Email: Music in games and a developer who gets it

Malstrom,

Your new focus on music is truly a breath of fresh air. This is something I’ve been wondering about for a long time too, and it’s nice to see it come forward.

Have you heard of Level 5? They’re the company that has worked on some Dragon Quest titles with Square-enix, and they also make the Professor Layton games? Take a quick look at the information that came out of their press conference, and note the focus on MUSIC:

http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=94312

Level 5 “gets it”. I hope they had this kind of focus on music for Dragon Quest 9 :)
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I can’t think of any amazing game, aside from the arcade classics of the Atari Era, that did not have equally amazing music. The only exceptions I could find would be strategy games like Master of Orion and Master of Magic who used ‘jingles’ instead.

I wish there was more obsession over the aural experience instead of the visual experience. Good music never ages. Good graphics age rapidly. If you want longterm sales, invest in good sound and music!

One of Blizzard’s secrets is that they invest heavily in quality sound and music. Graphics of Blizzard games are never something to write home about. They are rich in artistic style, yet Blizzard games are never designed to push any graphic barrier.

Because of this email, I will put up another game song!