‘How is sound used in games? Who are
some of the key composers working in games?
What are your key sonic moments in your gaming history? And is it true that
the Nile
Rodgers/Bernard Edwards composition 'Good Times' is the most influential
recording made
in the 20th Century?.’
Sound is used in games much the same way
as in other forms of visual media, to provoke an emotional response from the
viewer. Sound in games is now a well established part of developing process and
can be used to really set the game apart and create a globally recognisable
appearance.
Franchises such as Halo, Mario and Sonic
all have unique sounds/scores that people from all walks of life can associate
to the games.
Different types of sounds are used in
games relative to limitations such as production costs and they’re overall
purposes. Adaptive sounds and music are used to indicate to the player that
something is happening or about to happen, changes in tempo in stealth games
can indicate that the player has been spotted, where as in a first person
shooter the changes may signal that there is an approaching fight.
Some games use current musical influences
to engage players where the game is not heavily story driven.
Wipeout 2097
is one of the first examples
of in-game music that was composed by well-known artists. As a
racing game, Wipeout has
no story to tell, but the developers were still keen to build an immersive
setting: the fictional branding created by The Designers Republic perfectly
evoked a uniquely 90s vision of the future, and the tracks laid on by The
Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy and Orbital lifted this clubland
aesthetic to new heights.
The composers behind some of the most
iconic scores include: Jesper Kyd,
with his notable
scores including: Freedom
Fighters, Hitman series
and Assassin's
Creed II.
Koji Kondo
has created some of the most well known scores for games, with his resume made
up of:The Legend
of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario Bros., Super Mario 64, Super Mario
Galaxy 2, Star Fox 64.
Jeremy Soule
is also up there will such titles as: Skyrim, Guild Wars 2, Knights
of the Old Republic
and Word of Warcraft:
Mists of Pandaria.
Personally, drawing on my experiences
with sounds and scores of games the few that have really made an impact, and
the ones that I can recognise after a few bars are ones such as the Halo theme
created by Martin
O'Donnel , the
Civilization 4 theme created by Christopher Tin,
and being a 90’s child the Super Mario theme –created by the already mentioned Koji
Kondo-
has to make an appearance in there.
Finally I would say that Good Times
is one of the most influential songs of
it’s period, with it claiming new heights of popularity and being
sampled countless times, however I don’t
think it can be considered the most influential song made in the 20th century, musical popularity
changes almost daily and to claim a song which supposedly denounces all others
over such a long period of time is just not factual.
External References
From:
No comments:
Post a Comment