Importance of sound in digital games...
Chris Goodswen’s lecture was insightful and revealed a lot of information about the games industry, in particular the fact that if you wanted to be creative, don’t join one of the main studios, go independent. Due to the investor constraints within the major games studios, they would prefer to play it safe and either create carbon copies of existing games or sequels to them. The smaller companies have the freedom to experiment with more creative and unique games which push the envelope.
Chris also spoke about his opinion that although games designers should be specialised within their field, they should also push their own boundaries; 2D designers mastering 3D programmes and vice versa. This was something that rang true with my own studies, as although my main interest in 2D I still want to be able to use the 3D programmes to better bring my work to life.
One of the things I also picked up on in the lecture was the importance and perhaps decline of sound as a core aspect in digital games, this was briefly touched upon and this was something I wanted to explore further.
Although digital games didn't have any sound until the release of Computer Space in 1971, sound in video games always seems to be the last thing thought of, almost an afterthought. However, effective sound design can make or break a game. In fact some games are so closely linked with their sound that they are synonymous with them, for instance how can you think of Tetris without thinking of the theme music?
Unfortunately there is a recent trend for digital games to mimic cinema, not only visually but in terms of sound design as well. The video game designers want the sound to echo films or more specifically summer blockbuster Michael Bay-esque films that are all spectacle and have little depth. These parallels may have arisen as soon as video games were able to emulate films with their graphics and video game bosses wanted to emulate not only their visual style and look but their revenue as well.
Rob Bridgett [online] 2010, states “How many times have phrases like "more bangs per buck", "beef-it-up", "more, louder, faster, harder" been heard at audio meetings?” He continues to explain that these parallels may have increased in recent times but that their tendency to be loud and brash may stem from video games competing with each for sound in the arcades of the late 70’s and 80’s.
Thankfully there are games such as ‘Ico’, which are learning the lesson that subtlety can be just as effective, if not more so, than crashing drums and obvious crescendos.
Thankfully there are games such as ‘Ico’, which are learning the lesson that subtlety can be just as effective, if not more so, than crashing drums and obvious crescendos.
Perhaps recent highly successful films such as which lack soundtrack completely such as 'The Blair Witch Project', 'Paranormal Activity' and this years 'Buried' will show the digital games industry that the sound of what is happening onscreen can be more than enough to create tone. Capcom's 'Resident Evil' showed this can be done with the simple eerie ticking of the grandfather clock in the mansion
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