CGDC '97 Roundtable Report

These proved to be interesting and revealing sessions. The intent was to explore the degree to which game designers, producers and composers are open to creating music that best fits each game, without preconceived ideas of what "game music" should be.

The sessions started by discussing the fact that we are still in the early days of game development not unlike the early days of film. The first sound to accompany films was a piano player and it took time for music to find it's place once music and sound became an intrinsic part of film production.

Unfortunately the sessions did not attract many game designers and producers as hoped, but did in fact see a good deal of the people creating music for games, both independent and in-house composers and sound designers.

Everyone seemed to be in agreement that better sounding music and SFX in the games now has a higher priority with game companies. But even though the key point of these discussions was how to focus in on the most appropriate music to accompany a game, the discussions would always go in the direction of the roadblocks that seem to prevent the most relevant music from actually being produced. With a few exceptions, most of the participants expressed frustration on how they are limited in the approach that they can take for the musical content of the game.

These topics are examples of some of the points brought up by the roundtable participants:

1. In many cases it was reported that technical limitations that could have been substantially reduced had the composer been brought on board earlier in the game development. It seems that music considerations are often dealt with late in the game design resulting in a sonic experience scaled down from what was originally hoped for. Often the composer can suggest a number of potential methods for dealing with the music and sound, which if looked at early on can bring improved sound without having any more weight in the game.
2. The lack of a clear team leader as far as the music is concerned, or too many cooks was another subject brought up. When it comes to music, six different people in a room will very likely have six different opinions on what the music should sound like. In situations like this the music is bound to suffer as the composer tries to accommodate all the different tastes.The result is usually a homogenized track and a composer with fried brains. A more focused and often less expensive soundtrack usually develops when there is a group leader who has a good grasp of the intended aural portion of the game and who has final say.
3. There was also a concern over "rocking the boat" and not being awarded the job if the composer's instinct tells him that the musical concept should be different from that of the game designer. It was discussed that some game designers are more open than others when a composer feels strongly about a potential new direction that the musical content can take. A potential solution was to create a second demo in addition to the music style requested so the team can consider the new direction that the composer is suggesting. Of course that option would depend on available time and budget considerations.
4. It was discussed that there were more requests for "interactivity" in the music, which can be achievable but is more labor intensive, and the budgets in some cases don't appear to have expanded to support the additional work. There were a number of approaches discussed depending on the platform involved including: additional MIDI tracks added at higher action sequences of the game, short individual MIDI sequences that can follow any other sequence in the level and play with the appropriate action, use of Sony XA files on Playstation games which switch from one track to another in synch to enhance the game among others. It seems that some producers are not as aware as they might be that in addition to the composing and creation of the music, there is a significant amount of time required to accomplish some of the above mentioned processes and that the need for "interactivity" needs to be addressed early in the budgeting process.

After going over these issues over the three days, several things became apparent. The group agreed that there needs to be more education on the part of the producers and game companies if there is in fact a desire to improve the overall level of music and sound in games.

We also identified that much of the problem may be on the shoulders of the composers, music companies and sound designers, by not working collectively to promote how important it is to involve the music and sound designers earlier in the game design process. This early involvement seems to be the prevailing theme that came out of the discussions.

I think we would all agree that if a game sounds great and further enhances the emotional atmosphere, it will help take the game experience to new heights.