2011
12JUL
Still Makin' It Up - Part 7
Last time: Building worlds for fun and profit.
Today's music choice: Jessamine. I dunno why, but I thought it would be funny to give one oddball bonus character her own theme music. Appropriate, considering today's rant!
Progress Report: Episode Two is, for all intents and purposes, finished. It needs testing still, of course, and I'm wrestling with a bug in the fleet rearrangement system, which is an unholy pile of almost 1000 lines of Ruby code. Regardless, I'll put it up for download on July 29th.
I'm no musician. The last time I picked up a musical instrument was when I played saxophone in high school Jazz Band, and that was close to fourteen years ago. I still appreciate a good tune, though, and the professional quality of music in videogames even since the nineties has gone woefully under-appreciated. That's not why I'm here, though. I want to look at the concept of video game music on its own.
Some would say that the best video game music is the kind you don't even realize is there. Uncharted and its sequel do this well - it's entirely atmospheric and cinematic sounding to amplify the associated scene, but otherwise it's not terribly memorable. Others may argue that the music itself should be memorable, and should in turn evoke memories of that particular location in the game itself. Every time I hear the Luca music from Final Fantasy X, I remember playing it for the first time and being enraptured. Less nerdy circles associate songs with similar points in their life, so what it really boils down to is whether you (or your musician) have the chops to create an "iconic" work of music.
Despite the dozens of well-known video game composers, a lot of video game music still follows a memetic trend with respect to its setting. High fantasy games will almost always have sweeping orchestras and a more "classical" flavor. Modern war games tend to use a lot of heavy drums and synth. Cinematic games will have a suitably cinematic score, usually with elements associated with their setting as well. And RPGs are...well... mostly all over the place. Western RPGs seem to favor real instruments, while eastern ones tend to be more synthetic. I played Record of Agarest War Zero because I saw "Strategy RPG" and immediately rented it, but during the installation, this horrible bouncy cutesy mid-nineties anime music came blasting out and I immediately thought "wait, this isn't a war game... this is anime bullshit!" and was able to pull the disc out and return it before any permanent mental scarring could be done. (Okay, to be fair, I played a few missions first. So, some scarring.) I guess fans expect certain types of music to go along with certain genres/developers, and this was no different. It's a strange notion, though - do you really risk alienating your fanbase/audience just because the music is different from what's expected?
Doesn't seem to hurt Final Fantasy games one bit. Every entry's soundtrack is wildly different from the last, and generally very good to boot; both fitting to the setting, and downright catchy. Say what you will about the games themselves, but they have some damn fine music. Similarly, the sci-fi-heavy Xenosaga games went full-on symphony orchestra for their soundtracks, which is an interesting twist from the norm. Some long-running series reuse the same tunes from game to game, with increasingly complex medleys and richer instruments as technology and budgets increase. Some games keep a recurring motif with a similar progression.
What do I do, you probably didn't ask? Well, in The Reconstruction, I made generous use of the MIDI music included with RPG Maker, but rarely in the manner intended by the filename (I used one of the faster-paced town themes for battle music, for instance). This didn't bother me, because I didn't have a lot of exposure to RPG Maker games - other players, however, are not always so forgiving. I did throw in a few quote-unquote original songs that were basically stitched together using royalty-free track samples intended for commercial/presentation use. The way I pick what music to use where is strange, so bear with me. I've got a little (PROTIP: actually a lot) of synesthesia going on, so that each song has a certain "color" or set of colors I feel when I hear it. You remember Remy's sensation of taste in Ratatouille? Exactly like that. Anyway, I could hear a song and think "this sounds really blue/green," so, BAM. Jungle music. The instruments have an effect on my choice too, but not entirely overtly, if I can help it.
What the fuck was I talking about? Oh yeah.
I eschewed all of that mess for I Miss the Sunrise and went with completely original stuff. Though, without a talented bone in my body, the music is mostly pretty simple and unremarkable, but by God it's there and it's original. I also made up a simple motif that's wormed its way into much of the soundtrack - you've probably noticed it if you've played it. I don't have a problem with simple background music (it sure beats silence) - I know it can create an emotional punch when well-done, but I personally prefer the writing to handle that responsibility. Especially when you have a single-digit budget. So, music, you just sit back and do your thing.
Next time: With Episode Two looming ever nearer, maybe I'll give a few tips on cheap/easy ways to make games look more professional. I know - professionalism in an RPG Maker game? Oh Spacey, you've slain again!
Today's music choice: Jessamine. I dunno why, but I thought it would be funny to give one oddball bonus character her own theme music. Appropriate, considering today's rant!
Progress Report: Episode Two is, for all intents and purposes, finished. It needs testing still, of course, and I'm wrestling with a bug in the fleet rearrangement system, which is an unholy pile of almost 1000 lines of Ruby code. Regardless, I'll put it up for download on July 29th.
I'm no musician. The last time I picked up a musical instrument was when I played saxophone in high school Jazz Band, and that was close to fourteen years ago. I still appreciate a good tune, though, and the professional quality of music in videogames even since the nineties has gone woefully under-appreciated. That's not why I'm here, though. I want to look at the concept of video game music on its own.
Some would say that the best video game music is the kind you don't even realize is there. Uncharted and its sequel do this well - it's entirely atmospheric and cinematic sounding to amplify the associated scene, but otherwise it's not terribly memorable. Others may argue that the music itself should be memorable, and should in turn evoke memories of that particular location in the game itself. Every time I hear the Luca music from Final Fantasy X, I remember playing it for the first time and being enraptured. Less nerdy circles associate songs with similar points in their life, so what it really boils down to is whether you (or your musician) have the chops to create an "iconic" work of music.
Despite the dozens of well-known video game composers, a lot of video game music still follows a memetic trend with respect to its setting. High fantasy games will almost always have sweeping orchestras and a more "classical" flavor. Modern war games tend to use a lot of heavy drums and synth. Cinematic games will have a suitably cinematic score, usually with elements associated with their setting as well. And RPGs are...well... mostly all over the place. Western RPGs seem to favor real instruments, while eastern ones tend to be more synthetic. I played Record of Agarest War Zero because I saw "Strategy RPG" and immediately rented it, but during the installation, this horrible bouncy cutesy mid-nineties anime music came blasting out and I immediately thought "wait, this isn't a war game... this is anime bullshit!" and was able to pull the disc out and return it before any permanent mental scarring could be done. (Okay, to be fair, I played a few missions first. So, some scarring.) I guess fans expect certain types of music to go along with certain genres/developers, and this was no different. It's a strange notion, though - do you really risk alienating your fanbase/audience just because the music is different from what's expected?
Doesn't seem to hurt Final Fantasy games one bit. Every entry's soundtrack is wildly different from the last, and generally very good to boot; both fitting to the setting, and downright catchy. Say what you will about the games themselves, but they have some damn fine music. Similarly, the sci-fi-heavy Xenosaga games went full-on symphony orchestra for their soundtracks, which is an interesting twist from the norm. Some long-running series reuse the same tunes from game to game, with increasingly complex medleys and richer instruments as technology and budgets increase. Some games keep a recurring motif with a similar progression.
What do I do, you probably didn't ask? Well, in The Reconstruction, I made generous use of the MIDI music included with RPG Maker, but rarely in the manner intended by the filename (I used one of the faster-paced town themes for battle music, for instance). This didn't bother me, because I didn't have a lot of exposure to RPG Maker games - other players, however, are not always so forgiving. I did throw in a few quote-unquote original songs that were basically stitched together using royalty-free track samples intended for commercial/presentation use. The way I pick what music to use where is strange, so bear with me. I've got a little (PROTIP: actually a lot) of synesthesia going on, so that each song has a certain "color" or set of colors I feel when I hear it. You remember Remy's sensation of taste in Ratatouille? Exactly like that. Anyway, I could hear a song and think "this sounds really blue/green," so, BAM. Jungle music. The instruments have an effect on my choice too, but not entirely overtly, if I can help it.
What the fuck was I talking about? Oh yeah.
I eschewed all of that mess for I Miss the Sunrise and went with completely original stuff. Though, without a talented bone in my body, the music is mostly pretty simple and unremarkable, but by God it's there and it's original. I also made up a simple motif that's wormed its way into much of the soundtrack - you've probably noticed it if you've played it. I don't have a problem with simple background music (it sure beats silence) - I know it can create an emotional punch when well-done, but I personally prefer the writing to handle that responsibility. Especially when you have a single-digit budget. So, music, you just sit back and do your thing.
Next time: With Episode Two looming ever nearer, maybe I'll give a few tips on cheap/easy ways to make games look more professional. I know - professionalism in an RPG Maker game? Oh Spacey, you've slain again!