I am working on a game. I want to know what you guys think. Do you like continuous music in a game. Remember Pitfall 2, Zelda, Tetris. Or even continuous noise like Gridrunner, Wizard of Wor, Pac-man.
This could be irritating or it could make the game more exciting. What do you prefer?
Continuous Music: Good or Bad?
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Lloyd Mangram
- Vic 20 Drifter
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Mike
- Herr VC
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- Location: Munich, Germany
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Game music
For me, background music can add lots to the atmosphere of a game. I'm currently into 'Metroid: Zero Mission' (Gameboy Advance), and here each level, and all cut scenes are accompanied by their own theme. When you finish the game, a triumphal fanfare is played... well let's not get carried away. 
Problem with the VIC is, you only have one volume setting for all channels. It would be better, if the background music could be played at, say, half the volume of the sound effects.
But you still can do an introducing tune, in the title screen, right at the beginning of the game itself (like in the Scramble arcade), at the end of each level, when the game is over, ...
Michael
Problem with the VIC is, you only have one volume setting for all channels. It would be better, if the background music could be played at, say, half the volume of the sound effects.
But you still can do an introducing tune, in the title screen, right at the beginning of the game itself (like in the Scramble arcade), at the end of each level, when the game is over, ...
... one of the worst examples I remember was actually a VIC game, 'Ghost Manor', where a 8 tone tune was repeated every 2 seconds...It would depend on how long the music lasted before it looped - If it was only about twenty seconds, it would probably get annoying.
Michael
i love NES game loop music
loops average around :40 seconds...
when i ever get back into programming my VIC
i'll be starting a tracker so i can easily through loops into games
my best advice is:
make sure, on a general scale, the music is subtle and enjoyable
if you're gonna loop it during game play
loops average around :40 seconds...
when i ever get back into programming my VIC
i'll be starting a tracker so i can easily through loops into games
my best advice is:
make sure, on a general scale, the music is subtle and enjoyable
if you're gonna loop it during game play
It is a difficult question, like asking if you generally like women dressed in blue clothes. Why not point out a few examples, or if you have something half-finished already, ask whether the background hum or music fits in that particular game?
A pulsating background hum is nice in Pac-Man or Defender but not in Chess, Football Manager or Pirate's Cove, although the last one can be argued about, considering today's role playing and adventure games.
A pulsating background hum is nice in Pac-Man or Defender but not in Chess, Football Manager or Pirate's Cove, although the last one can be argued about, considering today's role playing and adventure games.
Anders Carlsson
Personally, I find that it depends on the type of game i'm playing as to wether or not I like to have background music. Games like R-Type are DREADFUL without the pumping tunes, whereas Tetris can often drive you insane (although I find I don't hear it anymore after the first few bars).
Metroid on the GBA is one of my favourite games, i've completed both Fusion and Zero, and I think it really benefits from the simple background noises and incidental music.
As for the VIC, obviously it's limited sound generation poses problems for subtlety. It might be an idea to compose background music that uses muted tones (ie, those with little high frequencies) like the triangle wave, then for the incidentals or SFX, use a sharper sound. That will give a sense of dynamics without having to do any clever programming of the volume registers.
Can I ask what type of game you're writing?
Metroid on the GBA is one of my favourite games, i've completed both Fusion and Zero, and I think it really benefits from the simple background noises and incidental music.
As for the VIC, obviously it's limited sound generation poses problems for subtlety. It might be an idea to compose background music that uses muted tones (ie, those with little high frequencies) like the triangle wave, then for the incidentals or SFX, use a sharper sound. That will give a sense of dynamics without having to do any clever programming of the volume registers.
Can I ask what type of game you're writing?