How important is Music and SoudFX for you as a gamer

LAdrian

Hi everyone,
I was just wondering how important are the music and sound fx for you as a gamer?
Do you listen to the game music or do you prefer your own? Or you would like any sound at all?
I made a poll with the questions so please tell your preferences.

I'll start myself.
I never listed to any kind of sound while playing iPhone games. And very very rarely I listen my music. I don't know why, I just got used with no sound at all

UtopianGames

If music and sounds are done properly they really enhance the experience so imo it's vital.

Darren.

quantumsheep

I think sound/music is incredibly important, more so than most people realise!

Imagine Star Wars without that classic theme!

Or without the classic TIE Fighter scream as they whizz past... or the sound of lightsabres!

Or going further back, even silent movies (i.e. ones with no speech) had music playing to set a mood.

It's a bit like asking 'Are graphics important to a game?' - EVERYTHING is important to a game!

And playing your own music can be pretty cool too. One of the undocumented GS features is that you can switch your own music off in a game and still hear the music from your iPod (if you started it playing before you launch your game - it just keeps on playing!).

Gravitrixx sounds awesome to the new Tron Legacy soundtrack by Daft Punk :P

And some games go further and actually use your own music to good effect. Space Invaders Infinity Gene (one of the greatest ios games ever in my opinion) constructs whole levels out of your own music in its 'Music' mode. Awesome stuff!

Some people, of course, switch the music off. Thats fine too! But it needs to be there as an option really, otherwise those that *do* like music will be wondering where it is!

Cheers,

QS

gazjm

I agree, it is important.

In my latest game you are walking through a forest, in silence it still looks nice but doesn't have as much atmosphere. Add the spooky music and thunder sounds though and it is alot more immersive. Music and SFX are a must!

gyroscope

Totally agree with the other guys. :-)

LAdrian

Guys thanks for the input! Was totally different from what I thought..
I think that this type of shared preferences are quite usefull since very few of us I think have the resources to make user research.
I think we should make more of this kind of threads so we can here what people from around the world are thinking.

JackBQuick

The music soundtrack sets the mood and atmosphere for the game. Change the music and you can change the way the player feels about the game.

One of the soundtracks that I love is for World of Goo. There is wonderful music throughout this game.

In the game that I'm currently working on, a friend of mine composed five original loops for it, and that has made a huge difference.

Also, a website that I've used in the past (and for some of the demos that I've created recently) is www.freesoundtrackmusic.com/

tenrdrmer

I definitely think there are tons of people out there who judge everything about a game. So its definitely important. personally i don't really care on my iphone cause i'm usually playing games out of boredom and have the sound turned off all together to avoid drawing attention to myself. But i would say most people do care to some extreme.

GamersRejoice

Music and SFX can change everything about your game. It's just another way to control the emotion that your game creates. Without it, at least for me, I feel disconnected from the game.

Dhondon

Try watching a movie on mute:)

FranzKeller

if the games music doesn't suck, (or have more than one 30 second loop - argh!) I might not turn it off!

actually SFX are more important...

AND NOTHING ANNOYING! There are a few apps that could make a person cringe.
Do human beings playtest these I wonder?

case today:
Mini Squadron - great game otherwise. Bullet noises have high pitched HISS at the end of each shot. WHAT?

StormyStudio

I think its worth doing really well,

But to be honest, when I play most games the sound is either on silent or really low... either playing at work and dont want to annoy fellow workers, or playing at home in the house with sleeping children...or sleeping wife...

Never have my headphones on me at the right time...

tmoehle

Music is half of the experience.

butterbean

Music and Sound effects are really important, especially in Movies just like QS posted the example of Star Wars sound effects. LOTR had a great soundtrack, and I still remember it to this day

But for games, and more specifically apps, I tend to mute the music and sound effects. It's not AS important to me as say, gaming music for bigger titles on consoles, or specific re-releases of games like Secret of Mana, and Square games whom are notorious for their gorgeous soundtracks. Playing SOM or Chrono Trigger, half of the experience is just listening to the soundtrack!

And also, I find the music to be annoying and redundant, even on blockbuster Apps like "Cut the Rope" I've muted the background music on that, as it grates on me after awhile.

So in a nutshell, I think it depends on the game, the device, and what I'm doing at the time ie: watching TV and playing a game, the game will be on mute.

FranzKeller

though it slows GS games to have a big file size, in general it's much better to have several music tracks. Games with one song? Can't stand it.

scorelessmusic

I wrote game music once (in 2001) and tried my best to put thought and feeling into it so that the just by listening to the music, you should already get a sense of something, without having to see the visuals etc...

However, sad to say that due to my newborns, I tend to keep my devices on mute so as not to accidentally startle them if they are sleeping. If I happen to have ready access to it, I'll plug in my earphones.

PS: You can sample my soundtrack and see the thoughts I put into composition at http://soundcloud.com/chordica (check each track individually to see my commentary)

quantumsheep

I'm enjoying your tracks as I write!

QS

scorelessmusic

Glad someone does! I believe the game was canned so these tracks never made it to the public.

joshmiller602

When I'm playing at home...sound effects on. Waiting somewhere...sound effects off. So, they are important half the time to me. I think that is the same for a lot of people. I think i would be disappointed if there were no sound.

ktfright

Even though composing music is something I'm extremely good at (I rap and produce my own music, and dabble in alot of Techno, House and Dubstep music) ironically, music in games isn't very important to me. I always tend to turn off my speakers on my Touch 4G unless I have headphones on.

JohnPapiomitis

ktfright said:
Even though composing music is something I'm extremely good at (I rap and produce my own music, and dabble in alot of Techno, House and Dubstep music) ironically, music in games isn't very important to me. I always tend to turn off my speakers on my Touch 4G unless I have headphones on.

dubstep<3

FjantInc

I regularly listen to game music even outside the game. I just love it! So for me it's extremely important. In some cases it can even ruin a game. I think it was Jak & Daxter for PS2... the game was fun to play, but the awful soundtrack made me wanna puke.

I'm looking forward to the point where I can start producing the soundtrack for my game. I have lots of ideas and old themes from earlier game concepts that I'm going to re-surrect

scribblstudios

I don't know why, but I really don't care about music and SFX. I just care about graphics and gameplay.

TheBoss_123

Sound and music is just as important as gameplay and graphics, imagine playing Crysis 2 or Call-of-Duty in complete silence, the whole experience would fall apart. Generaly if I dont like the music in a game, I dont play it unless the engine is acceptional, in which case I mute the music and play some Alternative Metal, Rock genres ect.
Cheers
TheBoss_123

thetoaster

music is a must