The game is a huge cake containing a lot of ingredients and layers. The games have such key components as story, gameplay, visual and others. And one of the important places in this baking is occupied by musical accompaniment. I am an indie game developer and, concurrently, an Xbox ambassador, and I want to tell you more about such a wonderful phenomenon as music in games.
The game soundtrack allows you to do a lot with your game. This is one of the factors of influence and impression on the players. You can determine the mood of the player using the composition: A dark and sinister ambient will play in the creepy mansion. While jumping on blocks in the platformer, major tons will give cheerfulness and confidence in passing the test. And after the sad ending of a dramatic story, while watching the credits, you can enjoy minor sad music.
Let's take the example of the popular indie game UNDERTALE, part of the fame of which she received due to her great music. Its main developer, Toby Fox, is also the only composer. Who better than him to know about the moods of scenes, battles and dialogues between characters? The peculiarity of his compositions is that they all perfectly convey everything that happens in other components of the game: gameplay, plot, visual and so on, as I mentioned above. As the developer himself said, some soundtracks were born even before the scene was finished on the game engine. UNDERTALE is a great demonstration of how gameplay, story and music complement each other throughout the game.
There is an equally unique and excellent example from the work of indie studios. Hollow Knight is a platformer, the music of which is responsible for the famous game composer Christopher Larkin. Before us is a ruined kingdom, riddles... It all conveys each soundtrack of the game incredibly clearly! The game setting is made in gray and gloomy colors. And the soundtracks also feel gray. They are full of melancholy and longing. But at the same time, when a fight with the enemy begins in Hollow Knight, it smoothly changes into a cheerful composition showing the level of danger. Here you can see how beneficial the influence of the symbiosis of music and all those events that occur in the game will be for the player!
I myself and my team are developing a creepy game called The Nick. And our team of musicians focuses on the experience of playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the wild. In this adventure, we are constantly kept close by relaxing and tragic music. Mostly, quiet ambient or weak compositions are played. If all this had not been in Zelda, the sensations of passing would have undergone strong changes. She shows the world that music can be not only a pleasant addition to a game project, but also a vital part for her.
In our story, which we are actively developing, we are going to make a very strong bias on the soundtrack. These are soundtracks, sound effects, and feedback from the user interface.
I often see Xbox ambassadors sharing their favorite playlists or single tracks on the official Discord server. I will be very happy if they share with all the other players about the importance of music. After all, there are many soundtrack albums that you can listen to even separately from the game. While in the Xbox Ambassadors community, I also met some really talented musicians in this field. This shows how multifaceted our association is and what interesting people there are in it! And if you also have a favorite music playlist consisting of video game soundtracks, I and many other ambassadors will be very happy if you share it with us on Discord or Twitter. Music from games for everyone. Games for everyone!
I would like to take this opportunity to recommend Flat Reality Soundtracks, a game soundtrack distribution service. You can distribute soundtracks for your game at the most affordable prices and sell them on all music platforms. We, Flat Reality, also help with the promotion of both the soundtrack and the development of the game as a whole.
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