Contextual Music

From SoundInGames.com - Sound Design in Games
Revision as of 00:42, 19 August 2011 by ValterAlves (Talk | contribs)

Jump to: navigation, search
Front face Back face
The card's front face The card's back face

Synopsis

Music specific to particular contexts or levels.

Relationships

Contexts:
Narrative , Emotional Script .
May relate to:
Diegetic Music .
Makes use of:
Music .

Description

Music is frequently used to characterise specific contexts. These contexts may be regions in the scenario, levels, categories of circumstances, etc.

A particular type of contextual variations on Music that we are addressing separately is the change according to the current of involvement in the game's conflict. Those explorations are integrated in the explorations of Relaxation, Anticipation, Engagement and Decay.

Contextual Music may come from the game world itself (Diegetic Music) although that is not the most frequent case.

Examples

Flower: An exploration of Contextual Music in the Menus, to unfold the Emotional Script along the experience. In the beginning of the game the Menu presents an Acoustic Ecology (predominantly Ambiance) allusive to a emotionally negative environment. As the game progresses, it becomes more positive and eventually it becomes highly rewarding, which also supports very effectively the inherent Narrative.
Loco Roco:
Oblivion: Music depends on space and highly related to the kind of emotions those spaces have to offer. In this example the change in the Emotional Script is perceptible
[show less examples...]
Ocarina of Time: Music is dependent on the map region



ContextualMusic-front-v10.pngContextualMusic-back-v10.png