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Games & MusicMAC281
@rob_jewitt
robert.jewitt@sunderland.ac.uk 1
Overview1. In praise of aural
2. Technological developments
3. Taxonomy of game music archetypes
– Adaptive music
– Rhythm-based
– Drama
2
Visual culture
4
Aural culture?
5
6
sensory experience of the environment is a
multimedia one
- Trevor Wishart, 1986: 49
8
9
Recorded sound waves are perceived in the exact same
way as non-recorded sound waves
10
Technological developments
11
Technological developments
When CD- and later DVD-based games first allowed
soundtracks to include popular tracks precisely as they would
sound on a CD, game designers leapt at the opportunity to
include a song or two (though seldom much more, due to space
restrictions).
-- Gibbons, 2011
12
13
Format Size Platform
ROM cartridge 16 Mb Sega Mega Drive, SNES
3.5” diskette 1.44 MB PC, Amiga, Atari ST
CD 650 MB PC, Sega Mega CD, Sony PS1, AtariJaguar
DVD 4.7 GB (single layer) PC, Sony PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, Wii
Bluray 25 GB (single layer) Sony PS3
Xenon 2: Megablast
14
Bitmap Brothers1989
Bomb The Bass1988
Call of Duty: Black Ops
16
Activision, Treyarch, 2010
Non-diegetic use of The Rolling Stones – ‘Sympathy for the Devil’
Reference to Apocalypse Now’s use of ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’
Spec Ops: The Line
17
Spec Ops: The Line
18
Diegetic vs Mimetic
19
For the benefit of the audienceIn the narrative world of the characters
Taxonomy of game music archetypes
20
Adaptive music
Aka ‘dynamic’ music
Will adapt to the drama, often increasing in
tempo, pitch or volume depending on the action.
21
Licensed linearity“there is limited adaptability inherent in most
popular music, whereas games require songs that
may need to adapt to gameplay states or player
interaction. Licensed songs are (for the most part)
designed as linear music, and therefore the
placement of this music in a game is generally
limited...as is the genre of the game where such
music may be appropriate....”
--Karen Collins, 2008: 11922
Non-linear game scoring
23Paul Haslinger, score composer
The inadequacy of looping
Not only have you eliminated the emotional
effectiveness of the music by generalizing it and not
applying it to a context, but by looping it over and
over, you’ve completely detached the player from even
registering it altogether
-- Scott Morton, 2005
24
The inadequacy of looping
What’s worse, it usually becomes annoying after a
time. Now we've moved down from "why should we
even have music playing here" to "why shouldn't we
turn off the music altogether and listen to MP3s?"
-- Scott Morton, 2005
25
popular music in games became less a
function of the narrative and more an
element of the ludic game mechanics
26
There’s always exceptions…
Final Fantasy X-2
Square Enix, 2003
27
Rhythm-based music games
28
20072005
[They] created a model in which music is not only removed from
the narrative, it is in effect a replacement for it - the music is the
game, and no (or almost no) overarching narrative exists outside
of it
-- Gibbons, 2011
29
30
DJ Hero
31
The weird and the wonderful
35
The weird and the wonderful
36
It fills the gaps…
37
“The new MTV”? (Tessler, 2008)
Narrative-based games
38
Grand Theft Auto III
39
Radio stations…
This clever strategy relieves game designers from the
onus of relating the music to the onscreen action. A
radio, after all, can hardly be expected to change its
tune to fit individual circumstances …
-- Gibbons, 2011
42
Radio stations…
A significant downside, however, is that although
players can customize the soundscape of their own
experiences, the songs cannot function in a narrative
way.
-- Gibbons, 2011
43
Bioshock
Employs licensed music into the narrative
Events trigger key uses of music
44
Blues, Twentieth-century blues, they're gettin' me
down.Blues, escape those weary twentieth-century
blues.Why, if there's a god in the sky, why shouldn't he
grinHigh above this dreary twentieth-century din?In
this strange illusion, chaos and confusion,People seem
to lose their way.What is there to strive for, love or keep
alive for?Say hey hey, call it a day.Blues, nothing to
win or to lose, it's getting me down.Blues, escape those
weary twentieth-century blues.Why is it that civilized
humanity can make this world so wrong?In this hurly-
burly of insanity, our dreams cannot last long.We've
reached a deadline, a press headline, every
sorrow;Blues value is news value tomorrow.
45
Noël Coward"Twentieth-Century Blues”(1932)
The lyrics comment directly upon the failure of Rapture?
How much is that doggie in the window?
47
• Acousmatic sound
• Active onscreen sound; often in a different room;
beckons the attention
• Michel Chion (1994, p85)
• Immersion?
49
“La Mer (Beyond the Sea)”
- Django Reinhardt &
Stéphane Grappelli
- Bobby Darin (1959)
Original ‘La Mer’ by
Charles Trénet (1946)
Quite different lyrics
Somewhere beyond the seaSomewhere waiting for meMy lover stands on golden sandsAnd watches the ships that go sailin'Somewhere beyond the seaShe's there watching for meIf I could fly like birds on highThen straight to her arms I'd go sailin'It's far beyond the starsIt's near beyond the moonI know beyond a doubtMy heart will lead me there soonWe'll meet beyond the shoreWe'll kiss just as beforeHappy we'll be beyond the seaAnd never again I'll go sailin'I know beyond a doubtMy heart will lead me there soonWe'll meet (I know we'll meet) beyond the shoreWe'll kiss just as beforeHappy we'll be beyond the seaAnd never again I'll go sailin’
50
Original “La Mer” by
Charles Trénet (1946)
Quite different lyrics
51
La merQu'on voit danser le long des golfes clairsA des reflets d'argentLa merDes reflets changeantsSous la pluie
La merAu ciel d'été confondSes blancs moutonsAvec les anges si pursLa mer bergère d'azur Infinie
VoyezPrès des étangsCesgrands roseauxmouillésVoyezCes oiseauxblancsEt ces maisons rouillées
La merLes a bercésLe long des golfes clairsEt d'une chanson d'amourLa merA bercé mon cœur pour la vie
The sea Seen dancing along the clear gulfs to gleams of silver.The sea Of changing reflectionsUnder the rain.
The sea Confuses the summer sky's sheep With angels so pure,The sea Shepherd of blue infinity.
Look! Next to the pondsThose tall wet reeds.Look! Those white birdsAnd those rustyhouses
The SeaHas cradled themAlong the clear gulfs.The Sea Has cradled my heart for life.
Summary
Music can play an integral and varied part of the
gaming experience
Imperceptible design decisions employed to add to the
overall ambience
Improved immersion?
52
Work cited & further reading• Karen Collins (ed.) (2008) Game Sound: An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Video Game Music and Sound
Design. Cambridge, MA and London: MIT Press
• William Gibbons (2011), ‘Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams: Popular Music, Narrative, and Dystopia in Bioshock, in Games
Studies: The international journal of computer game research, Vol 11, Iss 3. http://gamestudies.org/1103/articles/gibbons
• Claudia Gorbman (1987). Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
• Scott Morton (2005) ‘Enhancing the Impact of Music in Drama-Oriented Games’, Gamasutra
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2189/enhancing_the_impact_of_music_in_.php
• Rod Munday (2007). “Music in Video Games.” In Jamie Sexton (Ed.), Music, Sound and Multimedia: From the Live to the
Virtual (pp. 51-67). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Holly Tessler (2008) ‘The new MTV?: Electronic Arts and “playing” music’ in Karen Collins (ed.) From Pac-Man to Pop Music:
Interactive Audio in Games and New Media. Aldershot: Ashgat,e
• Zach Walen (2007) “Film Music vs. Game Music: The Case of Silent Hill.” In Jamie Sexton (Ed.), Music, Sound and Multimedia:
From the Live to the Virtual (pp. 68-81). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Zach Whalen (2004). “Play Along: An Approach to Videogame Music.” Games Studies: The international journal of computer
game research, Vol 4 No 1 http://www.gamestudies.org/0401/whalen/.
• Trevor Wishart (1986) ‘Sound Symbols and Landscapes’ in Simon Emmerson (ed.) The Language Electroacoustic
Music, London: Macmillan
• Resource mapping articles on game music: http://www.ludomusicology.org/bibliography/ 53
Images
• #4 Sam Bald (2008) ‘Eyeball’
• #5 Mark Whale (2010) ‘ Apple iPhone White’
• #8 tantrum_dan (2008) ‘Machesney Alarm Clock’
• #11 robjewitt (2011) ‘Aural sex’
• #13 robjewitt (2011) ‘Street Fighter 2 Sega Mega Drive’
• #19 oc fernando (2011) ‘Pac Man’
• #44 Kaleanderson (2011) ‘Creative Commons’
54
Diegetic vs Mimetic
• In the narrative world of
the characters
• For the benefit of the
audience
55
Alice: Madness Returns
57
Dead Island
58
Taking a cinematic approach
59
Getting it wrong
• “There are entire movies contained inside today's games …
Unfortunately, video game developers and the players
themselves don't often see this connection. Corners are
cut, sacrifices made, flat-out wrong practices are repeated
time and again, and the gaming media looks upon it and
proclaims it good”
– Andrew High (composer), 2012, Gamasutra
60
Getting it wrong
61
Getting it right
62
Recommended