ShuffleComp has me thinking about music’s relationship to IF, and it got me wondering. Does anyone else select unofficial theme songs for their games? I don’t do it for every one, but there are a few I keep coming back to. Not songs that inspired games, but songs that feel aligned with them. In fact, half of the ones below I didn’t hear until long after the games were out.
You May Not Escape! of course has a built-in theme song: The Tramp by Joe Hill, which plays as you wander the maze.
For MARTYR ME, I recently heard Ethel Cain’s Housofpsychoticwomn and I think it fits the vibe pretty much just right.
For Kiss of Beth I have Body & Blood by clipping. (blurred because the content of the track spoils the game)
And I imagine Acid Rain by Lorn specifically as end credits music for we, the remainder, if it were a film.
Am I the only one who does this? If you were to pick an existing song to be a theme for one of your games, which game and which song?
Towards the end of the reign of the ZX Spectrum, one of the last games to be released in the UK was Micronaut One. A vast departure from the traditional 2D platformers which had built that system’s reputation, this offered a glimpse of the future. A vector-3D first-person racer/shooter which squeezed every op from that ancient Z80A chip.
The commitment to visuals was uncompromising. Hence almost no sound at all, only the odd click or buzz.
The perfect soundtrack to this game is the dual cassette release of New Order’s album ‘Substance’.
What a lovely idea! I make playlists for everything I make or work on. I think I could pick a lot of different songs from my only finished game, depending on the day, but today I’ll say Elvis Costello’s cover of “Days,” originally by The Kinks.
I love this concept! Like Drew, I also make playlists for my projects as I’m working on them and thinking through my portfolio, I’d say they usually feature what I’d call a theme song for each in the first three songs, more or less.
But I wanted to succintly rise to the question, and so I closed my playlist library and tried to think of music without the development context that comes with them. Out of my completed games, I would go with In Aeturnum Vive by George Houston for Kyrie Eleison.
My game engine allows me to do a self-written official theme song for my game, and the reviews I’ve seen still suggest the game’s version of Elgar’s Dargason March is considered the official theme song (It appears when people press “Play”, whereas the theme tune is in the menu).
I listed Ode to an African Violet by Mort Garson, Laura Palmer’s Theme by Angelo Badalamenti and Clara Rockmore’s version of The Swan as the main touchstone songs when FLACrabbit started composing the OST and they’ve done the most incredible job bringing that vibe and atmosphere to the final tracks!
I sometimes have theme songs for my works, but I usually like to make playlists for them rather than just one song. That way, I can write with the playlist in the background. It makes for a fun process!
If I were to pick an existing song to be a theme for one of my games, it would be D & D + Asexuality for Yancy At The End Of The World!
I have to admit, I do this obsessively. Every game I make has a soundtrack, every major scene has a song attached to it. It’s an essential part of my creative process.
First I look for the perfect song that nails the emotion I want to get across, and then I listen to it over and over again while the scene develops in my head. I see it in front of me like a movie. Stuff like: I know the exact moment during the final song when the imaginary screen cuts to black and the imaginary credits start rolling.
Sometimes a scene is so closely connected to a song that I have trouble cutting the cord, so to speak. That’s why I’m thinking of ways to integrate songs into my games via links to YouTube or Spotify, unobtrusively, just as a fun option for people who care to really get into the mood. May be a bit cheesy though, so I’m not sure about it yet.
(It appears when people press “Play”, whereas the theme tune is in the menu).