Music plays an integral role in video games, supporting stories, creating atmosphere and heightening certain parts of gameplay. LBB interviewed composers, music supervisors and Feel For Music consultant Ben Sumner to gain more insight into its effects.

From Fez's impressionist synths to Celeste's mesmerising melodies, video game soundtracks continue to expand what they can offer in terms of creativity.

Storytelling

Video games at Сonquestador Casino rely heavily on music to set the scene or support emotion and action of gameplay, from setting a specific scene's tone to fueling emotional responses during gameplay. Spooky or pulsing background music of horror games or pumping techno from Grand Theft Auto radio stations can create a truly immersive experience while providing vital context to scenes.

Music can also be an effective means of storytelling without using words alone, using melodies, harmonies and music development to tell an engaging tale. Orchestrated classical music games may create drama while soothing, repetitive textures of Animal Crossing could provide an easy and accessible way to build character and charm.

Interactive games allow audience decisions and reactions to be directly translated to the soundtrack, giving musicians more of a say than ever in shaping video game stories.

Atmosphere

Music can play an essential role in creating the atmosphere of video games, from making an immediate impactful statement like Hotline Miami or simply setting the scene through ambient soundscapes to diagetically playing through character environments and environments of characters. Music's role is invaluable in creating engaging experiences like films; similarly music helps immerse its audiences within the virtual reality of video gaming worlds.

As technology advanced during the 32-bit and 64-bit eras, composers took more inspiration from movie scores to add music that enhanced gaming experiences. Gone were hummable melodies; instead composers focused on atmospheric tracks to add atmosphere.

This approach to scoring games remains popular today. Composers can quickly score the music to accompany action closely while it also saves costs by permitting licensed music for longer games.

Emotional Impact

Video game music plays an essential part in heightening these experiences. From stirring up tension during an intense battle, to helping overcome heartbreaking sorrow, music serves both functional purposes as well as offering emotional depth for video gaming enthusiasts. It serves both fun and emotional ones!

Game players all recognize the familiar melodies from our childhood games (thinking of you, Super Mario Bros). But in the 32-bit and 64-bit era, gaming soundtrack development started to change drastically due to new technological capabilities that allowed designers to integrate licensed music. This created a community consisting of video game composers (Gareth Coker, Grant Kirkhope, Lena Raine), remixers and fans (the SingStar, Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution crowd) who all embrace music for its emotional value in gaming world.

Motivation

Music can be an extremely powerful motivator in video games, pushing the player towards its conclusion and keeping them engaged with gameplay. Mario Brothers uses its iconic theme song as an example; its tempo increases as each level nears completion. Though less obvious in non-narrative titles, music remains an integral aspect of gaming experience.

Licensed music has become an essential element of videogame production. This allows game developers to use familiar tracks that gamers are already familiar with while adding creativity into the soundtrack itself.

Videogame composers aim to craft soundtracks that work seamlessly with visuals and gameplay, whether composing in-house music themselves or using licensed tracks from publishers like BMGPM Creative licensing manager Thomas Cottrell, Laced Audio A&R/community manager Tom Quillfeldt or Feel For Music consultant Ben Sumner. LBB spoke to them all to gain more insight into the connection between music and videogames.