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Playing With Sound

Far too often, people think sound design is an item of the lowest priority in video games, but in my opinion, it is quite the opposite. Music and sounds are equally important to visuals/graphics when it comes to developing a game’s atmosphere. Carefully crafted audio incorporates a whole new sense for the user to experience while playing.

 In essence, music and sounds are all about enhancing the atmosphere. Music can bring forth all kinds of emotions in response to visuals, creating an experience that can make the experience magical for the end user. Playing through an intense first-person shooter might feel a bit odd with a playful 8-bit jingle, just as you would expect a horror game to have an anticipation building audio pace.

In the real world, music is a reflection of culture. The same is true in video games. Video game music is often used to reveal truths about societies cultures’ in games, such as the Fallout series. Though you’re quite aware the game takes place in the future, it still gives off a 1950’s vibe as demonstrated by popular fashion, décor, and music. Hearing classic American music in a post-apocalyptic Fallout wasteland established the game’s unsettling atmosphere.

Music in games is used to condition the player’s behaviour. When you die in a game, a disappointing game-over tune plays, while completing a level or objective is met with an upbeat, rewarding jingle. These cues reinforce our behaviour and encourage us for playing well.

Additionally, music contributes to an elevated sense of importance and fulfillment. In Skyrim, mashing the same button to kill a bear is absolutely meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but when that epic battle chant is playing, you feel like the fate of the universe rests in your hands.

Songs in video games must fulfill a variety of specific functions while still being satisfying to listen to. A good soundtrack can turn a great game into a masterpiece. With the ability to change the way gamers feel and behave, video game music is a powerful medium.

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Fad or Future?

‘’Virtual reality is the future of gaming’’. Surely, you’ve heard this statement before. Whether you like it or not, it’s the truth. In the end, gamers will go where the coolest, biggest new games are, no matter the cost – eventually.

VR manufacturers and big-time game developers have gotten into the ears of the publishers that VR is the next technological leap that gaming customers will expect. A long catalog of key iconic entertainment franchises have spent 2017 revealing and releasing deep dives into VR gaming. Games such as DOOM VR, Fallout 4, Resident Evil 7, Final Fantasy, and Star Trek: Bridge Crew have defined VR gaming for the year.

The video game industry went through a similar moment 20 years ago, when its consumers were on the edge with the newest technology. There was a time when almost every video game was two-dimensional, but nevertheless fun. As the 80s and 90s kicked around, 3D graphics emerged as a reality. Slowly, the gaming industry adapted.

Early 3D games such as Super Mario and the Legend of Zelda committed to 3D graphics unwaveringly. Coincidentally, these games are also considered among the most important games of all time. There isn’t necessarily a date that can be drawn on a timeline to demonstrate when 3D took over the industry, but one look at gaming history will tell you that it’s there. Today, a two-dimensional game is seen as a rare novelty, or brave artistic choice.

Today we’re met with an incredibly immersive, and expensive, technology that seems to have similarly capture the imaginations of gamers. When I stand at the highest point of the mountain in Skyrim, I can see and feel the blizzard, I see mountains, towns, and rivers. When I look up to the sky, I see stars shining brightly and stand under the majesty of two glorious orange moons.  

Back in the real world, my jaw has already dropped, giving me a new experience of excitement I haven’t felt since I was a child trying out a 3D game for the first time. VR is the future of gaming. It’s coming. The pace of investment is accelerating, and so is the rate of adoption.  

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A New Generation of Art

Video games are one of the most important mediums of art that humanity has ever had at its disposal. Technology has expanded the canvas for artists, allowing them to paint their stories in ways never imagined.

Video games combine many forms of traditional art including 3D modeling, illustration, narration, and dynamic music to create something that transcends any one type. Unlike other forms of art such as books, movies, or paintings, video games allow personalization for both the artist and the gamer.

Video games combine three distinct voices: the creator, the game, and the player. The player is bound by the story and rules of the author, yet based on the choices they make, have a completely personal experience. The player is no longer merely an observer, as one would be in admiring a painting on a wall or a sculpture on a pedestal. The player is an active participant in the art form.

Video games allow the player to immerse themselves in a form of artistic expression of a different world. They are capable of expressing the full breadth of human experience. Today, technology is no longer a constraint, and has a full spectrum of choices for colour palettes, controls, and abstract depictions. 

Beauty can be found in a realistic setting such as exploring Mexico in Red Dead Redemption. 

The same beauty can be found in simplistic games such as the silhouetted universe of Limbo.

Because video games demand our attention and effort to truly engage with them, it’s easy for people who don’t play them to be dismissive of the medium. A movie will last 2 hours, a book can last a couple days, but some games require a full 40 to 80 hours to complete. This offers a more immersive experience into the art form.

The stories video games bring reflect our world, reveal our aspirations, question societal norms, challenge our own morality, or simply exist to bring people together. If we choose to let ourselves engage, video games will reveal themselves to become one of the most important art forms in the history of mankind.

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Enthusiasm to Addiction

Three days ago, the World Health Organisation listed gaming addiction to be an official mental health condition for the first time ever. It’s 11th International Classification of Diseases will include the ‘’gaming disorder’’ condition. The draft describes it as a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behavior so severe that it takes precedence over other life interests.

It suggests that abnormal gaming behaviour over a period of at least 12 months should require a diagnosis. Dr. Richard Graham, lead technology addiction specialist at the Nightingale Hospital in London welcomed the decision to recognise the condition. However, he also added he would have sympathy for those who do not think the condition should be medicalised as it could confuse parents whose children are just enthusiastic gamers.

Many studies resulted in the common conclusion that too much time playing video games can lead to obsessive thoughts about gaming, insomnia, and social withdrawal in order to play more games. However, I believe that what people see as video game addiction would be formed from a larger, previously existing problem such as social anxiety or depression.

Though playing video games for long periods of time can result in dry eyes, insomnia, or even weight game, yet the same could be said for other hobbies such as reading. Someone who stays up all night reading, or playing video games, will have the same symptoms, yet one is more frowned upon. Does this mean that we should now consider reading addiction as a new disorder?

I believe it’s not the game itself, yet the action of social withdrawal. If a person would rather be playing video games than interacting with friends or family, they’re probably dealing with a social contact issue, negative self-worth towards real life accomplishments, or extreme social anxiety.

As an introvert myself, I love my time away from others to recharge my capacity to socially interact with others, and video games are an amazing diversion for this. Video games provide an escape and quick fix for social aversion. In the end, this is no different from what needs to be done with any other diversion or sources of entertainment – moderation must be achieved.

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Indie vs AAA

Are smaller/indie developers making better games than AAA games? Today many indie games are gaining popularity quickly, some passing the hype triple-A games bring. How could this be possible when AAA games have the highest development budgets and promotions? As Indie games aren’t capable to match their budget, they must reach their crowd a different way.

Indie games pay close attention to gameplay and aim to create something new and different instead of the familiarity found in AAA games. Big publishers play it safe and can ruin the company if their newest game isn’t as good as their others. Instead of creating new ideas, the games are rehashed, expanding the original content without straying too far away.

Higher budgets don’t necessarily mean better games. Indie games come up with new ideas and art styles that make themselves stand out to make up for the fact they don’t have a movie quality graphic budgets to work with. A good indie game strives for creativity and builds its fan base on it. Though AAA games are more consistent and impressive, a good indie game can define that year for games.

Back in 2015, when Undertale released, it was the hype of the gaming community. Created by one developer, Toby Fox, he managed to create the most excitement for a game that year.  It received many awards that year such as the Game Award for Best Independent Game.

Undertale has an amazing soundtrack and characters that it’s audience can’t help but fall in love with. It introduced a new concept with memorable choices that would affect the game, dialogue, characters, and story based on outcomes. It’s originality and story affected the players in a way that most triple-A developers failed to do that year. 

In the past couple of years, a list of high-profile examples of triple-A developers are leaving their positions at major publishers to do something smaller and more focused. To create a triple-A game, hundreds of employees, each with their own say must work together to create something breathtaking, and it works. They’re impressive. However, some people want to work on something more personal, closer to the bone.

Developers need room for creative expression, and their talent can get overshadowed in larger companies. In general, it comes down to personal preferences which type of game people enjoy. Regardless, a good indie or AAA game is just as impressive as the other in their own way, both leaving their audience talking about it for years.

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Fight or Flight

Some people like the horror genre, while others hate it. Some people like me can't get enough of it. I love anything revolved around horror. Horror movies, horror games, and my favourite holiday, Halloween. During October I get my Halloween rush, and can't wait to get scared out of my wits. 

Why do I enjoy the horror genre? By now it seems more like a challenge. Being surrounded by the horror genre since I was young, not much horror can effect me. It's refreshing to put new games and movies to the test and see if they are up to standards by attempting to scare me. Even when they don't reach the desired effect , I enjoy it for just plain suspense. You know a horror genre is good when it keeps you on edge, without ever spilling a drop of blood. There's a difference between gore, and pure suspense or creepiness. 

Horror games are my favourite genre of horror. In movies, you watch the protagonist try to get themselves out of a suspenseful situation, while you sit back and watch, heart pounding. In video games, you get the same effect, however, you have to do the running. Horror games force you to react to the situation, if you sit there in fear, well, you're dead. 

Some horror games give you weapons to defend yourself, making you feel more in control. My favourite horror games are the opposite. The only way to defend yourself is to hide. Some horror games execute this theme perfectly, such as Alien Isolation, or Outlast. When playing with a mic, you can't move, or let out a single breath without being found. In horror games, you must use your wit, and put any fear you're feeling into trying to stay alive. It's fight or flight, and you're in control.

Beyond the pile of unrealistic, excessively gory flicks, finding a good horror genre is a real treat. They’re a spine-tingling, rollercoaster of suspense and excitement, and we can’t get enough of the morbid fascination. The horror genre certainly is terrifyingly wonderful.