As the videos of my discussions with Pawel are being uploaded to YouTube, I find myself deeply immersed in this project. The initial idea has evolved into something more profound and fulfilling. In addition to the three variations of the track, I am now committed to creating game tracks that will enhance the overall gaming experience.
This, of course, is only an ambitious idea that I will look at when I have the time. The purpose of this video is to demonstrate how my music can enhance the gaming experience. I will try to record my gameplay of Metroid Dread without music and then place my own works over it. This will not be a particularly long video, as the intro screen is roughly 3 minutes long, and the three tracks I want to make will be 1 minute long each, able to be looped. It is in my hopes I will be able to make these tracks fade in and out as I enter new areas on my video, almost like an indicator of where I am about to end up – I haven’t seen this happen in many other 2d games, only select 3d games with open world features, using trigger points for when the new music shall kick in. (See Breath Of The Wild for similar ideas).
The music and sound in Metroid Dread play a crucial role in setting the tone and enhancing the gaming experience. This is why I feel creating tracks that complement the game’s atmosphere is essential. Pawel gave me a good idea to contact independent producers of indie and open-source games to make music for them, but I feel as if I wouldn’t find something in time where I can control the output. Working with others can be pretty jarring for me, and the music formula and aesthetics lay in Metroid already, which I could pick up at any time.
I also gave myself another question after the videos: “Why Metroid Dread”? And I feel as if the answer is simple. When doing my final project last year, I worked on a track for Command and Conquer that was retro and for older sound chips. With the way that music and sound are ever-evolving, this style would eventually have a niche in the industry rather than be the market-dominating superpower it was in the 80s and 90s. I could have produced Super Metroid, a significantly better game that still stands the test of time for replay-ability, but I feel there is much more to research and grasp with games/music that came out in the late 10’s and early 20’s.