How sounds and music make video games "live"
All fans of computer games are usually divided into two camps: those for whom the graphic component is important, and those for whom the plot and the story are important. However, they all agree that any quality game requires a good musical accompaniment.
Properly selected sound range is able to set the desired mood, more deeply immerse the player in the atmosphere prevailing on the screen. Therefore, in today's material we will see what we should pay attention to when working with sound and music in the gaming industry.
Photo slgckgc / CC
Modern computer games can be safely put on a par with movies. Sound in films plays an important role and penetrates into the very heart of the viewer (we have already touched on this topic in one of our previous materials ).
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Try to turn on any movie and see the passage without sound, but with subtitles. Then watch it a second time, but with a sound. Sensations when viewing will be strikingly different - without sound, we can only provide an approximate situation around the character, the sound allows us to accurately determine what is happening on the screen - even the intonation and quivering voice of the actor will noticeably affect perception.
Music can also have a profound effect on feelings and emotions. Changing music can dramatically change the mood of the same visual range. In video games, there is a similar trend, as they have recently become much more cinematic with a large number of long non-interactive videos.
The main goal of the soundtrack is complementation (addition) of the visual series. Zvukorid acts as a game designer tool - the characters on the screen can not always show their emotions, but the music and sounds can convey their inner state, be it joy, peace or, on the contrary, fear or sadness.
This also applies to the sounds of the environment - the rustling of the grass or the crackling of the fire will make you calm down, and the howling of the wind or the sound of a branch on the window will create tension.
In the trailer for the game Firewatch, the interaction of sound with the environment is well conveyed - echoes in a cave or steps on the grass or stones, and the tension transmitted by music when the hero is told that there is someone unfamiliar in his tower. There are other examples where the sound component forms the atmosphere.
By the way, about the entourage of the game: you shouldn’t just bring a wave of sounds and music to the viewer or player. You need to understand what genre the game is, what kind of music suits it. Composer Laer Cohen (Lior Cohen) notes that you need a full understanding of the picture and the meaning of what is happening. It is necessary to project the situation on yourself, to assess the situation: understand what is happening, and what moods prevail around.
A good example from the world of cinema will be the work of Howard Shore for the film “The Fellowship of the Ring”. At the very beginning of the picture, the camera “flies around” Bilbo’s house, showing things that are important and dear to his heart. At this point, we hear a quiet version of the Fellowship Theme, which helps us understand the hobbit world.
Hobbits are simple creatures, they love peace, silence, food and gardening. Music personifies everything described above, “lazily” following the narration - Shore left in this part of the composition only stringed instruments specifically to emphasize this simplicity.
“It's very important to focus on the big picture,” says Laer. “Having realized the main features of the project, it is necessary to disengage from it and begin to write what you feel.”
An example is the story of Michael Giacchino, when he wrote the soundtrack for the movie "Star Trek". All the first versions of melodies written by him were “cosmic,” but the director did not like them. In the latest attempts to achieve the desired result, screenwriter Damon Lindelof said: "Forget Startrek, and write music telling the story of two men who met, became best friends." You can judge the result yourself.
Photo Catface27 / CC
The main feature of video games is the ability of the player to influence events and interact with the environment. And this environment tends to change, for example, when going to the next level. This fact is sometimes difficult for composers, because they have to create music that tells the story of an entire location, but does not fall out of the player's “field of hearing” and does not drive him crazy. However, it should be consistent with the rest of the music in the game.
Ambient music is good for this. It sounds quiet, only reinforcing the events taking place, filling in pauses so that there is no awkward silence. If a player ceases to hear sounds for a long time, he may decide that something has broken down and fall out of the atmosphere of the game.
But for the atmosphere is responsible for a set of sounds, woven into the main musical composition. On the example of the same trailer for the Firewatch game, one can imagine such a picture. The hero walks along the path at night - around the dark, only the moon shines. Hear the singing of crickets, rustling trees.
And here in the bushes two luminous eyes light up. Anxious music begins to play. The player comes closer to find out what is there. As a result, a rabbit jumps out of the bushes and runs away. Music calms down and everything starts to sound, as it was before - grass rustles, crickets sing.
Sound design of games requires a constant search for mutually beneficial solutions on the part of the customer and the composer. This process may involve many hours of controversy about how best to build in the atmosphere of the game the noise of cars, vehicles and people's voices, but it remains invisible to us. This is its mission - to make the world around us more realistic, “alive” and natural for the player.
And we write about that:
And do not forget to make regular collections of our Audio Digest:
Properly selected sound range is able to set the desired mood, more deeply immerse the player in the atmosphere prevailing on the screen. Therefore, in today's material we will see what we should pay attention to when working with sound and music in the gaming industry.
Photo slgckgc / CC
Modern computer games can be safely put on a par with movies. Sound in films plays an important role and penetrates into the very heart of the viewer (we have already touched on this topic in one of our previous materials ).
')
Try to turn on any movie and see the passage without sound, but with subtitles. Then watch it a second time, but with a sound. Sensations when viewing will be strikingly different - without sound, we can only provide an approximate situation around the character, the sound allows us to accurately determine what is happening on the screen - even the intonation and quivering voice of the actor will noticeably affect perception.
Music can also have a profound effect on feelings and emotions. Changing music can dramatically change the mood of the same visual range. In video games, there is a similar trend, as they have recently become much more cinematic with a large number of long non-interactive videos.
The main goal of the soundtrack is complementation (addition) of the visual series. Zvukorid acts as a game designer tool - the characters on the screen can not always show their emotions, but the music and sounds can convey their inner state, be it joy, peace or, on the contrary, fear or sadness.
This also applies to the sounds of the environment - the rustling of the grass or the crackling of the fire will make you calm down, and the howling of the wind or the sound of a branch on the window will create tension.
In the trailer for the game Firewatch, the interaction of sound with the environment is well conveyed - echoes in a cave or steps on the grass or stones, and the tension transmitted by music when the hero is told that there is someone unfamiliar in his tower. There are other examples where the sound component forms the atmosphere.
By the way, about the entourage of the game: you shouldn’t just bring a wave of sounds and music to the viewer or player. You need to understand what genre the game is, what kind of music suits it. Composer Laer Cohen (Lior Cohen) notes that you need a full understanding of the picture and the meaning of what is happening. It is necessary to project the situation on yourself, to assess the situation: understand what is happening, and what moods prevail around.
A good example from the world of cinema will be the work of Howard Shore for the film “The Fellowship of the Ring”. At the very beginning of the picture, the camera “flies around” Bilbo’s house, showing things that are important and dear to his heart. At this point, we hear a quiet version of the Fellowship Theme, which helps us understand the hobbit world.
Hobbits are simple creatures, they love peace, silence, food and gardening. Music personifies everything described above, “lazily” following the narration - Shore left in this part of the composition only stringed instruments specifically to emphasize this simplicity.
“It's very important to focus on the big picture,” says Laer. “Having realized the main features of the project, it is necessary to disengage from it and begin to write what you feel.”
An example is the story of Michael Giacchino, when he wrote the soundtrack for the movie "Star Trek". All the first versions of melodies written by him were “cosmic,” but the director did not like them. In the latest attempts to achieve the desired result, screenwriter Damon Lindelof said: "Forget Startrek, and write music telling the story of two men who met, became best friends." You can judge the result yourself.
Photo Catface27 / CC
The main feature of video games is the ability of the player to influence events and interact with the environment. And this environment tends to change, for example, when going to the next level. This fact is sometimes difficult for composers, because they have to create music that tells the story of an entire location, but does not fall out of the player's “field of hearing” and does not drive him crazy. However, it should be consistent with the rest of the music in the game.
Ambient music is good for this. It sounds quiet, only reinforcing the events taking place, filling in pauses so that there is no awkward silence. If a player ceases to hear sounds for a long time, he may decide that something has broken down and fall out of the atmosphere of the game.
But for the atmosphere is responsible for a set of sounds, woven into the main musical composition. On the example of the same trailer for the Firewatch game, one can imagine such a picture. The hero walks along the path at night - around the dark, only the moon shines. Hear the singing of crickets, rustling trees.
And here in the bushes two luminous eyes light up. Anxious music begins to play. The player comes closer to find out what is there. As a result, a rabbit jumps out of the bushes and runs away. Music calms down and everything starts to sound, as it was before - grass rustles, crickets sing.
Sound design of games requires a constant search for mutually beneficial solutions on the part of the customer and the composer. This process may involve many hours of controversy about how best to build in the atmosphere of the game the noise of cars, vehicles and people's voices, but it remains invisible to us. This is its mission - to make the world around us more realistic, “alive” and natural for the player.
And we write about that:
- How and why music services form playlists.
- What role does sound play in horror movies?
- What lies behind the magic of the concert
And do not forget to make regular collections of our Audio Digest:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/372755/
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