Can it be true? Were they right all along? Apparently, yes!?
Today (Friday 29th) MTV and MTV.COM massively showed the first teaser trailer for Tomb Raider Legend. The teaser trailer shows a variety of destinations and moves from the game. Additionally it gives a little taste on the style and power of the upcoming soundtrack. The soundtrack will be over 2 hours long and is a massive effort in combining orchestral, vocal and rhythmic elements into a next generation game soundtrack. So basically I will be using all parts of my compositional background, which is sweet. Don´t you agree?
Metronome is a unique game being developed by a hardcore group of very competent people in Sweden. The whole actual functionality of the game is sound, which makes the games UI rather unique. The game will be showcased at E3 and I have had the pleasure of working on them on the music side. Check first teaser trailer…
A little out of context to my normal writings here. But a Ph.D. student in (game) music must be able to provide some level of practical evidence of his studies. I recently completed a few showcase demos for one of the worlds leading developers of sample libraries (East/West & Quantum Leaps) in LA.
Feel free to check out one of the demos here (mp3) – blue abstraction
So… A few random thoughts… What is game music really and why is it placed in games?
The majority of games (approximately 99%) have music. The role of the music is basically to enhance and compliment the game experience. However I believe the music also has a more elegant role in the game. Music evokes emotion and affection. It suggests, it captivates, it enforces. It’s directly wired to the player on a physical, emotional and social/cultural level of auditory perception. Well – in the theoretical world at least.
The practical application of music in game is somehow less sexy. Music is just this “thing” we need in the game. Nobody really cares why. It just feels right. Right?
The sad reality is that most game music is not contextually related to the game. It’s just present in order to entertain and fill out the emptiness, gap or boredom of the game. In actual production music is most often one of the last elements to be added in the game. Unfortunately the end result is de-contextualized music. Music that feels more “attached” then “integrated” in the game.
So how can this trend be reversed or changed? I believe the answer lies in careful pre-planning of production. The composer must do thorough analysis of the game and other similar games before even starting to compose. Everything needs be laid out in details, analyzed and described before actual production starts.
A pre-production plan should consists of overviews of production, collection of reference material, analysis of previous or similar game types, production schedules, music style overviews and a bunch of other things.
Heide-Schmidt asks:
“…But Troels!? Where is your weekly attack on academia?…”
