Creating a Responsive Soundtrack news - Neon the Ninja

Video games are an interactive media. When you push certain buttons the images on the screen change and different sound effects are triggered to create the illusion of a virtual world.

One way the game can respond to the player's actions is through music. A well known example of this would be in Super Mario Bros. When the player starts running out of time the music speeds up in tempo. Since this happens the player immediately knows that they are running out of time to complete the level.

Super Mario World has another more subtle example. When Mario rides Yoshi drums are added to the background music. This gave the player an audible reward by filling out the song making the experience feel more complete. When Mario dismounts the drums fall out echoing the change in gameplay.

I wanted to try something similar with Neon's music by having the level music respond to how you are currently playing the game. The idea is if you are crashing through windows the song will be loud and energetic, but when you are in sneak mode the track will fade into something more subdued to reflect the players actions.

It was a fun idea that I added to my "wishlist" but as animating and programming continued to take up so much of my focus it seemed that I would never get around to it on my own.

Then I found Chris Sinnott. We discussed how to match the sound of Neon with the art style by giving it the attitude of a 90's anime. Energetic, unapologetic melodies with high quality samples and wicked guitar work. He also had the idea of showcasing some classic Japanese instruments (since that's where the prototype level is taking place).

Listen to this mini-masterpiece.

His next challenge was to work on the alternate version of this song for stealth mode. I was a little worried about this one but I have to say it turned out great!

Finally, it was up to me to implement them in game. I love it when a plan comes together!