This century the video game industry has become one of the biggest giants in the entertainment industry. This industry has given many people the opportunity to work within this massive video game industry. Musicians now have the option to compose music for video games, music is needed for a video game to make its gameplay and cinematic experience more immersive to the player. Every video game has tends to have different themes and unique atmospheres to them in comparison to other games. The music of these games must reflect off of the games theme to make sure it fits in with the gameplay environment or setting. For example Skyrim is a video game based in a mythical and medieval world, the music in this game is made up of horns, strings and harps and other instruments similar to that. This is because these instruments would have been often seen and used in medieval music, using punchy synths would not fit the theme of Skyrim and this would ultimately ruin the games immersion. Therefore each game requires different music to suit its theme, that is what I will be talking about on this page.
Horror Games (alien Isolation)
Alien Isolation is a horror video game based off of the alien movie franchise. In this game you play as Amanda Ripley, the daughter of Ellen Ripley who is the main character and soul survivor of the Alien movie. This game is based on a huge space ship that has been invaded by the super predator alien species the Xenomorph. In this game you are constantly being chased down by the alien species, the game does a very good job making you feel like you are constantly being hunted. The games music drastically adds to the fear factor to the video game, the games soundtrack is very eery and ambient engrossing you in the environment of the game. Horror games usually have eery and ambient music to immerse the player in the games environment. Horror games usually have slower paced soundtracks to give the player thinking space when exploring the maps of the game, this is because with thinking space the player will always assume the worst and scare themselves.
Sometimes the music speeds up or distorts when the enemy spots you or starts chasing you. An example of this method is used in the horror game ‘Amnesia: The Dark Descent’. The soundtrack in this game is mainly just made up of ambient and creepy sounds such as: pipes, footsteps and grunts, this scares the player by making them think an enemy is near by or following them. The music in this game is mainly noticed when the player is being chased by an enemy, this is because the audio will begin to rapidly distort as the enemy begins to close the distance between the player and themselves. Many horror games however tend to use minimal music, this is because the silence will allow the player to only hear their environment. The silence and ambience of the environment can cause the player to get nervous as they will be expecting something to break the silence. Most people also tend to feel uncomfortable in silent situations which is why many horror games use silence to their advantage in games to scare the player.
Soundtrack Analysis
This music starts with a de-tuned piano playing a creepy melody, the creepiness is intensifies by the use of the reverb on the piano. This melody repeats every 2 bars. The piano is harmonised with a deep bass string as well as other deep ambient sounds. The constant use of deep ambient music makes the music have a mysterious and scary atmosphere to it. There is a synth being played that is constantly panning left and right to make the listener feel uncomfortable and disorientated within the music. There is also a violin that constantly plays the same 3 notes over and over with a tremolo in the music, this makes the music have an atmosphere of discomfort and instability. Some of these notes are out of key which adds to the unsettling and scary atmosphere to the music. The instruments generally used in this track is are: strings such as the cello and violin, sound effects such as pipes and objects moving, synths and a piano. These instruments have an unusual mix between classical instrumentation mixed with an electronic arrangement. The instruments have different types of modulations such as: tremolo, chorus and flanger to make the instruments sound unnatural and have an out of space like tone to them.
The deep ambient sounds are often added into the compositions arrangement to make the music sound mysterious and ominous, this is because most of the other instruments are just looping. The deep strings and ambience are the main factor of the music’s scariness along with the synth. This is because they are unpredictable and mysterious. The song’s structure is repetitive yet interesting due to the constant feeling of suspense implemented by the twisted strings and modulated synth. The dynamics in this music pulsate in a heart beat like rhythm, this makes the listener feel like something is about to happen as it gets louder and the tension builds up. But just when you think the music is about to release its tension in an energetic climax to the music the dynamics begin to quieten, this technique is repeated throughout the music. In this composition the rhythm is slow, which is not unusual in this type of horror game. The music is usually slow to allow the player to think in their terrifying environment as they are constantly being stalked by the Alien.
Action Games (God Of War III)
God of War is an action/fantasy game where you play as Kratos, a man tortured by his past and overtaken with the desire for vengeance. This game is based in a universe where gods from the Greek Mythology rule the world. Kratos was a warrior who was tricked into killing his family for the amusement of the gods, he took his revenge on Aries, the god of war. After he killed Aries he himself became the god of war. In God Of War 3 you play as Kratos who is climbing Mount Olympus to reach the top and kill Zeus. Kratos must kill all the Gods of the Greek world to reach Zeus, killing these Gods would plague the worlds in death and disease, this is because each God is responsible from holding back evil forces upon the Earth. However Kratos does not care about the Earth due to his immense anger. The music in god of war is aggressive, the music is loud and powerful fuelling the hack and slash gameplay throughout the game. The music fits the theme of an ancient setting with instruments such as horns and bass drums.
Soundtrack Analysis
This composition starts with fast paced percussive hits by it’s self and then the choir comes in. This choir’s male and female vocals play the music’s melody in unison. However after the first 15 seconds of the music we proceed into the compositions A section, the tempo and dynamics of the music instantly rises after the A section. At the beginning of the A section the drums and cello are establishing the heavy and strong rhythm to the music. The rhythm is in 4/4 time and has a fairly high BPM. The choir then returns playing the melody, after that more strings suddenly come in. These strings play off the melody rhythmically and harmonically, some of the strings harmonise with the melody, will others play the some notes and rhythm as the choir but in lower octaves or at a faster tempo.
The choir eventually temporarily leaves the music, in the mean time of this event the brass horns carry the melody. The horns are layered giving it a powerful and strong tone in the music, horns are often used this way to create powerful heroic and aggressive music. Around the 1:30 mark the choir comes back in and the strings and the choir play in unison, this puts emphasis on the melody and makes it much more powerful than before as it’s rhythm becomes more dominant. After 1:30 the music begins to rise in dynamics and more instruments begin to creep into the mix as we approach the B section of the composition.
When the music hit’s the climax of the crescendo some of instruments drop out, meaning the music was building false anticipation. The composer could have done this to add tension to the action going on in the game. The music uses suddenly plays the bras, percussion and strings on beat to create a strong wall of rhythmic energy. This is made with unison and tight rhythmic timing. The brass then gets a short solo where the other instruments focus harmonising around it. The twist is that the harmony is sudden and spiking, lasting not even bar. This creates a powerful and intense effect in music, this technique is used a lot in action scores for film and entertainment.
Around the 2:30 mark in the composition the music is entirely focusing on the rhythm of the choir. The strings play the exact same notes as the choir but in higher octaves, and the bass just harmonises with the strings and choir. The percussion is played less at this point in the music, this is so when it is used it creates a powerful temporary effect of tension and aggression. The bass horn is played on every 4th beat in a bar to emphasise how intensity of the rhythm of the music. At the 3:30 mark the music is coming to an end, the intensity increases in these last moments of the music. To increase the intensity the composer adds the constant use of the loud bass drum on every bar on the music. The music changes it’s time signature to 2/4 around the 3:30 mark. This builds anticipation to the listener, this because it builds intensity and surprises the listener with how soon the bars are suddenly ending. But around 3:40 the time signature returns to 4/4.
The music continues with the same heavy rhythm and strong melody for the last parts of the composition. The music is constantly building up tension by dropping instruments out and in constantly, and the music is constantly going some where by adding a crescendo, brass solo or strong rhythm to it. The music ends with a grand pause to it, all the vocals and strings fade into silence at the ends of the music. This is a good end to an action game piece because the texture and anticipation never slowly decays to 1 instrument, instead all the instruments stop at once.
Role playing games (fallout 4)
Fallout 4 is a roleplaying/ science fiction game based in post apocalyptic America. The wasteland shows signs of a 50’s vintage aesthetic, this is because this is the time period when the nuclear apocalypse of fallout began. Posters and cars from the 50’s can be found littered around the world. Fallout 4 sticks to a vintage aesthetic even in it’s music. Fallout games have an in game radio channel that plays iconic songs from the 50’s, including hits from the ink spots, Billie Holiday and Skeeter Davis. The world of fallout 4 can be very immersive as it encapsulates the frozen time period of the 50’s. In the wasteland humanity has split into factions to defend themselves, these factions include: the institute (scientists), bandits, The Brotherhood Of Steel (militia) and other factions. The world of fallout is made up of make shift weapons and buildings, and this make shift theme can be seen in fallouts soundtrack. In fallout you play as the Lone wanderer, a person who has taken sanctuary in vault 111. This was meant to be a safety bunker to protect special people from the nukes. Each settler in the vault got cryogenically frozen to wait out the nuclear fallout. However during the Lone Wanderers sleep he awakens to see his wife and child, who where in another chamber to you get killed by a mercenary. Your player seeks vengeance on his wife and aims to find his lost son, that is the story of fallout. You must fight through an wasteland to find your son and avenge your wife
In general this piece of music stays at a constant slow tempo, this tempo is slow to reflect on the abandoned environment that has no energy left flowing through it. It also makes the music more emotional as this is the first time your character is seeing his world after the bombs have destroyed it. The music is written in a minor key to add a sad and emotional tone to the music. All the instrumentation in this music is acoustic, meaning none of it is made from synths or electronic sounds. This is because in fallout humanity has been stripped back to it’s roots of no electricity, and the instruments must reflect on that. That is why all the instruments used in this composition are made from found sounds or wooden instruments and strings.
The beginning of this composition starts with a reverberate piano by it’s self, this immediately gives the music an old and broken tone to it. This is because is reverb used right on a piano it can make it seem old and broken, this fits the theme of the destroyed and abandoned common wealth area. The piano plays a slow melody and emotional melody that reflects on your characters sad emotions. The piano then is greeted by a deep and ambient string instrument, this adds a mysterious tone to the music. This is also quiet and intimidating sound, this is reflecting on how your and your player are seeing the world you once loved turned into a hostile world that isn’t safe for anyone. After the deep string is introduced to the music you can hear the sound of objects scarping along the floor as well as a rusty door being shut, this adds to the theme of the commonwealths unkept and uncared for streets. From the deep cello a frequency playing mid-range frequencies emerges, this violin is playing a measured tremolo. This means the same note is being rapidly repeated, this can give the violin a more rough tone as the note has no time to ring out because the strings are being rapidly bowed back and forth.
The music uses more effects from rusty objects to give the music an old and broken theme. A second violin comes into the mix that plays in a higher octave than the other one, this one is playing more sustained notes than the previous tremolo violin. The high frequency of the violin gives it a sharp, harsh and yet fragile tone to the instrument. After the one minuet mark in the music a woodwind instrument comes which evokes emotion from the music. The instrument howls as it increases and decreases in pitch, the howls in the instruments melody sound like a whale of emotion from an actual person or animal. The high pitch the flute plays in creates a sense of isolation to the music, this is because the other instruments are harmonising with each other and the flute is being left out. The three notes from this instrument brings sad emotion and tones to the music. The strings harmonise around the flutes angelic melody in the music. After the flutes melody plays a percussive slam comes into the music which helps the music progress, the flute temporarily leaves the music and the string instruments all begin to harmonise with each other by playing chords.
After the percussion instrument get’s hit we move into the B section of the music, this part of the music is a little bit more uplifting than the A section. The musical feature that significantly brings more energy to the music is the dynamics, the dynamics increase which makes the music feel like it’s got more energy and will power to it. The strings play a powerful harmony which fills the music with sound. The piano plays the melody for the B section which is at a faster tempo than the one we saw in the A section, this shows us that the music is slowly getting more powerful. This reflects on the characters feeling for vengeance and survival beginning to over come him. The strings begin to turn to the pianos melody to harmonise with instead of just the strings together, this puts more focus on the piano in the music. The piano once again fades out and the strings harmonise together again.
Shortly after the piano drops out the woodwind flute comes back in with it’s emotional whaling melody, this time the woodwind’s melody isn’t playing as long as it was before. Around the 2:40 mark most of the instruments drop out and the music loses allot of it’s texture in terms of instrumentation. The piano plays a sad, slow and emotional melody once again which is harmonised by a violin. A metal percussive instrument is lightly played along with the piano, this reflects on the music’s make shift instrumentation. After the piano melody the flute once again comes back into the music for the outro playing the same instrumental as the last couple of times, this time it lasts longer than it did last time. The strings play the harmony with the flutes melody with chords to accompany it, some of these chords clash. This makes the harmony have a broken and in balanced tone to it, this perfectly resembles fallouts post-apocalyptic wasteland. All the instruments fade out while harmonising with each other. This gives the music a satisfying and peaceful ends to the composition.
Reading List
IER38, 2015. God of War 3 – Kratos vs Zeus Theme (Extended). [image] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1GgwghgCNw> [Accessed 28 May 2021].
Nox, 2015. Fallout 4 OST – The Commonwealth. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2YJAlucwyA> [Accessed 28 May 2021].
Padawanmage71, 2015. Alien: Isolation Soundtrack – 08 – “Encounters”. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m7NFpr0TC4> [Accessed 28 May 2021].