All too often, I have no clue which game to nominate for the best music award when the year comes to an end. So why not make a thread where we can make notes for ourselves, and possibly even discuss music and sound design through the year? I don't know if the interest is there, but I think it could be useful.
In this month's MAGS, the game The Green and the Red (https://bani-gala.itch.io/the-green-red) by
@Babar and
@jfrisby has a piano track that I found enthralling. It's sort of dark and unsettling, making the red hills and the forest all the more ominous. At the same time uncomplicated and dissonant, if that makes any sense. But the detail that really drives it home for me, is the baby making sounds in the background. I'm sure this was not part of the plan, but those baby vocals made it even better. Are there babies (ghosts?) lost in the woods? Or possibly the children of the wood people?
Just saw this today, thank you so much for the very kind complement
@heltenjon - Babar told me to leave the background sounds in so I'm glad it worked! :-D
Alas, this thread has also been forgotten throughout the year. I probably could have mentioned
@jfrisby even more times. But today it's about
@Sakkeus and his game The Shame of the Pack. (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/2804-the-shame-of-the-pack/) Most rooms have music specifically made for it, some of them several, due to events. My experience of the music was that it was almost organic, emphasizing some mood that was there in the pictures or the story. And the boy can play! ;-D
The nominations are closing soon, so the time to give the good music some love is now.
Melon Head (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2787/) has a sort of jazz soundtrack, but also very alien sound effects. A prime example early in the game is the background sound in the throne room. I felt very uneasy, as one should in the same room as His Majesty.
Another game with very nice sound design, this time with realistic ambience, is An English Haunting. (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2759/)
Other games with soundtracks that I liked: Stormwater (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2812/), The Legend of Skye (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2732/), The Adventures of the Black Hawk (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2818/), Falco - Lightning Strike in Town Festival (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2786/) and It Takes Two to Tangle (https://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/play/game/2782/). I'm not of a musician to adequately tell you why, but it has to do with creating or enhancing an atmosphere in the game, drawing me in.
Sorry for anyone I forgot now!