Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
•
Identify Characters Within a Game
Like a music theme associated with a role in opera, specii c musical
passages associated with a character can subconsciously clue a player
into what is happening in a game.
•
Establish the Pace of Gameplay
Fast beats can elevate already heart-pounding action. The pace of
gameplay is highly inl uenced by music.
•
Increase a Player's Sense of Immersion
in a Game
Music helps draw players into a game by providing an emotional
underpinning to the whole experience; music creates emotion.
GAME MUSIC FORM AND STRUCTURE
Music in a game can appear in one or more of many forms.
Cinematic
Music accompanies various cinematics within a game—whether they are
cutscenes, introductions, endings, or story transitions. These pieces of
media are usually linear and help propel the storyline forward or signal the
end of a game level.
Interactive Gameplay
From menu selection and instruction screens, game backgrounds and loops,
to victory and defeat fanfares, music plays a huge part in the interactive
nature of a game. This interaction may consist of the following methods.
Looping
means going around and around, repeating the same material. If
the music to be looped is too short, it might drive the player crazy, but if it's
too long, it may take up more storage space than the developer allotted.
Branching
is conditional music based on actions in the game. Dif erent
actions lead to dif erent musical results. In other words, music can be
triggered horizontally in pieces. If the character goes left, play music A;
if the character goes right, play music B.
