Comments on: Why Music is Critical http://sonicron.solaristudios.com/2006/11/18/why-music-is-critical/ Explorations in the world of independent game development. Sat, 17 May 2008 02:34:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Karja http://sonicron.solaristudios.com/2006/11/18/why-music-is-critical/#comment-830 Mon, 20 Nov 2006 11:31:13 +0000 http://sonicron.solaristudios.com/2006/11/18/why-music-is-critical/#comment-830 I can't really say that I'm surprised (although it's very impressive that the experiment had such clear results!) But I'm not sure that music in games is all that overlooked; it's rated less important than graphics, but its effects are probably not ignored. People seem to work hard to find songs that fit into a game's theme well, and I think that part of this search is to find the desired emotional response along with the musical style. (Maybe subconsciously.) It'd be great if more effort was put into integrating sound in subtle ways though. And that goes for other subtle details as well: in a school project I made a silly breakout game where the background would scroll in various ways, to see what impact this had on the user's perceived sense of speed. I love when people experiment with little details like this! I can’t really say that I’m surprised (although it’s very impressive that the experiment had such clear results!) But I’m not sure that music in games is all that overlooked; it’s rated less important than graphics, but its effects are probably not ignored. People seem to work hard to find songs that fit into a game’s theme well, and I think that part of this search is to find the desired emotional response along with the musical style. (Maybe subconsciously.) It’d be great if more effort was put into integrating sound in subtle ways though.

And that goes for other subtle details as well: in a school project I made a silly breakout game where the background would scroll in various ways, to see what impact this had on the user’s perceived sense of speed. I love when people experiment with little details like this!

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