Plan for John Seguin
by John Seguin · 12/02/2005 (9:57 am) · 5 comments
This just in...
I received an email recently from a developer at GG who was asking about
my general thoughts regarding music and the casual game. He thought it
might be useful if I shared my response in this blog.
Most of you will be unfamiliar with this term, but just in case, there is
a nice explanation of a few general "gamer types" in this wikipedia
article:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_players
That being said, there are specific ramifications in the sound design that
may influence the success of your game. Also, there are certain
considerations that will need to be made when planning to put sound and
music into your creation. I hope to outline some of these with my
thoughts but welcome disccussion and experiences from developers as well:
Shhh! We're trying to work!
In most cases, the occasional Half Life Tournament is not condoned by management at most offices. However, the lunch and break time solitaire, Bejewled, or various Yahoo online game, DOES get played. Although online games do NOT constitute all there is to casual gaming, they do play an important part in the kind of game experience you want to present to your user. Perhaps the user has high speed internet at work but not at home. How can you convince them to try your game out there and then buy it and bring it home for some weekend fun?
The music and sound should SWEETEN the experience, but NOT make or break it. Many corporate computers don't have speakers or possibly even a sound card. If your game relies in a very crucial way, you may have many frustrated potential customers! For instance, if you hear a sound cue that means the dinosaurs are coming so you better stock up on ammo -- this could get very annoying when you are constantly unprepared because there is no visual cue to help out.
This may or may not apply to your game, but is something CERTAINLY to think about.
Is it working?
Think of sound design as another way to help a user interact with the virtual world you are creating.
For example, your game consists of picking up stones, ala "Mankala" and moving them around a board. Well, you have nice visual cues, but as anyone who's played that game, knows that there are some rich opportunities for some folly and sfx cues. When you grab the stones, there should be a sound. When you drop them individually, there should be a sound. Is the wooden basin you're dropping them in have more stones in it or is it empty? All of these will create slightly different sounds. This is the kind of thing that although seemingly hyper-detailed and tiny will do wonders to make your game far more professional and enrich the interactive character of the user experience.
Music! Music!
Ah, the obligatory "background in-game tune"...
Yeah, just have something that loops. That should be good.
Well... not necessarily. Are you trying to establish a certain mood? Many casual games are puzzle-oriented in nature. Is the player racing to accomplish something in a specified amount of time? If so, it would be ideal to have a tune that is EXACTLY that long (assuming, of course, the time limit is not more than 5 minutes or so). This gives the user some feedback as to how much time they have left while not having to watch the clock. A great example of this is the classic Nintendo Mario Kart. Remember how the music always sped up in almost comical way during your last lap? The pressure is *ON*!
Also, emphasize to your composer that this is the ONLY tune your are commissioning/using. (They may assume you are buying library tracks as well) This is the ONLY thing the user will hear over and over and the game needs to be associated with it in a positive way. If things get to tiresome or (worse) annoying, the user may come to no longer enjoy the game. Music that is too fast, too monotonous, too loud or too melody heavy can get this way FAST.
The last part there is especially important. Melody heavy tunes do NOT make for good eternal loops. They make for great cut-scene music, battle music (if its short), musical hits, title screens, etc... but NOT for background. Its much easier to hear repetition in something that has a strong melody. Melodies that are more subtle and change slowly work far better.
If a single tune is constructed well, it can last for hours of play time. If your a doing more of a fast-skin/level changing game a la Tetris, you may opt to have more melody (even song-like) tunes written, and have many of them (a new one every level even!) Granted, this is far more expensive, but this can be very rewarding to players to "unlock" these levels. Save the BEST tunes for late in the game.
Empty wallet syndrome
So... a little short on cash, eh?
Let your composer/sound designer know your budget up front (though, they will surely inquire after they tell you their rates). Try to be creative about negotiations. If you are really stretched, offer extra perks, like non-exclusive use, or hefty royalties. Of course, depending on what the composer thinks of your project, they may or may not decide to risk the time and effort on creating something for a non-guranteed payout.
Try to minimize the number of sound fx you use -- finding multiple uses for the same effect. Go for shorter loops of music, and only one. Realisticly, anything shorter than 2 minutes however will be fairly repetitive and may be tough to endure after a while. Again, this depends on the style of music, mood, etc.
In a worst-case scenario, you can, of course, try to find some library music that will fit your project. You might even ask the composer/sound designer you are working with if they might have some library tracks of their own to sell you. Of course, you then run the risk of having another project with the same track as well as something that only fits... sorta.
The truth of the matter is, that good music production is expensive. In this great age of software samplers, fast computers and prices falling on audio interfaces, the good stuff STILL costs quite a bit of money, not to mention the time and energy of the talented people who work in this field.
I welcome your comments and questions. Thanks for the write-in!
-John Seguin
Composer/Sound Designer
www.seguinsound.com
jseguin@seguinsound.com
I received an email recently from a developer at GG who was asking about
my general thoughts regarding music and the casual game. He thought it
might be useful if I shared my response in this blog.
Most of you will be unfamiliar with this term, but just in case, there is
a nice explanation of a few general "gamer types" in this wikipedia
article:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_players
That being said, there are specific ramifications in the sound design that
may influence the success of your game. Also, there are certain
considerations that will need to be made when planning to put sound and
music into your creation. I hope to outline some of these with my
thoughts but welcome disccussion and experiences from developers as well:
Shhh! We're trying to work!
In most cases, the occasional Half Life Tournament is not condoned by management at most offices. However, the lunch and break time solitaire, Bejewled, or various Yahoo online game, DOES get played. Although online games do NOT constitute all there is to casual gaming, they do play an important part in the kind of game experience you want to present to your user. Perhaps the user has high speed internet at work but not at home. How can you convince them to try your game out there and then buy it and bring it home for some weekend fun?
The music and sound should SWEETEN the experience, but NOT make or break it. Many corporate computers don't have speakers or possibly even a sound card. If your game relies in a very crucial way, you may have many frustrated potential customers! For instance, if you hear a sound cue that means the dinosaurs are coming so you better stock up on ammo -- this could get very annoying when you are constantly unprepared because there is no visual cue to help out.
This may or may not apply to your game, but is something CERTAINLY to think about.
Is it working?
Think of sound design as another way to help a user interact with the virtual world you are creating.
For example, your game consists of picking up stones, ala "Mankala" and moving them around a board. Well, you have nice visual cues, but as anyone who's played that game, knows that there are some rich opportunities for some folly and sfx cues. When you grab the stones, there should be a sound. When you drop them individually, there should be a sound. Is the wooden basin you're dropping them in have more stones in it or is it empty? All of these will create slightly different sounds. This is the kind of thing that although seemingly hyper-detailed and tiny will do wonders to make your game far more professional and enrich the interactive character of the user experience.
Music! Music!
Ah, the obligatory "background in-game tune"...
Yeah, just have something that loops. That should be good.
Well... not necessarily. Are you trying to establish a certain mood? Many casual games are puzzle-oriented in nature. Is the player racing to accomplish something in a specified amount of time? If so, it would be ideal to have a tune that is EXACTLY that long (assuming, of course, the time limit is not more than 5 minutes or so). This gives the user some feedback as to how much time they have left while not having to watch the clock. A great example of this is the classic Nintendo Mario Kart. Remember how the music always sped up in almost comical way during your last lap? The pressure is *ON*!
Also, emphasize to your composer that this is the ONLY tune your are commissioning/using. (They may assume you are buying library tracks as well) This is the ONLY thing the user will hear over and over and the game needs to be associated with it in a positive way. If things get to tiresome or (worse) annoying, the user may come to no longer enjoy the game. Music that is too fast, too monotonous, too loud or too melody heavy can get this way FAST.
The last part there is especially important. Melody heavy tunes do NOT make for good eternal loops. They make for great cut-scene music, battle music (if its short), musical hits, title screens, etc... but NOT for background. Its much easier to hear repetition in something that has a strong melody. Melodies that are more subtle and change slowly work far better.
If a single tune is constructed well, it can last for hours of play time. If your a doing more of a fast-skin/level changing game a la Tetris, you may opt to have more melody (even song-like) tunes written, and have many of them (a new one every level even!) Granted, this is far more expensive, but this can be very rewarding to players to "unlock" these levels. Save the BEST tunes for late in the game.
Empty wallet syndrome
So... a little short on cash, eh?
Let your composer/sound designer know your budget up front (though, they will surely inquire after they tell you their rates). Try to be creative about negotiations. If you are really stretched, offer extra perks, like non-exclusive use, or hefty royalties. Of course, depending on what the composer thinks of your project, they may or may not decide to risk the time and effort on creating something for a non-guranteed payout.
Try to minimize the number of sound fx you use -- finding multiple uses for the same effect. Go for shorter loops of music, and only one. Realisticly, anything shorter than 2 minutes however will be fairly repetitive and may be tough to endure after a while. Again, this depends on the style of music, mood, etc.
In a worst-case scenario, you can, of course, try to find some library music that will fit your project. You might even ask the composer/sound designer you are working with if they might have some library tracks of their own to sell you. Of course, you then run the risk of having another project with the same track as well as something that only fits... sorta.
The truth of the matter is, that good music production is expensive. In this great age of software samplers, fast computers and prices falling on audio interfaces, the good stuff STILL costs quite a bit of money, not to mention the time and energy of the talented people who work in this field.
I welcome your comments and questions. Thanks for the write-in!
-John Seguin
Composer/Sound Designer
www.seguinsound.com
jseguin@seguinsound.com
About the author
#2
Thanks for your comments. I also agree with the Mega Man 2 observation. There are many, many games with very memorable melodic soundtracks (Zelda on the NES also comes to mind.) Let me point out however that Mega Man had many tunes within it. If you had to listen to the same tune on every... single.... level... this would get quite tough to deal with, no?
Also, just as an aside, its also interesting to point out the limited capabilities that the NES hand in producing music (or sound, for that matter!). It consisted of only 5 channels of audio: 2 pulse waves, one triangle wave, one "noise" and one PCM channel (super low-fi samples... mostly percussion or the occasional spoken word or something). Given that, compared to the possibilities today given CD-quality (and far BETTER!) sound production for games, its amazing how memorable some of these classic NES tunes have become!
12/02/2005 (12:16 pm)
@Jared:Thanks for your comments. I also agree with the Mega Man 2 observation. There are many, many games with very memorable melodic soundtracks (Zelda on the NES also comes to mind.) Let me point out however that Mega Man had many tunes within it. If you had to listen to the same tune on every... single.... level... this would get quite tough to deal with, no?
Also, just as an aside, its also interesting to point out the limited capabilities that the NES hand in producing music (or sound, for that matter!). It consisted of only 5 channels of audio: 2 pulse waves, one triangle wave, one "noise" and one PCM channel (super low-fi samples... mostly percussion or the occasional spoken word or something). Given that, compared to the possibilities today given CD-quality (and far BETTER!) sound production for games, its amazing how memorable some of these classic NES tunes have become!
#3
12/02/2005 (5:42 pm)
Awesome stuff John. Thanks for instructing us in the way we should go.. (bows deeply)
#4
(I also feel that the main issue with the sound making it grating to people is lack of volume enveloping coupled with absence of filter; eliminating those two issues makes simple waveforms sound very natural without wiping out their "generic" character. The above-average abilities of the SID chip on these fronts seem to have played a large role in its musical successes.)
12/02/2005 (10:01 pm)
I believe the primary reason the 8-bit tunes manage to loop heavily without becoming grating is the simplicity of the sound itself. I came up with this idea in trying to get to the bottom of how the composers made those chips sound good. Chipsounds, being by themselves almost entirely untextured without the explicit direction of tricks like vibrato, arpeggiation, PWM, etc., leave comparatively more to the imagination, in the same way that low-resolution graphics require more viewer interpretation. It seems like a lot of videogame remixes lose the interest of the original because the instrumentation overpowers the structure, rather than adding to it. So I conclude that the "small" sound is most appropriate for this style of melodic-yet-understated music.(I also feel that the main issue with the sound making it grating to people is lack of volume enveloping coupled with absence of filter; eliminating those two issues makes simple waveforms sound very natural without wiping out their "generic" character. The above-average abilities of the SID chip on these fronts seem to have played a large role in its musical successes.)
#5
12/03/2005 (7:24 pm)
EastWest sample sounds cost up to 2,000 dollars and more :| 
Torque Owner Jared Coliadis
A counter-argument to the statement against melody-heavy songs is Mega Man 2 for NES. The songs were catchy and never got old, and there are many who agree. On the other hand, most of our music is going to need to be more ambient for the most part to actually contribute to the atmosphere.
Once again, I gain a lot out of these .plans.