Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
A NEW BREED OF COMPOSER
Video games came of age during the 1970s with the release of titles such as
Pong
and
Space Invaders
. At
the time, audio-recording technology had not yet entered the digital age. The standard platforms of the
day—phonograph records and cassette tapes—were clunky, expensive, and hard or next-to-impossible
to integrate into games. It is no wonder that game developers turned to digital music generation.
Although the commercial music market would have nothing to do with it at the time, the use of synthesis
to generate musical tones was state of the art in the game world. Games used specialized computer
chips called tone generators that were programmed to generate primitive real-time synthesizer music
that was then outputted to speakers. Thus was born a new breed of computer musician: one who used
cutting-edge, low-budget technologies to create musical soundtracks. Ironically, these days, chip music is
hugely popular, frequently performed live, and even arranged for full orchestras in sold-out concert halls.
Digital music was limited by the very hardware that created it. Tone-generating software used simple
chips that, in many cases, did not of er sui cient bandwidth to allow composers to write melodies
accompanied by chords. With limited code memory to work within, composers wrote music sparingly
or only for specii c parts of the game. Still, despite these limitations, many composing conventions
developed back in the day, are still in use. Looping music and using music only at the beginnings and
ends of levels, intros, outros, and stingers all remain fundamental aspects of game music.
In the 1980s, new tools transformed the landscape for composers; now scores could be written without
programmers. Writing music using General MIDI and DownLoadable Sound banks (DLS) opened a new
world of polyphonic writing that incorporated numerous styles and genres.
There remained many limitations, however. By far the biggest limitation from this period was the inability
to use PCM (uncompressed audio) digital playback. As a result, music for games was stuck in synthesizer
land. General MIDI soundtracks did not sound nearly as robust as live instruments. Also, playback
sounded slightly dif erent on competing devices. These dif erences drove many producers back in the
day bonkers. They wanted things to sound the same everywhere, and they wanted the music in the game
to sound real. It looked as though they would have to wait a little while longer.
Questions, questions. In this module, we will look at many
of the ways that a game composer deals with these questions,
discovers limitations, and writes and produces great game
scores within those limitations.
Modern Day
Game-music composers have always had to be clever alchemists,
comfortable with machines and computing, and good at creating
musical illusions for producers and listeners alike. Good game
composers are part musician, part technologist. In the 1990s and
since, a slew of powerful innovations have made it possible for
Credit:
Wonderlyne, Wikimedia.
