Video Game Soundtracks

[Omicron]

I've been playing with the idea of trying to enter the video game industry as a song writer. What kind of music do you MAPers prefer in your games?

[Adam]

Gotta be more specific than that. What kind of game are you talking about?

[Omicron]

I'm just thinking of games in general...like what kind of music do you find makes playing them most enjoyable?

[Cain]

It has to fit the mood/situation of the game like *cough* max payne and descent freespace series ;)

|Cain|

[com160]

depends on the type of game, but I can say that Vice city has the best soundtrack, and has plenty of variation depending on the situation

edit: voted rock

[Sub zero]

I'm sorry but most games soundtracks don't live up to the great old midi sound tracks......apart from halo maybe

Any fo the old sonic games and any earth worm jim game have incredible sound tracks. :D

[Omicron]

I agree! Those old midis were really catchy, and definitely added personality to the game. I don't think there are many gamers out there who could hear the old Mario theme without having lots of fond memories rush back.

[Tatsumaru]

yay, retro soundtracks :D

[Pepsi32123]

You know in movies how a rising action would have some stringed instruments(violin, viola, chello, bass) to creat suspence? Well, that could be used for that. I enjoy listening to techno when I play games. I don't really care to have the sound on the console. Also, you have to think about what people like. Not everyone can agree on the samy type of music, then you have to pick a type that no one would mind. If you have words, some people might be offended by the singer, style of singing, or what message the singer is putting out. I can't play a shoot-em-up game while listening to country, just can't.

[sean]

Its gotta be techno when playing a game, unless its Final Fantasy, they play some odd music on that but it fits with the Imaginative story lines.

I agree make it more specific on the Game genre, I mean, i wouldnt want Drums and Bass on Resident evil... and i wouldnt want death metal on Mario Land. See my point? :p

Good luck becoming a game musician, I didnt even know there was an industry in that until now :)

-Sean

[David]

I always turn the music off.

Good luck :)

[oni_sensei]

It really depends on the type of game you're working on. I'm gonna go all eclectic here and say that you need to let your mind go and just get the feel of the game itself. Think of some tunes that might go well with the certain aspect of the game that you're going over, and experiment.

As for my preference in music, you can't go past Uematsu Nobuo ^_^.

[sean]

As for my preference in music, you can't go past Uematsu Nobuo ^_^.

Ive never heard of it :confused:

-Sean

[sean]

Ive never heard of it :confused:

-Sean

From MSN search ive learnt that it has something to do with FF.

These Guys (http://www.scorereviews.com/forum/topic.asp?id=725) seem to like it :)

-Sean

[Pepsi32123]

I think the only time I've ever heard of rock/metal music was on Metal Gear Solid. Pretty much every game has it's own type of music, but there was this one guy listening to head phones that had rock music. I can't remember if it had words to it or not

[Poop-Loops]

Orchestral for me. I play lots of RPGs, and you get lots of that there. Plus, there is orchestral music in Star Wars games, Warcraft, and even some tracks in MGS.

PL

[Omicron]

Thanks for all the input guys! I guess I'll just keep experimenting writing in different styles, because I guess it's important to be able to do different things for different games.

[Maximicus]

Midis and J-pop work in 2-d fighting, platform and RPGs (FF, Mario, Marvel VS. Capcom, SNK, etc.).
Jazz and Orchestra work for setting a good mood (Max Payne, MGS2, Halo, etc).

[Omicron]

Yes...RPGs are the ones where the truly masterful musicians get to shine.

[Cougar_v203]

i like teh music from mechassault.

[Alex_JHH]

Seeing as I mostly play fantasy and RPG's, I most often listen to classical. Nobuo Uematsu was the guy that did the music for a lot of the final fantasy series.

[Furikuchan]

*bows to Nobuo Uematsu* This guy is the John Williams of the video game world. Just like Darth Vader had The Imperial March, which made him a lot scarier and more evil, Sephiroth had One Winged Angel, and Kuja had his un-named theme, both of which were really great peices of orchestral work that made the villians seem a lot more dark and, well, spooky.
And, while I'm on the subject of Final Fantasy music, *hisses at whoever decided to change the music genre to jazz and hip-hop in FFX-2.* Yes, it made sense with the whole Yuna singer storyline, but I liked the classical music a lot better!

[Omicron]

Nobuo Uematsu is totally my favourite video game music guy too. He's the man!

[d33pthought]

depends on the game:
racing game: hard and fast metal
stealth action: slow industrial
fantasy rpg: quick orchestral (real orchestral; no techno remix crap)
flight sim: Ride of the Valkyries, baby :P

[Tyke]

All hail the great Uematsu!

And Motoi Sakuraba (Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile), and Yasunori(sp?) Mitsuda (Xenogears)!

It's really hard to point to a particular style of music, but these composers have a knack for using whatever style fits the moment.