07-02-2017, 09:17 PM
(07-02-2017, 08:42 PM)Lord Thayer Wrote: Dynamic music in gaming has made some big strides just in the last year. I'd like to point out a few really cool things some big-name (and one lesser-known, culty game) have done. I'm not sure if this helps your situation at all, but:
Final Fantasy XV - this game came out last year (I'm a huge fan of the series, and it is a series known for killer music) and did a cool thing where the music for towns for subtly shift as you walked around them. For instance: you reach this one city, and it seems a bit bustling. The music is lively and fun, but subdued. Then, when you walk into the market area, the arrangement explodes, adding brass and just generally making everything louder. I can't find an example of someone walking through both zones on YouTube, but here's a clip of the music doing so to still images.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv95-x_oSao (change is at about 2:27)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of Wild - This game took some of FFXV's ideas even further, but I'll focus on the one that stands out the most to me: There is a traveling minstrel you run across several times on your journey (Kass), who will play melodies/countermelodies over the music playing as you get closer to him, which is super cool. The best use of this, however, is when you finish his quest line (possible musical spoilers for anyone playing the game?) After you've done everything for him, he returns to his family in their village, and you can then hear the town's theme (which is already REALLY great) with additional harmonies and such played diegetically by Kass and his children. Not only is it beautiful, but it really drives it home, narratively, that he has returned.
Normal theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMFuejFzgTs
Theme with Kass and children: https://youtu.be/52hR5SrNcao?t=39s
(edit: you can also hear a couple of seconds of the track dynamically mixing back in the normal arrangement as the player moves away from Kass and his children.)
Finally, I just got done playing a game called Nier: Automata recently that not only had killer music, but it also had some really unique dynamic uses. The two coolest ones to me were:
1. When you are in a village, the music will change (typically adding vocals) after you have talked to the leader of said-village.
Without vocals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgHIMfNi...U&index=20
With Vocals (quite catchy!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPJqf0hc...U&index=21
2. You have to occasionally hack into things in the game, and when you do, it would seamlessly switch to a chiptunes-style version of the music you were already listening to.
Watch this for just a bit to see what I mean: https://youtu.be/dWH3BFR2V70?t=1m22s
Bonus points for Nier Automata: all of the tracks with vocals use a nonsense, non-communicative language instead of actual words (like Sigur Ros.) The major upsides of this are A) they didn't have to translate anything, although this game is so unapologetically Japanese, that they probably wouldn't anyway, and B) it makes it to where, when the tracks loop (and they WILL loop), it's not nearly as annoying, even being in the same zone for hours, because it's more like hearing the same melodies as opposed to hearing the same words over and over, with the added affect of being able to "sing along" anyway. It's good stuff!
I haven't played any of the newer games, but both FF and Zelda franchises have long traditions of good music. I recall someone explaining to me that a lot of the older games had successful music because the composers were so limited by the equipment they had to use that they really had to focus on coming up with melodies and themes that stuck.
A long time ago I played Link's Awakening on the Gameboy and I remember some of the music being really haunting and beautiful.