Video Games With Dynamic Music

[tegan]

Does anyone have any good examples of games with dynamically changing music? It's something I'm always interested in. Here's a few recent examples that come to mind:

 

• Nier has a pair of twins in your hometown that sing and play instruments that match up with the background music. It fades in as you approach them and fades out as you leave. It's actually something that's kind of struck me in retrospect as being incredibly brilliant.
  They're the only characters in the entire game to act like this, and they're also the only two with no measure of humanity. It's entirely possible that they're intentionally breaking the fourth wall by noticing the background music. A mix of the same music also plays during their boss fight.[/spoiler[

• Super Mario Galaxy had that kind of annoying bit with the goofy ball you have to balance on where the music would speed/pitch up and slow/pitch down according to how fast you were moving. I'm not sure if that counts or not, but it's neat. Related: the Endless Staircase theme from Super Mario 64 that creates an auditory illusion that the pitch is always rising.
• Pokémon of all things has some really good dynamic music now. In the fifth generation games; on top of having multiple Woodtick-esque bits where instruments, singers, clapping etc. can be dropped in and out of the background track (with my favourite instance being a rock band that you can battle where each member stops playing as you beat them), I only just now noticed an incredibly subtle effect: the travelling music for most of the routes in the game will only have its percussion when your character is moving. I played through more than 200 hours of these games without ever noticing that. Best.

I think about this subject sometimes, and every time Monkey Island 2 comes up on the 'cast Chris always mentions the music from Woodtick, so I figured we might get a good discussion out of the idea!

[Patrick R]

Not super dynamic, but there's an extra percussion track in the BGM of Super Mario World if you start a level with Yoshi.

[TychoCelchuuu]

TIE Fighter, Monkey Island 2... oh iMUSE, how I love thee.

[Merus]

Apparently the reason why LucasArts never did anything as elaborate as the Woodtick theme again was because no-one at the time noticed or cared about the dynamic music. Which is a little disappointing, but then I don't remember ever noticing the tune changing either.

[Patrick R]

Oh, and this may be super obvious, but part of the joy of playing games like Frequency and Amplitude was to mess around and see what songs sounded like missing tracks. Dynamic music as a gameplay mechanic. I would spend hours remixing some horrible Freezepop song, and I definitely think that lead me to taking up electronica production the same way games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band have lead people to learn actual instruments.

[Joewintergreen]

Giants: Citizen Kabuto had a great soundtrack that did this

[Roderick]

The Wind Waker had a whole system where you fight a monster and every hit you land gives you a 60s Batman style WHACK sound, but pitched higher as the tension mounts.

[brkl]

The original Hitman, although I can't remember what they did with it. I wonder if any game has had actual generative music.

[toblix]

The new SimCity has a very basic one: it fades in/out the various layers of the music depending on which mode you're in.

[dartmonkey]

Banjo-Kazooie has a great cartoon-fairytale dynamic soundtrack. I still remember bounding through a tunnel into a forest and hearing the flutes fade up through the swampy bass theme for the first time.

 

Hyrule Field's theme in Ocarina of Time was dynamic too, though I never realised until I read interviews about the 3DS version.

[Noyb]

Proteus is lovely and built on this concept, musically scoring the exploration of a nature-filled island in real time according to what landmarks are around you, how the various fauna react to your presence.

 

Recently found icefishing v, first person puzzle game about dynamic glitch music. Lets you switch up glitch effects on the fly, music changes as you shoot out rays into the environment that bounce around making tones.

 

Braid changed up the background music dynamically to reflect your time shenanigans.

 

Andi McClure's Sweet Nothings is a collection of interesting music/noise generators, some of which found their way into the exploration game Responsibilities.

The Step Sequencer Kart is full of minigames that take place on a grid that doubles as a music sequencer, generating music based on the discrete positions of various in-game tiles and sprites like Lumines.

[Tanukitsune]

Banjo-Kazooie has a great cartoon-fairytale dynamic soundtrack. I still remember bounding through a tunnel into a forest and hearing the flutes fade up through the swampy bass theme for the first time.

 

Hyrule Field's theme in Ocarina of Time was dynamic too, though I never realised until I read interviews about the 3DS version.

 

Yeah, the theme music does blend well from one area to another in Banjo Kazooie, but aren't all inspired on that "Teddy Bear's Picnic" song? Which probably makes it easier. 

[clyde]

Chime has pretty good dynamic music. As you get more and more coverage, the musical track fills out. This actually adds a lot to the sense of progression. When you start a new game or get 100% coverage, it feels weird starting with a sparse track.
SSX also adds dub-steppy fade outs when you jump off something really high, and then when you hit the ground the music reaches full volume again. And you do rail grinds, it kinda wickity-waks the musical track.

[Sno]

I thought this bit was pretty cool in Skyward Sword.

I think there's a few other examples in that game, but they're not popping to mind.

[Thrik]

Yeah, the theme music does blend well from one area to another in Banjo Kazooie, but aren't all inspired on that "Teddy Bear's Picnic" song? Which probably makes it easier. 

 

It's only the overworld that has that music, although I can't really imagine how using an existing tune would make it any easier to play around with than writing an original one. For sure though, Banjo has excellent music in all ways.

[Merus]

The best bit about the SSX dynamic music stuff is that it's mostly licensed stuff; they split the track, set up loops so that it'd go the length of the race and end just as the race is, and they drop the bass and the volume when you hit a big ramp so you really feel like you're high above the race. It's masterful stuff.

 

Rez has not been mentioned yet, its dynamic music is its one gimmick and sister it makes it work.

 

I can't remember what game it was, but one game had its animations set up so that they'd hit on the beats of the backing track.

[Thrik]

New Super Mario Bros does that last one. I find the noise really annoying though.

[Sno]

Rez has not been mentioned yet, its dynamic music is its one gimmick and sister it makes it work.

 

 

Except the music in Rez isn't actually dynamic in any especially impactful fashion. The music doesn't match up with your play, you're trying to match your play up to the music.

Child of Eden is the same way.

[Thrik]

I'm certain that I played some stealth game where the music gets more intense as an enemy approaches you (or vice versa). It was a subtle but extremely effective nuance, yet I can't remember which game it was. It might have been Dishonored? That kind of thing is absolutely brilliant, more games should build up a crescendo as you work towards something rather than just switching between 'quiet' and 'alert' variations like most games do. Of course even that is skipped by some games.

 

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a great example of how to handle different states well, though. It nails building up the music and dropping it down depending on whether you're taking things in an action-packed or stealthy way, and there're also lots of nice distortion effects used. For example, when in certain rooms the volume of the music will lower and/or become a more bassy rumble. Subtle but has an effect on tension and immersion in general.

[TychoCelchuuu]

I believe Splinter Cell Chaos Theory did the music thing? Can't remember.

[clyde]

Now I'm playing SSX again; with headphones on. I forget how empowering this game feels, and so chill when I just cruise looking for jumps on Serenity.

[Twig]

I am in a persistent state of sadness that SSX isn't available on PC.

[BigJKO]

Apparently the reason why LucasArts never did anything as elaborate as the Woodtick theme again was because no-one at the time noticed or cared about the dynamic music. Which is a little disappointing, but then I don't remember ever noticing the tune changing either.

That's sad if that's the reason they dropped it (and not because it's hard to do with recorded music as opposed to MIDI) because you'd think that was its purpose. To make it seamless, thus not especially noticeable.

I do remember noticing it in the Swamp and going back and forth again and again to hear the different instruments join in the music. Fun!

[Thrik]

I can see why they were put off after doing the Woodtick soundtrack. That was a particularly sophisticated system, probably overkill. Much of the rest of the game and The Curse of Monkey Island used a more simple 'fade between variations of the same music' approach and I can't say it was any less effective. The way the Rollercoaster of Death music was implemented was a particularly standout moment for me, even though it was relatively primitive compared to the Woodtick music.

 

[Roderick]

Curse also had the great A Pirate I Was Meant To Be song, which used some pretty cool techniques to make it seamless.