- This first one is a video of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It's an example of repetitive battle music. Pay attention to the switches between the exploration, and the more dramatic battle music, especially when he is fighting the large spider just before he jumps off of the ledge down onto the spider web below. The battle music stays the same throughout the entire game, so eventually you get tired of hearing it. The same thing happens in RPG's when you've hit a random battle for the thousandth time. Eventually you just get tired of it switching on and off between the battle music and some other music. Other examples I can think of right now are Fable, and Zelda: Twilight Princess.
- I can't find a video that shows what I mean, but I'm thinking of Star Wars: Jedi Outcast. The game demonstrates the dramatic "film type" entrance for music. The score is infinitely better than most games because John Williams composed it, but it will switch from the exploration music to battle music really quickly. This is supposed to invoke a sudden feeling of excitement, but most of the time it just makes the music stand out. The music is there to help the ambiance, not make itself known to the world.
In both cases, the music becomes dull, repetitive, or stand out too much. So, my idea is to create a more living type of battle music progression. Instead of having the two states that interact as one or the other like an on/off switch, I'd like to create a flowing dynamic blend that builds up to the most grand and adrenaline pumping music based on the severity of the battle you're fighting.
Each song created and mixed on a computer has multiple layers. One for drums, one for guitar, one for piano, etc... So instead of rendering all of those tracks into one single file, render them all separately, and have them all play simultaneously in the game system. For the player, the effect would be the same, but for the designer it opens a level of flexibility.
Every single enemy will have a severity number assigned to it that is either larger or smaller depending on how formidable of an enemy it is. When an enemy goes to the state of "battle mode", it's severity number is added to a global severity meter variable. When that enemy is killed, or it switches out of battle mode, it's severity number is is subtracted from the global variable. In essence, this creates a graph which demonstrates how severe a battle is currently. The two axis would be time and severity. The way this would be applied to the music is demonstrated in the image below.
As the severity of the battle increases, more tracks are enabled, and as the severity decreases, the more intense tracks become disabled. It creates a more fluid sense of what you're up against, and simulates what our adrenaline does naturally in intense situations.
To make it feel more natural, implement a lag to the graph so it doesn't instantly add or subtract large numbers from the variable creating a choppy sounding sound track.
Have the actual variable create a gradient between each jump, and limit the speed that it can increase or decrease to the most current variable. Also fade the tracks in and out so it's not a jarring change once it reaches a new track.
This would better simulate how we as humans calm down gradually after a quick intense situation. This would be especially important during a quick confrontation with a single formidable enemy. The graph would spike from nothing, to adding multiple tracks, to nothing again instantaneously.
That wouldn't sound good. Using the 'limit speed' technique would solve the problem. Add a slight lag for adding, and a longer lag for subtracting. This simulates the adrenaline pattern well, where it takes a little while for your nerves to settle after an encounter.
The end result would eventually lead the music into the same intensity for one formidable enemy, or multiple weaker enemes.
I say, go for it. I'm principally a music composer, and did music for about 11 years now, I've started to map and other stuff by only one year, so I can say this is a thing is always missed in games.
What you are planning to do as been done in a different way but same concept in Need for Speed 2. I know is a little different from a shooter game, but in N4S 2 they did a good job in the music department. For example on a track you have a classic heavy metal music, but if you look at the audio files the track is completely dismembered. One track of drums, on of bass and others of guitar, and others with all the instruments. Each track subdivided in section. In the race track when you reach a certain point the music in background stop one of those tracks and start another with the same groove and fill but with more or less instruments.
Also in Prey there is a similar system but less complicated. Naturally this is cool to have, but not easy to implement to the game. You have to code a shitload of stuff, but IMO doesn't matter if the result is outstanding. In the code you have to tell the game when a section finish and when the other start, which piece start and which not, then synch the song time with the next part. The easy way would be to dismember a track in this way:
(just an example of song)
- One track of drum
- One track of drum + bass
- One track of drum + guitar + bass
And not a track for each instruments, for a simple reason, the audio quality would drop sostantially as when you mix music need first the post production and mastering which is what defines the audio quality. Mixing these tracks separatly and the put them one over another would screw up the audio quality.
Cheers
-Neurological