There are many different types of games out there and for each of them music usually has a slightly different purpose. Since there are so many different types of games that one can make I couldn’t possibly go through all of them but I can pick a couple here to explore with you.
1. Puzzle Games
From my experience, puzzle games often rely on music to support concentration. It’s about helping people to get ‘in the zone’ and to be in the mood to problem solve.
There’s also often an element to do with the level of difficulty in the game as well. So, for most puzzle games, they will start off relatively easy and then build up and increase in difficulty. Whilst this goes on, the music will also change – starting initially fairly relaxed and then building up in pace and intensity as the difficulty in the puzzles increases. Here’s an example taken from a puzzle game I recently completed the soundtrack for. See how the intensity of the tracks changes from level 0 to level 3 of the game.
Gridkey – level 0 of Cyclocube
Puzziness – level 1
Enigmatism – level 3
2. Tycoon and/or simulation games
For these types of games, there’s usually one main area that you play in. You can spend hours building up your empire and the scenes may not really change, and so the music is there to help you relax, enjoy it and to keep you entertained.
The music will most likely loop and you may here it over and over again and so for some soundtracks, they’ll choose to have a variety of tracks that they can cycle through either in a particular order or just randomly shuffling through them to keep things interesting. The general mood though across these tracks will usually be fairly similar in order to create and maintain the same feeling throughout the game play. See ‘Care Free’ from the Mini Hospital Soundtrack…
3. Role Playing Games
For these, it’s all about storytelling and character building. That’s what the music is there for i.e. to support the storyline and to help build up the characters and so each character may have it’s own theme tune and the ups and downs in the music will usually mimic and be designed to support and enhance the stories. See Mystic Tales Original Soundtrack…
4. Sports Games
Now these are usually pretty fun and upbeat. A sports game is all about the competition and competitiveness. It’s about winning or losing and building excitement around all of this. The music will usually be fast-paced, upbeat and generally be designed to get you pumped!
For sports games, this is where I’ve also been asked usually to create what we call ‘stings’ or jingles. This is for key moments in the game for when you win or lose. These jingles will be designed to give you that sense of achievement or to emphasise that – oh dear, you lost this time, try again!
Check out one of my tracks for Monsterball:
And the Power Pool Slam main theme tune:
5. Exploratory Games
Here the music is about setting the mood, setting the scene and also immersing into this different world. These types of games usually have amazing settings and scenery and so the music will be created to help capture the moods and feelings that we’d hope you can experience and feel in the game.
Perhaps you’re in a forest, perhaps you’re some faraway magical land or maybe you’re in space. Whatever it is, the music is likely to try and help you feel like you’re really there.
An example of music I’ve done for an exploratory game is this track ‘Early Sunrise’ for ArtySwirlyColourful:
6. Side-scrolling and/or platformer games
From my experience with these, they’re usually set in certain places and so the music will be there to set the scene and to help capture the mood. Maybe you’re in an icy cave, on a volcanic mountain, in the orient, underwater or whatever. The music will support this.
Each level of these types of games may change in terms of setting and scenery and so the soundtrack will follow this and help you make sense of where you are in the game in terms of level and locations. Check out these tracks from Smoothcade’s original soundtrack. The first is for a level set on a tropical beach and the other is in the woodlands.
About the author: Ninichi is a freelance UK-based indie game music composer. She works with indie game developers and indie filmmakers to create soundtracks for video games, film & media. She can compose in a wide range of styles & loves getting involved in new projects. Find out more about her game music or royalty free music and contact her to discuss your project and music needs.
Follow her @ninichimusic
