even describe how well he got the transitions down for that game's soundtrack.
P.S. Octopath Traveler arguably has the best soundtrack in any game I've played
Well, Brutal Legend starts with Black Sabbath`s Children of the grave by repeating parts and as you start completing the tutorial it adds a new part that keeps repeating
Ori and the Blind Forest is a great example how game-composers slowly overcome these issues. Even things as small as monster-attack-spawns are in sync with the music so it almost feels like a rhythm-game. I think if composers and level-designers start working closer together, a lot of room for innovation starts to form.
The "Da Blob" game has a fun approach to this, IMO. Each level has its own soft, dull beat and rhythm that represents the lack of color in a city. Your job is to free the citizens and bring color back. each color of paint you can use has its own instrument and set of riffs, so when you splat your orange paint to color a building, one little riff plays in guitar, for example, to the established gray/colorless rhythm. Pick up purple and color another building, you'll hear a sassy sax set to the background beat. The more you "liberate" the cities, the more complex and vibrant the level's music becomes, makes it sound more whole as you see your progress.
What I've noticed is that sometimes there is a tiny tiny lag between the application of paint and the riff sound it gives off, because it's finding a good spot to match the background music. One might feel inclined to paint to the beat!
I have never played another game like that, but naturally it also has its individual/chance composition. It's nice to feel that you're not part of some one-sided piece, there is some interaction and control in the specific sound that comes out. The freedom of control is what the game is about! I recommend it if you like color/music/puzzles. :)
Seems a shame to not mention Lucasarts' iMuse. Sadly everything went pre-recorded making that system much more difficult to achieve. I think we'd be seeing some very interesting leaps in interactive music by now if that sort of design hadn't been dropped.
Joseph Davies I believe is gonna make a return sooner or later. Processors are getting faster and RAM capacity is getting bigger. I believe that the day when we'll be able to send MIDI messages to sampled instruments in real time with the game running is not that far away. You can actually already use MIDI and custom instruments on Wwise, but is still really costly.
So tracker music, then.
Tracker music would be kind of a pain to implement in a way that allows for good audio quality though. Unless you store individual samples for every note in every instrument, which would take a crap ton of space, you're never gonna get away from the cheesy sound of pitch shifted instruments.
That depends on what you're trying to do. If you're trying to realistically emulate acoustic instruments, yeah, you need a different sample at least every minor 3rd or so. For drums and synth, I don't think you need nearly so many different samples. You can cut down on space by removing any samples you don't use, compressing them, or by storing samples in one place, instead of duplicating them for every song (of course this only helps with HD space, not memory). (edit: most formats don't actually let you do the last two of these, but it would be possible)
In any case, though, as long as you use a sample more than once, it should always take up less space than its pre-recorded counterpart. (edit: of the same quality)
Soundfonts exist and you can use them with games that have their music in General MIDI. Here's a video I made of TIE Fighter, which makes extensive use of iMUSE: ruclips.net/video/NFCNNQ_iNJs/видео.html
One game-developer that has a unique perspective on it's music is Supergiant. They have found a way to tie the music to specific beats in the gameplay for a really impressive soundtrack. Game Score Fanfare made great videos talking about this if you're curious.
I love listening to music from my favourite games outside of the game itself because it reminds me of that time when I _was_ playing the game and that music _just fit so perfect._ I love the emotion I get from BAATH and Deoxys' theme without actually being _in_ that fight with Undyne or Deoxys _in the current moment._ Not only is that just great music design but a great game as well. If the game has instilled an emotion-fueled memory so strong, and the music is so well written, that I can recall that memory and that emotion and that experience so clearly, that game is instantly one of my favourites, as well as the music. Instant sub, I'm glad I found someone as passionate about video game music as myself :)
It sometimes freaks me out if I had a had a hard time on a certain level, for example Heat in Mirrors Edge!
Overwatch has recently done this, and I think the method is actually pulled off really well.
What they did in the Mei Yeti Hunt brawl is had a nice, slow, slightly Christmas like few notes playing. Then, every time the Yeti (Winston) collected a meat (game objective), another layer of music was added. This happens three more times untill Winston collects 4 meats and gets super op and the music changes to drums.
The really cool part for the slow music is that the buildup ALWAYS fits with the music. No matter at which point the meat is collected, and when the next layer of music is added, it NEVER cuts off the phrase, because it only SOUNDS LIKE there is one, there isn't actually one.
I think I remember you saying that you had overwatch, so you might have seen this. If not, it really would be worth you seeing this.
Anyway, brilliant video, keep em coming!!
I've studied under the son of Ligeti, and it's absolutely fascinating to hear his thoughts, and his father's thoughts, on music. Especially in regards to spectralism. I'm glad you brought him up.
Having dabbled with software like Wwise though, it's honestly amazing how many possibilities there are to manipulating aspects of sound in games. Along with the composer themselves, I think much credit should also be given to sound designers. It's more of a workman-like position, but there is a sheer artistry in how they come together and not only help make the music flourish, but blend in with the surrounding soundscapes.
I'm curious, what do you mean by workman-like position?
I suppose I mean underappreciated from an artistic standpoint. I mean there was a time when the position was often simply credited as "Supervising Sound Editor," rather than "Sound Designer," despite the work itself being highly creative.
TS2000 ohh okay. Thanks for replying!
So whilst the issue you're posing, that it's very hard to compose a single piece of video game music that isn't thematically flat on account of the indeterminate player input, is still an ongoing crutch for games, several examples in recent years show that it's at least on it's way to being solved. One such example is the mount wario course from mario kart 8. The music for this course has multiple different sections depending on the specific area of the course the player happens to be on, but instead of layering those parts and snap fading them in and out when the player changes location, as is commonplace, the game will wait for the next bar and effectively change tracks, playing a quick transitional bar or 2 and moving the loop onto the next section. This makes the jump from section to section feel smooth and intentional and makes the player feel like the game and the track are progressing as one, which is the holy grail for game music. I'm sure many more ambitious examples will crop up in the coming years.
I remember when I was playing Red Dead Redemption, during the sequence where you finished all the errands that the FBI threw at you and you can finally go home, that's where the song "Compass" kicks in. To me that was one of the greatest video game moments of all time and I almost burst into tear. And when I was all immersed in my emotions, a grizzly showed up and slapped me to death........
"The player is both the audience and the performer."
DAMN.
An interesting game to bring up about this is The Sexy Brutale, that game relies on a groundhog-day style repetition of events, so the music actually can build up to a crescendo since events are guaranteed to happen in time with the world clock.
If you are reading comments to find a video game soundtrack to listen to (either by youtube or by playing it) I'm hereby recommending Skies of Arcadia.
For something completely different and Avant Garde, I'd recommend Lisa: The Painful
I'd recommend shovel knight and telltales the walking dead
Tomb Raider Legend 😁😁😍😍
Castlevania SOTN
Coconut Head
Yo, Lisa's soundtrack sucks!
And this comes lovingly from someone who greatly enjoyed it and its soundtrack during my last 30 days. No joke, I played through the Painful 3 times and the Joyful another 3 times. Got every achievement yesterday, as a matter of fact. I digress.
If you listened to the soundtrack before you played the game, as I did a couple years ago, you'd most likely not appreciate it. It's weird, often discordant, and jarring. However, it's extremely fitting for the game. This is great in the sense that you can listen to any of the tracks and be instantly transported to the world of LISA, but as a work standing alone? Not great, by any means. I think a good few other game soundtracks have this quality of not being enjoyable unless you've experienced the game itself. They're meant to go together, after all. Undertale is a good example. Good soundtrack, unless you haven't played the game.
As for games that have a magnificent soundtrack that are great even if you haven't played the game, I'd recommend Halo 3:ODST and Shadow of the Colossus. Yeah, that's it.
Before I watch the video, here’s a quote I came up with a few days ago - “You know a soundtrack is great when you don’t notice it in the game, yet immediately recognize it when you hear it somewhere else. There are some exceptions but still.”
Very rare do you find a game that has the music react to how the player interacts with the game world. A few recent examples I can personally name off the top of my head are DOOM (2016), Undertale, Portal 2. I can always appreciate all the work that goes into making this stuff work.
I feel like Journey is a really great example of all of this. It's one of the first things I noticed about the game. The music moves with you, but seamlessly. Instead of suddenly switching to a new track, it ebbs and flows with your movements. It's what makes it such a beautiful experience.
I feel like a really good example of this is that sliding level where you're racing down some sand dunes. The music will follow the characters movements. Like when you catch some air and fall.
I want to express my love for Austin Wintory's work in this comment section, but words are not enough
Sorry to mention this game but...
In Undertale there is actually a battle that kinda follows the music: the Asriel Dreemur fight, because right as the violin stops, his atracks change
Also, in (i guess you can call them that) pseudo-cutscenes, the mudic builds up, and in a specific fight, the song playing completely changes randomly
Sorry for bad english
Paulo Alberto Valente
Is there something wrong with mentioning Undertale?
@@VitaliyMilonov some people get mad, I was just trying to prevent that
Paulo Alberto Valente
Damn elitists!
@@VitaliyMilonov yeah
Or you get dooms soundtrack
I love your videos. So. Much.
5:40 "The best video game composers"
No love for Jeremy Soule?
Boojie Baker ruclips.net/video/047JCQg4n5U/видео.html
Koji Kondo?
Shogo Sakai?
Yoko Shimomura?
...Shoji Meguro?
"We'll let the comment section work this one out."
_That was the last mistake he'd ever make._
I honestly think that one of the main things that makes Skyrim so addictive is its soundtrack
rhythm games: *laughs in perfect synchrony with the game*
I think guitar hero 3 really nailed it here.
One of the most interesting musical techniques I've experienced is in the final warthog run in Halo: CE. No matter how long you take in the level, the music always swells when you miss the jump and as far as i have played, it always sounds natural.
Where does the quote “time is the canvas on which we paint music” come from? When I googled it all I found was this Stokowski quote “A painter paints his pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence” which I think is beautiful but has an entirely different meaning
That thing with the music not syncing up with a moment is so true lmao, when I played the hisstocrat level for 3dworld I always tried to time the hits the big hits in the boss theme
I'd love to hear what you think about the DOOM 2016 soundtrack. The music itself fantastic, for one thing, but they also program the music to change depending on what the player is doing in order to sync up actions to the music. For example, when a player performs a "glory kill," the music skips to the chorus, which syncs up with the glory kill. They somehow manage to do all of this while still having it sound completely natural. It's really impressive and worth a look.
They separate the music into chuncks making about 50 variations of one song or melody and put it in a randomizer. It will select one of these based on what the player is doing.
you should collar with 8-bit music theory
This.
One of my favorite uses of music in video games is when the song slightly changes depending on where you are in the game. A good example of this is Mario Galaxy and Yoshi's Island. Both games add more instruments to the hub world/world map music to reflect how far you have progressed in the game. Another similar example of this is in Banjo Kazooie, however instead of having the music change to symbolize progession, the hub world music changes based on what level you are close to by adding instruments to the song that is very similar to the instruments that appear in the music of the level you that you are near. These are small touches, but they do so much to improve both immersion and enjoyment of these games.
A couple of games that match the music to the action:
Metal Gear Rising
Nier Automata
Remember Me
Nice video, sideways :)
+1 for MGR, i loved that throught the game, the vocals for the songs would only play for the last phases of the boss fights, which communicated to the player 'this is going to get much more hard now', and how for the final boss it already starts with the lyrics, as to say 'nothing is going to top this moment'
MGR is the first thing that came to mind. Though It might also have something to do with *NATURE* being in the title....
Bayonetta also matches music to the action during the Climaxes, but that is yet another Platinum Game.
I don't think lyrics belong in action game soundtracks, but that's just me. burp.
I think stealth games do a pretty good job at this. At least the ones I played like the MGS and Splinter Cell series.
This is an old video, but I recently played through Mother 3 for the first time, and the soundtrack is phenomenal. There’s about 3 main motifs that aid the storyline and enhance the characters’ emotions. Also the battle system is rhythm based, so that’s a whole bunch of songs where you knowing the tempo is (optionally) integral to gameplay! Really fantastic game, I recommend checking it out.
1:50 - Breath of the Wild OST
LOL
Minimalistic :)
When you encounter a guardian, but they forgot how the start of the song goes.
*Composer:* Wait, hold on-... nearly got the notes, just wait... *_slams keys_* okay maybe that works too.
Though awful fanbases, Undertale and Doki Doki Literature Club I feel use indeterminate music in a unique way.
In Undertale, after killing a certain amount of characters, the usual travel music is replaced with a different piece containing indescribable low notes. Some displays were synced up to the music, and one of the boss battles is completely synced up with the battle music to signify that you are no longer in control, which is the point.
In Doki Doki Literature Club, the music glitches out with the game. When opening a poem, the main theme's instrumentation changes to fit with whoever's poem is being read. When the game begins to glitch out, the music plays a big a part in the process as the visual and technical errors.
I feel like To the Moon might do this as well, but I can't be certain.
The thing about these games is that they're RPGs. I feel like RPGs give the composer a bit more control, but also all of these games had the music written but the game's creator (Undertale was created by Toby Fox, and DDLC was created by Dan Salvato) so maybe creating the score at the same time as the game is key.
I have basically no knowledge of music theory despite playing multiple instruments, and your videos are like glimpsing a whole new world. I'm simultaneously awed and frustrated.
TL;DR i want your babies
Who was he guy you flashed a picture of with text saying he was robbed at the Grammy’s?
Nigel Roy Austin Wintory, composer of music for games like Journey, the Banner Saga, Assassins Creed: Syndicate, and Absolver. His work on Journey got him nominated for a Grammy.
Caleb Valdez Thanks. I liked the score for journey and banner saga, I should know who he is. I’ll pay attention to his career from now on.
No problem! Glad to spread the word
You should see sky children of light, they time everything perfectly and I don’t know how.
Literally I will take the longest time distracted in real life and still when I get to some milestone or discover something new the music seamlessly changes to fit the setting or the object I discovered in a beautiful way.
Red Dead Redemption had a procedurally generated soundtrack, if I’m not misremembering. I love your channel, what a genius, thanks to your content I have hell of a lot more respect for music in general.
i was thinking about this when untitled goose game came out and they made such an interesting choice syncing the character's movements to parts of their soundtrack
Your channel really inspires me, thanks.
I preface this with saying I agree and understand every point you made in this video.
In Persona 5, at least to me, the battle music does change. I may be dumb because I haven’t taken any music theory courses but the music changes depending on what type of enemies you’re fighting. There is one for basic enemies, harder ones, really hard ones, and one more for the final boss I think. And in Persona 5 Royal, they added another for when you ambush an enemy. I get what point he was making, “video game’s battle music doesn’t change” but I just think Persona is the wrong game. Maybe Final fantasy would have worked better as an example or something. Again, I’m a little dumb boi so correct me if I’m wrong.
If you started a series where you analysed soundtracks from specific games, you'd have a million subs instantly. Just saying.
My personal pick would be Battle for Middle Earth 2.
Have you heard the boss transitions in Octopath Traveler? The pre-boss cutscene music is composed to seamlessly transition into the boss theme from a number of points in the music, so that it feels like a single composition.
Doom had music that could react to the players actions throughout any given moment
I HIGHLY recommend you check out the making of the music for Red Dead Redemption!!
It was built around what the player was doing. Synced to the same tempo and same scales.
So if the player starts riding on his horse, a thumping up beat bass line comes in; to relate to the action on screen.
Super cool
You have to be one of the best most informative most entertaining creators ever! I learn so much and I’m addicted!
Your video instantly reminded me of how I start the game Okami. There is this epic music before you hit the continue- or new-game-button and I always wait until the sound of hitting the button "dun dun . . . Okami" fits into the rhythm of the start screen music, every time!
Thanks for this. I love being enlightened about music in a way that I enjoy and you provide that.
Pokemon Sword and Shield did the Gym Music really well. At the last Pokemon, the music gets more intense and hype, which is really cool.
If I'm not mistaken, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance had sort of a dymnamic soundtrack in the sense that the music would intentionally bring out the more "intense" parts of the song when you are wailing on a boss really hard. Would love to see games do that more, since it really gets you fired up. Especially with MGR:R soundtrack.
I don't think that really counts as dynamic , the bosses are mostly divided into two phases, so one phase had instrumental musical and another had lyrics, they're the same music, but the Lyrics would (mostly) only appear on the last phase on a intense scripted event.
A truly dynamic system would be that the Lyrics kicks in when the combo meter is high enough or something like that
Killer Instinct
This is less a musical problem and more an organization problem. See, music formulation in videogames is ass backwards. The composers need to be right there in the thick of things from preproduction. You can control time in a game, the game designer is an almighty God who can do absolutely anything.
Want a loading screen to always terminate at the end of a verse, easy. Want there to be a delay between pressing the start button and the actually transition so that measures don't cut off, done. Want a triggered event to sync up with the music rather than the other way around, your wish is my command.
Video game music should be based around the controlled elements of a game, and those elements should be crafted with the music in mind. Music should not change based in what the player IS doing, it should inform the player what they are meant to be doing.
I love you omg. Your videos are so dense and feel so long when in reality this one is under 10 minutes.
Are you familiar with the Touhou series? The main games are created entirely by one person, and the music develops and resolves in ways that beautifully match the visuals and flow of stages.
I like what doom does. Take a genre of music that fits the mood of the game. And then make leitmotif for every major area of the game and as the action ramps up you slowly dial the music up or down as it goes. Simpler fix to a complicated problem.