As songs the old ones were better but newer ones tend to complemet the game not distract from it. I know most modern game music is rubish but there is some realy good stuff that is written to help the atmosfear the game creates not to be listened to. Commandos 2 has a realy good sound track and Total Anialation''s it nothing short of brilliant, it makes me feel like I am part of a big, drmatic war.
Ben Gosney.
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Modern Game Music vs Old School
Yeah, the old game music had nearly always some catchy melodies.
Today the sounds are more atmospheric, not saying that this is bad.
What''s really getting worse, and that''s not only applying to the game music, is that there is only the money that counts,
so they do cheap stuff but say it is 3D sound, to make the people buy it, they say this game has true 3D graphics rendered in realtime ( that could be a rotating cube ... ), to make the people buy it, they say this game features any-what-the-heck-is-that-feature, to make the people buy it.
The feature is what counts, nor how well it is done
And that really pisses me off.
In many of the older games you could see that the people developing it had given there heart and soul for it.
That''s ehat I''m really missing today.
Old stuff I liked ( the stuff I remember at the moment ):
Mario Bros. ( you must have heard the mario soundtracks )
Contra
Commmander Keen ( really funny music )
Duke Nukem 3D ( the theme song never gets out of your head )
Earth Worm Jim I / II
( really weird soundtrack, but kind a kool )
Quake I ( kool sound, but mainly atmo sounds )
New Stuff ( I remember at the moment ):
Interstate ''76 ( excellent and funky, grooves away everything )
MDK 1
Deus Ex ( very atmospheric, but cool theme anyway )
Kiss: Psycho Circus
MDK 2
Today the sounds are more atmospheric, not saying that this is bad.
What''s really getting worse, and that''s not only applying to the game music, is that there is only the money that counts,
so they do cheap stuff but say it is 3D sound, to make the people buy it, they say this game has true 3D graphics rendered in realtime ( that could be a rotating cube ... ), to make the people buy it, they say this game features any-what-the-heck-is-that-feature, to make the people buy it.
The feature is what counts, nor how well it is done
And that really pisses me off.
In many of the older games you could see that the people developing it had given there heart and soul for it.
That''s ehat I''m really missing today.
Old stuff I liked ( the stuff I remember at the moment ):
Mario Bros. ( you must have heard the mario soundtracks )
Contra
Commmander Keen ( really funny music )
Duke Nukem 3D ( the theme song never gets out of your head )
Earth Worm Jim I / II
( really weird soundtrack, but kind a kool )
Quake I ( kool sound, but mainly atmo sounds )
New Stuff ( I remember at the moment ):
Interstate ''76 ( excellent and funky, grooves away everything )
MDK 1
Deus Ex ( very atmospheric, but cool theme anyway )
Kiss: Psycho Circus
MDK 2
Outcast (http://www.outcast-game.com) has one of the most beautiful soundtrack I''ve heard in a game. It was composed by Lennie Moore (http://www.lenniemoore.com) and interpreted by the Moscow Symphonic Orchestra (sorry, no link
). The music of the Lost Paradise (sequel to Outcast) will be/is being composed by the same artist and interpreted by the same orchestra (see http://www.appeal.be for more info, it''s worth it).
That game also ranks in my top 10 games in all aspects (music, design, playability, fun factor, story, technology, AI, graphics, etc).
I think than Planescape : torment (http://www.planescape-torment.com) had good music too. It wasn''t as ''magistral'' as Outcast''s, but really added to the atmosphere and fit in the ambiance (and it''s also one of my all time favorites, story wise).
Just my 0.02$.
). The music of the Lost Paradise (sequel to Outcast) will be/is being composed by the same artist and interpreted by the same orchestra (see http://www.appeal.be for more info, it''s worth it).That game also ranks in my top 10 games in all aspects (music, design, playability, fun factor, story, technology, AI, graphics, etc).
I think than Planescape : torment (http://www.planescape-torment.com) had good music too. It wasn''t as ''magistral'' as Outcast''s, but really added to the atmosphere and fit in the ambiance (and it''s also one of my all time favorites, story wise).
Just my 0.02$.
I disagree that increasingly capable game technological means holographic realism. Games will continue as an artform...Just because painters have long had the tools and knowledge to create pieces that mimic photographs does not mean that that is the extent of the graphic arts. More tools and techniques means more room for creativity, not less...
I hum tetris for the gameboy music piece A , nearly every day.
Edited by - garconbifteck on January 2, 2002 3:20:14 PM
Edited by - garconbifteck on January 2, 2002 3:20:14 PM
I''m not sure that modern game music is worse than "old school" tunes. It''s just that the definition of what makes good game music is changing, and the likes and styles of gamers are changing as new generations join the fan pool.
The fact is, video games and every process involved in making them is constantly changing. New technologies and options give designers more freedom in creating games, and with that freedom comes experimentation. Gaming companies can''t just market to old-schoolers anymore, they have to worry about the "newbie" gamers and what they look for in a good video game experience.
Both modern and old game tunes are great, it just depends on taste, and what fits the atmosphere of the game.
The fact is, video games and every process involved in making them is constantly changing. New technologies and options give designers more freedom in creating games, and with that freedom comes experimentation. Gaming companies can''t just market to old-schoolers anymore, they have to worry about the "newbie" gamers and what they look for in a good video game experience.
Both modern and old game tunes are great, it just depends on taste, and what fits the atmosphere of the game.
Yeah, I love the music of Outcast. It''s been played by
Moscow Symphony Orchestra, just sounds damn great.
But, although you cannot find "catchy melodies" there,
I like the music in Diablo-I very much, especially in the
first 2..3 dungeons. It''s dark and scary, but I don''t think
"cheap". Well, you can do very simple music that''s scary,
like in those crap horror movies, with some high synth
string sounds, but diablo''s music is absolutely not like that.
The drum rythms, light distorted guitar... somewhat occult.
Town music is also very nice, I like acoustic guitars.
Music of Unreal is also great (I think),
very varied, not that repetitive like blood-II,
but, the simple music also does the job there.
"Good" music is not always needed for games, or scenes
in games, it depends.
Moscow Symphony Orchestra, just sounds damn great.
But, although you cannot find "catchy melodies" there,
I like the music in Diablo-I very much, especially in the
first 2..3 dungeons. It''s dark and scary, but I don''t think
"cheap". Well, you can do very simple music that''s scary,
like in those crap horror movies, with some high synth
string sounds, but diablo''s music is absolutely not like that.
The drum rythms, light distorted guitar... somewhat occult.
Town music is also very nice, I like acoustic guitars.
Music of Unreal is also great (I think),
very varied, not that repetitive like blood-II,
but, the simple music also does the job there.
"Good" music is not always needed for games, or scenes
in games, it depends.
Game Basement Radio - Open a list and Sort by Titles. By far the easiest way to find good VG music. Civ II, LBA, MoO2, Quake 1-3, Alice, Vampire : Masquerade, Unreal, UT, MDK2, Rocket Jockey, Loom, Leisure Suit Larry, Curse of Monkey Island, Neverhood, The Dig, NOLF, MechWarrior2, Diablo, Diablo 2 -- just to name a few.
Edited by - SonicSilcion on January 3, 2002 12:06:36 PM
Edited by - SonicSilcion on January 3, 2002 12:06:36 PM
Hi all,
I''ve just joined this forum and couldn''t miss this topic.
When we say "Good music for game" we don''t always expect it to be a great standalone music (it can happen this way though). Rather we want it to be "good for _this_game_ music". So the real art is to find that right balance when music naturally fits plot and supports picture. Music for games as well as for movies and TV usually plays a second, supportive role (again, the situation can vary, it can be music game/movie or whatever). It doesn''t excuse junkwriters though. "Good" sould mean good in anyway :-) When one puts soul into his work it makes this interesting. If that one is talented, professional and experienced it makes this masterpiece.
I''m not that great but I have some experience: worked a lot in audiovideo production for movies, TV, radio, multimedia in the past. Furthermore, my wife is gifted professional composer so I assisted her on many projects as sound engineer (was tempted to say "sound designer" :-). I had some situations when soundtrack had saved bad picture. But sometimes music had to be re-written in order not to be so good to uncover uglyness of video (but we always tried to avoid such projects).
About technical part: Sure, having more powerful soft/hardware creates more ways to express yourself as well it gives more people chance to think as composers/designers about themselves :-) We were often roughly restricted in the technical terms since sound and musical equipment is way too expensive comparing to revenues and salaries in this field in our part of the world (Russia, Siberia). It didn''t prevent us from creating good tracks though. The reason we recently moved to US there was not too much going on in movie production and game development. We needed space to grow ;-)
With BR,
airman
I''ve just joined this forum and couldn''t miss this topic.
When we say "Good music for game" we don''t always expect it to be a great standalone music (it can happen this way though). Rather we want it to be "good for _this_game_ music". So the real art is to find that right balance when music naturally fits plot and supports picture. Music for games as well as for movies and TV usually plays a second, supportive role (again, the situation can vary, it can be music game/movie or whatever). It doesn''t excuse junkwriters though. "Good" sould mean good in anyway :-) When one puts soul into his work it makes this interesting. If that one is talented, professional and experienced it makes this masterpiece.
I''m not that great but I have some experience: worked a lot in audiovideo production for movies, TV, radio, multimedia in the past. Furthermore, my wife is gifted professional composer so I assisted her on many projects as sound engineer (was tempted to say "sound designer" :-). I had some situations when soundtrack had saved bad picture. But sometimes music had to be re-written in order not to be so good to uncover uglyness of video (but we always tried to avoid such projects).
About technical part: Sure, having more powerful soft/hardware creates more ways to express yourself as well it gives more people chance to think as composers/designers about themselves :-) We were often roughly restricted in the technical terms since sound and musical equipment is way too expensive comparing to revenues and salaries in this field in our part of the world (Russia, Siberia). It didn''t prevent us from creating good tracks though. The reason we recently moved to US there was not too much going on in movie production and game development. We needed space to grow ;-)
With BR,
airman
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