Game music needs to be fluid and adaptable. This makes the soundtrack for a video game different than the soundtrack for a movie, which is a linear medium with a beginning, middle, and end. “To pull it out of the game and listen to it-or to play the game with the music off-just ruins the whole experience.” “For me, good game music really integrates the game and the music,” says Collins. One of their early discoveries was Koji Kondo, the Japanese composer responsible for the memorable theme song of Super Mario Bros.Īs layered, subtle music became a common feature of games, theme music started to develop its own aesthetic. Nintendo was one company to change that, by hiring dedicated composers. Video games grew more immersive and complex, but soundtracks weren't keeping up. Once technology improved, leaving more storage capacity for audio, music was a missed opportunity. “So you have, like, Bach turning up in 80's games-because they just pulled it from public domain sheet music.” “A lot of times they would take piano music and just kind of convert it into code,” she explains. According to Karen Collins, a historian of video game music at the University of Waterloo in Canada, many early games included melodies cobbled together by programmers. It took a while for game music to mature. (Compare this to the recordings for Candy Crush Soda Saga, which featured 67 performers.) But with the advent of 8-bit consoles like the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), video game music started to diversify into three lines of bass, treble, and sound effects. Back then, even adding a single melodic line of electronic tones was difficult. Video game music really caught on in the 1980s, back when games barely fit onto physical cartridges. As game developers such as King, Rovio, and Zynga have expanded into multi-billion dollar enterprises, they've followed in the footsteps of movie studios and console game companies-by hiring armies of in-house creatives like illustrators, animators and composers. Games like Candy Crush, Angry Birds and Bejeweled have proven that tiny screens can still turn huge profits. Candy Crush, by comparison, is a free app that makes its millions from in-game purchases such as extra lives and game bonuses. That's significantly more than play console games on Xbox or Playstation, which generate more revenue per player but require expensive purchases to get started. The number of people who play their games each day (137 million) is more than double the population of the United Kingdom (64 million), where the company is headquartered. If you've never heard of Candy Crush, consider this: King is one of a handful of casual game developers valued at over $4 billion. In the game, it rises and falls for a brief 7 minutes, but pivots to additional tracks as the player explores new levels.Ĭomposer Johan Holmström has created the music for more than a dozen popular games. For Candy Crush Soda Saga, he tried out several iterations of electronic music before landing on his main orchestral theme. He then prototypes music to fit, be it hard rock, electronica, or classical. When he's not composing, he’s editing custom sound effects like underwater explosions and disappearing candy.įor each new assignment, game producers start by bringing Holmström sketches and ideas. “Ninety-nine percent of what I do is on the computer,” he says. His studio in Malmö, Sweden, consists of little more than keyboards, virtual instruments, and software. Holmström now composes full-time for King Digital Entertainment, which develops easy-to-play, impossible-to-put-down games for mobile devices and the web. (“Casual” games are the sort you play for a few minutes on the subway, or waiting in line.) If the sequel continues to succeed on mobile devices and online, Holmström's composition will deliver the London Symphony Orchestra to low-fi laptop speakers and iPhone earbuds across the world. Candy Crush Soda Saga is the sequel to one of the most successful casual games ever, King Digital Entertainment's Candy Crush Saga, which was downloaded half a billion times. In an era of shrinking audiences for classical music, performers and composers have found an unlikely ally in the simplest and cheapest kinds of video games. Its composer, Johan Holmström, has created the music for more than a dozen popular games. But a few months ago, the London Symphony Orchestra performed music that's popular on a entirely different platform: the soundtrack for the video game Candy Crush Soda Saga. It's where the Beatles recorded “A Hard Day's Night” and “Revolver,” and where John Williams conducted the stirring themes of the Star Wars films. Abbey Road Studios in London has heard more than its share of memorable music.
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