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SOUNDTRACK: A MAKE-OR-GAMEBREAKER?
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geodude
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CloseUK-only PC sales. i think that might be narrowing it down too much!
also not really relevant because it's a genre-specific exception that is in a category of its own
i think the ludicrous, inexorably vast weight of evidence still leans in favour of the point, though
also not really relevant because it's a genre-specific exception that is in a category of its own
i think the ludicrous, inexorably vast weight of evidence still leans in favour of the point, though
Shinan
4314
are you familiar with the term "literal internet"?
EDIT: Also when it comes to games. There's basically a whole genre that often doesn't have music (and it's not just management sims)
EDIT: Also when it comes to games. There's basically a whole genre that often doesn't have music (and it's not just management sims)
MKID232
435
The soundtrack would be a game breaker for me if it weren't for the fact that if the music sucks, I just listen to my own. But otherwise, yeah.
Give me great music and I'll probably play the game (and most likely finish it) even if the other areas are lacking.
Give me shitty music and the game will be lucky to last more than 5 minutes on my hard disk drive (unless something makes the audio factor utterly inconsequential).
Give me shitty music and the game will be lucky to last more than 5 minutes on my hard disk drive (unless something makes the audio factor utterly inconsequential).
Street Fighter IV is pretty much universally known for having awful music and it's simultaneously the defining fighting game of its type of this generation. Super Street Fighter IV fixed that up a bit with some better tracks, but the ears were hurtin for a while there.
here's an example that instantly springs to my mind- Solstice on the NES. Solstice is a weird little puzzle game that most folks haven't ever heard of ever- it was pretty obscure when it came out, and remains pretty obscure to this day. of note is its isometric perspective, fairly detailed graphics for the time, and... what am i forgetting here...
oh right. its totally goddamned amazing soundtrack.
solstice is a good game, no question. but it's definitely its soundtrack that takes a pretty good obscure NES title and makes it an awesome obscure NES title.
yes, the whole soundtrack is this brick-shittingly intense. really helps carry the game through the harder rooms and their puzzles, and adds to the overall mysterious atmosphere. hard to believe the composer- Tim Follin, look him up he rocks- crammed all that auditory depth into the tiny amount of channels on the NES sound module.
additional tidbit: Tim Follin scored many games back in the day, including many NES titles. Solstice was one of those. Silver Surfer was another. in case you have never played it or heard about it, let me just assure you that Silver Surfer is godawful in every way imaginable. except its soundtrack. every track Tim Follin made for Silver Surfer is great musically. it's just a shame you don't get to hear most of them in-game because the game is so dick-splittingly difficult.
there's my two cents. two examples really- one place where the soundtrack really did its job well and helped make the game even more than it already was, and one where a great soundtrack was wasted on an awful game.
edit: oh, and i should give an example of an awful awful awful soundtrack that really was gamebreaking.
if you are an Angry Video Game Nerd fan, you already know what i'm talking about, but if you're not, check out the music from Back To The Future on the NES.
(this is the link right here)
it's literally that. for the whole game. just that, looped over and over and over and over.
oh right. its totally goddamned amazing soundtrack.
solstice is a good game, no question. but it's definitely its soundtrack that takes a pretty good obscure NES title and makes it an awesome obscure NES title.
yes, the whole soundtrack is this brick-shittingly intense. really helps carry the game through the harder rooms and their puzzles, and adds to the overall mysterious atmosphere. hard to believe the composer- Tim Follin, look him up he rocks- crammed all that auditory depth into the tiny amount of channels on the NES sound module.
additional tidbit: Tim Follin scored many games back in the day, including many NES titles. Solstice was one of those. Silver Surfer was another. in case you have never played it or heard about it, let me just assure you that Silver Surfer is godawful in every way imaginable. except its soundtrack. every track Tim Follin made for Silver Surfer is great musically. it's just a shame you don't get to hear most of them in-game because the game is so dick-splittingly difficult.
there's my two cents. two examples really- one place where the soundtrack really did its job well and helped make the game even more than it already was, and one where a great soundtrack was wasted on an awful game.
edit: oh, and i should give an example of an awful awful awful soundtrack that really was gamebreaking.
if you are an Angry Video Game Nerd fan, you already know what i'm talking about, but if you're not, check out the music from Back To The Future on the NES.
(this is the link right here)
it's literally that. for the whole game. just that, looped over and over and over and over.
clyde
50
Its definately a game maker. all of the greatest games & movies have had the greatest music. is it coincidence or is that what makes them so great?
Yoshio
774
soundtracks are incredibly important since music adds alot to the experience (and of course no one wants to play a game with annoying music)
when it comes to music from other games though people have, in my experience, been very tolerant as long as your intelligent about what you put where and as long as you don't use tracks that people have heard in RM games a million times before
that being said I will be looking into indie music for my next project so long as the file sizes aren't too huge since i tend to be the type to want a million tracks (newgrounds is notorious for having gigantic filesizes)
i've already done all the music for my game and am far too attached to my choices to change any of them, oh well next time...
when it comes to music from other games though people have, in my experience, been very tolerant as long as your intelligent about what you put where and as long as you don't use tracks that people have heard in RM games a million times before
that being said I will be looking into indie music for my next project so long as the file sizes aren't too huge since i tend to be the type to want a million tracks (newgrounds is notorious for having gigantic filesizes)
i've already done all the music for my game and am far too attached to my choices to change any of them, oh well next time...
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
author=WolfCoder
Guile's theme goes with everything.
In one RPG Maker game where the music annoyed me, I actually went into the music folder and replaced every song with Guile's theme.
I seriously did this.
The only problem was that every time you entered or exited a battle or entered a new area, the song started over. But it was still better than the music the game originally used.
Hoddmimir
200
I feel that generally the music isn't a gamebreaker or gamemaker. Now in certain rare circumstances there can be exceptions to that if the music is particularly bad or phenomenal. IMO the music should help to accentuate what is already there. A good story, a good mechanic, a good world, etc... should all be enhanced by the music. Does this mean that a truly great game requires good music? Yes I suppose so, but even with so-so music that same game would be a really good game. Music gives a game that extra kick up a level or down a level.
shady_ultima
50
My games tend to not have music at all, primarily because I don't actually have sound on my computer at all, but also because, personally I never listen to game music. With the exception of Zelda and Donkey Kong (and even then, it's not 100% of the time).
I prefer to listen to my own music, from bands that I like, as opposed to being forcefed game music.
I prefer to listen to my own music, from bands that I like, as opposed to being forcefed game music.
