During the late 1970s and early 1980s, video game music was a pretty young field. However, people in the industry saw it as something that would change rapidly over the years. At that point in time, the genre of video game music was much more unique.
If you listen to the sounds of old video games, you’ll clearly notice that they were entirely electronic. They were created in a way that the technology and visuals of the game matched the music perfectly. There are internet radio companies today that use music analysts to categorize music based on hundreds of different attributes. A few among these companies also have radio stations dedicated to video game music.
According to some of these analysts, video game music was once a genre that was more narrowly defined. One can easily compare game music of recent times to the film scores. To fit the tone of the video game, it can mimic different styles.
Recent improvements in video game music
Wider variations are available in video game music, but many still have their roots in the old 8-bit music. Certain games include orchestral arrangements that are more cinematic. One great example of such games is Halo, which offers cinematic-quality music to its players. Melody is generally a central part of video game music. It has a simple, harmonic language and rhythms that are driving but absolutely friendly.
The American pop music also has an influence on the video game music. Usually, it is driven by the things that happen on the screen. Music composers of video games have to construct music where it can loop easily. This is because a player might stay in a particular part of the game for a longer duration.
Video game composers must consider their audience as active participants. There’s no need for a distinctive beginning or end while creating music for some games. If this is done, even the slowest player won’t get distracted by a track restarting many times. For some games the composers also use dynamic scoring. This is usually done in cases where the music has to transition smoothly into a new theme.
The emergence of new genres
There are other games that use vertical re-orchestration. It is a technique where a single musical piece plays throughout, but has character variations. This change in keys or instrumentation depends on whether a player is battling enemies or walking through a field.
This style in game music is beginning to gain popularity outside of video games. In recent times, composers are covering early 8-bit music with rock band instrumentation. New genres such as ‘chiptune’ is emerging today, which offer new 8-bit songs to gamers. These are individuals who grew up playing video games of Nintendo and Atari.
There’s also a genre called ‘epic’, which is based on more grandiose and symphonic scores of films and video games. It is a form of music that doesn’t associate itself with any game, but imitate those forms of musicology.
Now, the genres that imitate video game music are gradually making their mark. People in the gaming world see spin-offs as a sign of success. After all, every music genre has some aspects that make it click.
