sound + music, and its importance in games

[stevenp]

sound + music is often "overlooked" in alot of games, but if used correctly, sound can add an entire new level of depth


to make this explanation short, here is a video about what i mean, i will explain it after you watch it
(it was a WoW spoof, but it explains my point)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hGom_CCz4so


even tho in this video is an atari clone game, it still has the OMG this is SO COOL! effect to it, why? because of the music and sound


at around 41 seconds you hear the "atari" style sounds, and you probably laughed as hard as i did,


but at 50 seconds, the camera foucuses on a simple health bar, no special effects, or graphics at all, BUT you can still hear what is happening in the "game" what kind of weapon is being used, how hard the weapons are being swung, even the kinds of weapons, ( metal swords)


this is called acoustics, ( how sound reacts to open environment)

this is important to some games, but not all, for example a first person shooter like UNREAL TOURNAMENT
they have amazing use of sound, music, and acoustics


you might not need a "radar" in your game, if your sound can substitute for it,

when a projectile is shot, you can tell

1 how "far" it is from you, its altitude, and angle
2 what kind of weapon it is
3 what room the enemy is in ( based on reverb which soem games give you an option to turn on )
and so on... even if your monitor is shut off!

a game like tetris, does not NEED sound as complex as this, but it could still benifit from the music aspect,

i have more to say, but im gona hold of on it for now, so ppl dont get scared away from WALL OF TEXT

any responces?

[Game A Gogo]

totally agreed