[POLL] USING CHIPTUNES, 8BIT OR 16BIT MUSIC IN NEW RPGS

If you don't love this you are soulless.

Trihan, that sounds like shit. That lead seriously needs some vibrato.

I think chiptunes just have a different set of timbres than traditional instrumentation, and with that comes a different set of expectations. If the aesthetics don't match the chiptunes, they'll feel out of place, just like if you put traditional orchestration behind the first dragon warrior, it wouldn't make sense to us. If music had never existed and then you made chiptunes for the newest Final Fantasy, then that would be fine, but music is chained to social context. Knowing how to use that context to your advantage is part of what makes a thoughtful composer.

I went with "I honestly don't care either way" since a game doesn't necessarily have to be "old school" but its aesthetics need to be.

Edit: Probably should have gone with "old school-style" now that I think about it. Mentally change my vote or else this poll is inaccurate!

I'm pretty much with Housekeeping. Chiptunes and the like fit certain aesthetic styles of game presentation. For example the new Duck Tales lets you play the NES music (including NES versions of the new tracks) but to me it doesn't fit at all, like how I wouldn't play the original Duck Tales with the new music. Super Meat Boy does this too with it's "retro" levels too: It'll play a chiptune sounding version of the regular music.

There are challenges with chiptues. Some can be short and loop often or noisy and grating to the ears. It's a music style that because you can string some beeps and boops together doesn't mean you created something good.

This doesn't mean all "retro" games need NES chiptunes though. There were a lot of distinctive art styles and music samples used back in the day to give games their own unique presentation. Have fun and always consider the gestalt of all the individual aesthetic components of your game!




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author=unity
So, if you stick to the aesthetics, you're good? Like, for example, an NES color palette for a game with 8-bit chiptunes, and an SNES or Genesis palette for 16-bit?

The high level rules of old hardware can be a good starting place but don't be constrained by them. There's so many limitations, nuance, and gotchas in how they work it'd be better not to worry about going for accuracy unless that is one of your leading goals (see Maldita Castilla). Nobody but the spergiest grognards will flip the table when they see that your sprites have more color depth than what the NES would do (or don't know that while the NES is limited to two squares, one triangle, one noise, and a waveform player that the Famicom has the flexibility to add more sound channels, etc. etc.)

Even gameplay is an excuse. There's a section in Kirby's Super Star where in the middle of this Kirby game you suddenly start fighting a turn-based RPG battle with a bunch of Dragon Warrior style messages about missing and gaining appetite points in a bunch of Windows 3.1 style text boxes. This is an SNES game and the music is already chiptunes, but for this rather silly part of the game it downgrades itself to something much closer to the NES's style - fewer instruments, no reverb.


In general chiptunes are just like any other genre of music. Use them for the whole game if they fit your game well, use them for one scene if they fit the scene well.

Well, at the time, neither 16-bit graphics nor chiptunes invoked an aesthetic of nostalgia for old video games. They both do now though.

Kirby SuperStar is super awesome! I love nearly everything about that game!


Scratch that. I love everything about that game.

author=Isrieri
You know what, this is a damn good question. I guess it really just depends upon preferences: You're going to have people who like it and some people who don't. I know I'm of the type that loves chiptune music and you can throw it in anything and it will make things awesome. Its just an instrument like any other. The music you create with it is only as good as your skill with it, though. And you can easily botch it if you try to create something that 8bit can't 'handle.' Big old Hollywood movie scores are probably not in the cards, for instance; but you could do that with 16 bit sound, maybe.

In the interest of science, here are some variations on the stage 1 theme from Truxton:

Truxton - Mega Drive
Truxton - 8bit Remix
Truxton - Turbografix

Which do you find yourself liking more?

Well said, indeed.
But I want classic holly productions with 8-bit soundtrack. 1966 Batman with Jasper's Kyd soundtrack would be rad. Or Cito Kane with Zillion's score. Birth of the nation accompanied by Atari 2600.
Turbografix cuz its Turbografix. However 8-bit version is more of the balsam to my ears.

Edit: Oh, I'm so giong to watch Birth of The Nation with Atari music. I have one question myself too. Do you know and can recommend some chippy country, folk or surf ruck?

I like the 8-bit remix the best, because I feel like slowing down the track and adding those drums removes the energy. Also 8-bit remix uses panning the best and the arpeggios have a lot of ballast to them. So yeah, 8-bit remix is best. But to be honest I don't really like the piece as a whole.

Also, relating to the topic, I think, like any music choice, if it fits it fits. I made a choice to include a MIDI version of ABBA's "Dancing Queen" in one of the scenes. I loved how out of place it was, and it's one of the things I don't regret adding to the game (and trust me, there are a few ;)). So basically just do what you feel makes the game better. Choose what resonates with you, and then hope that it resonates with others also.