Old video game music
Nov. 19th, 2019 10:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mtbcBBC Radio 3 has been broadcasting a show,
For example, a couple of years ago I had mentioned here how the Commodore 64's sound chip was rather capable for its time. Given the hardware limitations and how the music is just one aspect of game development, what surprises me is both how good some of these pieces were and how little acknowledgement there seems to be of the composers.
I am thus glad that Rob Hubbard was awarded an honorary degree here in Dundee a couple of years ago. In my opinion, in his freelance work for cheap games, he wrote more good tunes than many professional songwriters manage to compose. Now I come to try listening to some of his again I find that those holding my attention include the music for games like Kentilla, Lightforce, Proteus, Thrust, Warhawk, and Zoids, though admittedly not all original: those with the
Many of those video game background tunes are quite repetitive in a minimalist way. I now wonder if they serve well for long drives or while I am programming at work; initial experimentation suggests so. Since reminding myself of some of this music I have suffered a Lightforce earworm. That's an interesting soundtrack in that how it sounds is sensitive to manufacturing variation among different computers' sound chip.
Sound of Gaming, delving into the
world of music for video games.Its focus has been on the music of games of recent years. However, I wonder if an episode about the music of games of decades past might have struck a vein whose richness might surprise many now.
For example, a couple of years ago I had mentioned here how the Commodore 64's sound chip was rather capable for its time. Given the hardware limitations and how the music is just one aspect of game development, what surprises me is both how good some of these pieces were and how little acknowledgement there seems to be of the composers.
I am thus glad that Rob Hubbard was awarded an honorary degree here in Dundee a couple of years ago. In my opinion, in his freelance work for cheap games, he wrote more good tunes than many professional songwriters manage to compose. Now I come to try listening to some of his again I find that those holding my attention include the music for games like Kentilla, Lightforce, Proteus, Thrust, Warhawk, and Zoids, though admittedly not all original: those with the
Audionalbum may recognize Zoids as adapting Larry Fast's work.
Many of those video game background tunes are quite repetitive in a minimalist way. I now wonder if they serve well for long drives or while I am programming at work; initial experimentation suggests so. Since reminding myself of some of this music I have suffered a Lightforce earworm. That's an interesting soundtrack in that how it sounds is sensitive to manufacturing variation among different computers' sound chip.
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Date: 2019-11-20 12:36 am (UTC)