In this post, I would like to write about music responses in a few intriguing video games. From my experience, music in video games act mostly as a background element, an accompaniment to the environment and space. A bgm (background music), means exactly what it says. Let us look at a game in a few layers. First, the focus is on the manipulatable character, then the game mechanics, environment, story and plot, and then the music and narrative. There are many debates around which are more important but I will not dwell in that.
The first video game that came in mind was Braid. To summarize very briefly, Braid is a platform and puzzle game about a man named Tim trying to rescue or search for a princess. Each World represents a level that has their own unique mechanics. World 4 is particularly noteworthy because of the response of the music to the actions of the player. I am going to link to a playthrough in Youtube, spoiler alert.
As you can see, time reacts horizontally to Tim's actions. If he moves forward, the music continues normally; if he moves back, the music reverses; if he goes up or down, the music stops. This is a great design to immerse the player in the gameplay.
Why is it good? The music enhances the experience by letting the players know aurally what they are doing and how the environment responses to it, so they can expect what is coming. It confirms the player's action in a very clear-cut way.
The next game is Closure. Closure is another platform and puzzle game. The whole game centres around the usage of light. What the player cannot see literally does not exist.
I want to point out an example of how the music respond to player's action. In between 4:08 to 4:23 when the player jumps down into the water, the music is pitched down or time stretched. It creates a feeling of unstable and heaviness. Perhaps a bit uncomfortable too, as the character manipulated by the player is a creature, most probably an alien. It is a very nice touch to the whole experience of gameplay.
Looking at the indie games published between last few years and now, there is a trend. Music plays a major role in some of them and it is giving the composers a way to shine.
Online video references:
1. Rodriguezjr (Feb 9, 2010)
