It's Just a Music They Said!

It has been over 15 years since I completed my first playthrough of Metal Gear Solid. I can share countless memories from that masterpiece, from the first moment of the main menu to the last scene just before the credits. Instead, I prefer to remember what lies beyond credits, which is the ending theme.

"The Best Yet to Come", one of the few examples that I listen even after years and years among hundreds of games. When I think about the reason for listening to this tune over and over again, the answer reveals pretty clear: it triggers the moments that I witnessed. Not only the joy I had for playing that game but the childhood I lived, friends I had and of course low degrees of my lessons. This is a true form of "how to create a timeless classic" act and thanks to God, Hideo Kojima is not the only one.

The Music became a huge part of this entertaining business since the 80s, starting 8bit tunes at arcade games and then turned into full orchestral soundtracks for AAA games. With the graphical advancements in the gaming systems (we are at the 8th generation), the music has evolved with it due to the necessity. When we have today is not only a company for the gameplay but something that completes the game, regardless of its genre or size. So let's take a look at some good and bad examples.

Do we need one?

This may sound weird but not all games need something to listen. If the design choices behind that game don't demand something to create "that" atmosphere, you don't really need to put anything. One of the few and best examples is coming from Playdead's Inside.

Inside doesn't have a real soundtrack but atmospheric tracks that suit the game very well. As a player, I can not imagine a piece of music that plays in any part of this game. A very well approach from Playdead. But you can still listen to "soundtrack" from here if you are into this kind of sounds.

As a bad example, let's take a look at Fishing Planet. Rather than an ingame soundtrack, I would like to share their trailer music, which is a prime example that how you shouldn't do.

If you ever played Doom (especially the latest one), you may think that this is one of its DLCs. I have played the game just to find anything similar to this tune but of course, I couldn't find anything, besides a list of standard nature sounds and a nonspecial soundtrack.

Regardless of the time, I believe every game can capture the feeling that the game needs. But of course, it is always not the case, even for big titles like Resident Evil. Check out the tune below.

Can you feel the terrifying atmosphere? It punished the player with every note that comes from that organ. What a terrible choice for a cult classic. They didn't even need to put something there.

Don't give a reason to turn the music off, please.

What type of music do we need?

This is a tricky one because not all games nail it and sometimes, you may face with pretty interesting choices. The choice of music comes from 2 things: the creators and the budget. The balance between two is the key and not always works as it requires.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, an indie game released in 2011. When I first played this one, the first thing I noticed was the soundtrack that struck really hard. Check this out.

I have no idea how a small indie studio convinced Dimmu Borgir, a black metal band from Norway but it is sure that it creates a huge balance issue between the game and the soundtrack. You control a small ship in an unknown planet with 2D graphics and not so well done map design while listening to the album which sold millions in the metal world. Why?

Or maybe you have a walking simulator, with no quest or NPCs but just a story that you read from papers that you find on the ground? What are you going to do?

Released in 2012, Dear Esther proved that you only need a piano and a violin to create a masterpiece, even the game is not the best game ever. Sometimes the only thing you need is to tell the story with only music, not the gameplay.

Let the music tell the story when the game is unable to tell.

Do you need an original soundtrack?

You don't, easy and simple. There may be an entire album that already suits your game. And getting the rights of that song(s) might be even cheaper to create an original soundtrack with a composer. There are tonnes of great examples that we have seen in the late years.

Finnish developer Remedy is well known for their interesting and great choice of music. Max Payne 2 is another example with its excellent choice of soundtrack right with the credits. The success of the game generated an unexpected audience of Poets of the Fall and due to that, Remedy worked with them for their other title Alan Wake.

Hellblade, probably the finest examples from early years also nails it pretty good. In addition to its original soundtrack, the developer decided to put songs from selected bands into specific locations of the game and it worked perfectly. Passarella Death Squad, one of the bands that own a song in the game even increased its number of listeners with the release of the game. You can listen to Just Like Sleep from here.

Using non-original songs in trailers is getting really popular in both games and movies. Below, you will find another good example from Hideo Kojima that helped users to discover this great band: Silent Poets.

With a good choice of music, you can help your marketing team unintentionally by just touching players souls. This comment sums everything that this topic needs: "i'm getting this game solely off this song".

Let other mucision find a place in your game, rather than creating something new.

An alternative revenue?

This may not sound important for big publishers but for indie devs, sustainable revenue from each game is really important. Soundtracks, probably the best source of revenue generators apart from the base game. Thanks to many indie developers with great visions, we have encountered wonderful pieces in the last 5 years. Sometimes these albums multiplied the revenue of those games even for years after the release.

Celeste is only an example among other great games out there but a really good one. There is no official information about the sale numbers but I can assume that many game owners buy the soundtrack as well, just to support devs and listen whenever they want.

I'm so grateful that we have an example from my motherland as well. Monochroma, developed by Nowhere Studios and released in 2014, worked with one of the most unique bands from Turkey called Gevende. I don't know the numbers but i'm sure that they were pretty happy with the result. You can listen to it from below.

Users will carry your game wherever they are, wherever they go.

Press play to listen

As a player, the more I listen to any soundtrack, the more I remember and return to that game regardless of the time or place. With the evolution of video games and technology, I'm sure that we will see more immersive experiences from the devs. But no matter what happens, the music will be timeless.

Thanks for reading.