作者：Gina Zdanowicz

音乐是娱乐媒体中的重要组成部分。随着游戏不断发展，游戏音乐越来越强调与游戏画面相结合、营造场景和唤起玩家情绪。游戏音乐应该影响玩法，而玩法也应该影响音乐。玩家的活动影响音乐的交互性和变化，就像音乐影响玩家在游戏过程中的决策一样。这种融合使玩家更加深入地沉浸在游戏体验中。

制作游戏音乐的一大挑战是，在考虑游戏音频引擎的局限性情况下，提供自然的交互体验。

技术如变化节拍、流派、乐器和音符可以给游戏的各个区域营造完美的情绪氛围，刺激玩家产生相应的感受。

分层配乐技术就是在每一层音乐流中使用不同的乐器；这些音乐流不仅会强化音乐本身、契合游戏画面，并且能够与其他音乐流融合，使音乐随着游戏进展发生变化。

渐强的音乐可以暗示玩家危险即将来临。BOSS战需要更激烈的音乐，所以要同时使用若干种乐器，并突出打击乐器。而BOSS被打败后，音乐节拍应该变慢，减少使用的乐器数量，暗示玩家危机已经解除。

《超级马里奥兄弟》利用渐强的节拍暗示玩家时间正在耗竭，刺激玩家产生通关的紧迫感。《死亡空间2》使用环境音响和大量管弦乐来营造一种恐怖的气氛。在游戏中使用少量弦乐四重奏与大量交响乐形成对比，可以体现主角的脆弱。

音乐和画面都必须仔细考虑和紧密结合，以形成连贯的环境。音乐逐渐增强使玩家有时间放松，为下一个重要的紧张时刻做准备，这与游戏的节奏一样重要。

当你想想音乐对游戏的影响，你就会看到它对游戏行业的重要性。音乐不再是游戏的背景。有些音乐游戏（游戏邦注：如《摇滚乐队》和《吉他英雄》）便颠覆了标准的玩法，把音乐变成游戏。

在游戏中越来越流行的一种技术是剧情音乐。剧情音乐是指，发源于游戏世界的音乐。如果游戏配乐能把叙事音乐结合到游戏世界中，总是能取得不错的效果。但在现实世界中，当你漫步于公园或海难时，你不会听到任何音乐，除非你自己戴着耳机。剧情音乐尽管来源于游戏世界的某个物品，但仍然可以营造环境氛围。

我们来看看使用了剧情音乐的游戏是如何增加玩家在游戏世界中的沉浸感。

fallout-3(from gamerlimit)

《辐射3》充分利用了剧情音乐和非剧情音乐。除了游戏角色的手腕上安装的一种叫作“Pip-boy 3000”的小计算机，游戏世界中到处是播放音乐和其他无线电台节目的无线广播。当玩家打开角色的“Pip-boy 3000”时，他们就必须小心无线信号会使NPC发现角色的所在。当广播功能被打开，游戏世界就充满非剧情背景音乐。

《生化奇兵》也综合使用了剧情音乐和非剧情音乐，以及无音乐来营造氛围。在游戏的开头部分，玩家从失事的飞机中逃到小岩石岛的灯塔。这个场景中没有音乐，使玩家产生了一种在绝望中求生的感觉。玩家进入灯塔后，音乐开始响起。这股音乐来自楼下，刺激玩家在音乐中走下楼梯，去寻找潜水球中的收音机。在这里，音乐的作用有二：一是发展剧情；二是营造氛围。

当60年代的音乐响起时，这种剧情音乐确实突出了衰败城市的面貌。用于替代管弦背景音乐的剧情音乐，可以从角落传来，也可以被挡在门外。

在《求生之路》中，玩家打开自动唱机会引吸僵尸群的注意。在进攻时，游戏没有使用非剧情音乐，而是继续播放自动唱机的音乐，即使玩家已经看不到自动唱机。

《侠盗猎车手》也是利用剧情音乐的好例子。汽车收音机有不同的频道和音乐，玩家在开车时可以自由选择。毕竟，谁不喜欢一边开车一边听音乐呢？

剧情音乐转换可以用于持续播放剧情音乐。也就是，在游戏中，随着场景变更，一开始作为剧情广播从收音机发出或来自其他声源的音乐会变成非剧情音乐，继续在游戏环境中播放。

在《塞尔达传说：时间之笛》中，Saria的剧情音乐引导玩家进入迷失森林。随着音乐的音量升高，玩家意识到他们正在朝着正确的方向前进。如果玩家走错路，那么音乐的音量就会下降，以提醒玩家调整方向。等到玩家熟悉音乐之后，它就变成场景中的非剧情音乐。

随着游戏发展，游戏音乐也必定会发生变化，更加自然紧密地与视觉和听觉体验联系在一起，从而强化玩家在游戏世界中的沉浸感，吸引着玩家直到他们按下停止键。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Video Game Music: Player Immersion

by Gina Zdanowicz

Music has always been an important part of entertainment media. As gaming continues to evolve, game music is more heavily relied upon to integrate with the games visuals, to set the scene, and to evoke players’ emotions. Game music should affect the gameplay, and the gameplay should affect the music. The player’s actions influence the interactivity and evolution of the music, just as the music influences the player’s decisions during game play. This combination immerses the player deeper into the gaming experience.

One of the biggest challenges in creating music for video games is in understanding the limits of the game audio engines while trying to provide a seamless interactive experience.

Techniques such as varying tempo, genre, instrumentation and musical notes can set the perfect mood for each area of the game and tell the player exactly what emotions they should feel in those areas.

A layered score is a technique that has several streams with different instruments on each. Those streams should be composed so they are strong on their own and work well with the games visuals, but also be able to be mixed together with the other streams to evolve the music as the game play changes.

Music that builds to a crescendo can signal to the player there is danger just ahead. A boss battle may require more intense music with several layers of instruments and heavy percussion. After the boss is defeated, the music slows down in tempo and the instrumentation thins out, signaling to the player that the danger is no longer imminent.

Super Mario Brothers utilized increased tempo to signal to the player that time is running out, which evokes a sense of urgency to complete the level before running out of time. Dead Space 2 uses ambient soundscapes and a large orchestra to create an eerie, yet larger than life feeling. A small string quartet was used in the game to contrast the large orchestra and to portray the vulnerability of the main character.

Both music and visuals must be well thought out and tightly integrated to create a cohesive and ambient environment. A game’s pace is just as important as the musical build up that allows the player time to feel safe in order to deliver the next tense moment with impact.

When you take a look at how far music in gaming has come, it speaks volumes to its importance in the game industry. Music is no longer just set in the background of the game. Rhythm genre game titles such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero offer a twist on standard game play and offer music as the game.

In Part I of this article, lead audio designer Gina Zdanowicz discusses how video game music enhances a player’s gameplay experience.  In Part II, she offers examples of diegetic and non-diegetic music in games.

A technique that is becoming more popular in games is diegetic music. Diegetic music refers to music that originates from within the game world. It’s always nice when a game score can incorporate epic music in the game world, but in real life when you are walking around in a park or on a beach, you don’t hear any music unless you have your headphones on. Diegetic music, although coming from an object within the game, can still set the mood of the environment.

Let’s take a look at some games that use diegetic music to enhance the player’s immersion into the game world.

Fallout 3 makes great use of diegetic and non-diegetic music. Characters in the game have wrist-mounted computers called the Pip-boy 3000, as well as radios scattered around the game world which play music and other broadcasts from in-game radio stations. If the player has their Pip-boy 3000 turned on, they have to be careful of the radio alerting NPC’s to their presence. When the radio function is turned off, non-diegetic background music is played through the game world.

Bioshock also uses a combination of diegetic and non-diegetic music, as well as no music, to set the mood. In the game’s opening scene, the player escapes from the plane wreckage to a lighthouse set on a small rocky island. The lack of music in this scene hints to the player the feelings of a desperate struggle to survive. After the player enters the lighthouse, music starts to fade into the scene. The music is coming from downstairs, which provokes the player to follow the music down the flight of stairs to find the radio in a bathysphere. The music plays two roles in this example: It gives the player a reason to move forward in the game, as well as sets the mood.

The use of diegetic music in Bioshock really underscores the dying city when the player enters a room with a scratchy, 60’s-era record playing. Diegetic music, which is used in place of orchestral background music, can be heard from around corners or can be muffled by doors.

Left 4 Dead allows a player to turn on a jukebox, which will attract a zombie horde. During this attack, instead of non-diegetic music playing, the jukebox music continues to play even if the jukebox is out of visual range.

Grand Theft Auto is, while cliché, a good example of diegetic music. Car radios broadcast different stations and songs that the player can choose to tune into while driving the vehicles in the game. After all, who doesn’t love riding in a car with the music pumping?

A diegetic switch is a technique which can be used to continue the diegetic music throughout the game. The music starts off as a diegetic broadcast from a radio or other source within the game, and as the scene changes, the music switches to a non-diegetic version of the same song and continues to play in that environment.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time starts with the diegetic version of Saria’s as it directs the player through the lost woods maze. As the song grows louder, the player is aware that they are moving forward in the right direction. If they player goes off course, the song’s volume decreases, alerting the player to change direction. After the player learns the song, it becomes non-diegetic music in that environment.

As video games evolve, game music must also evolve, allowing for a cohesive integration for a seamless visual and aural experience, which will deeply immerse the player into the game world and keep them there until they press the pause button.(source:gamedesignaspect)