Can the developer take this into consideration

[mynameismudd]

I really like this game series you have here. Its got treachery, cool characters and nice combat and action. What I find really kills a lot of good things is the lack of music and even minor dialogue. The dialogue is a minor thing to consider but isn't essential by any means.

 

I think that to make the mood actually work in these games, there needs to be some kind of music to be played based on situation. When I play Fallout 1 or 2, the music tells me that Im in dangerous territory if I am in the Master's area or the Cathedral.

 

I think I agree with the developer in scraping dialogue, but music is a big problem. The music that he gets for intro screen is good. Cant he purchase 2 or 3 tracks per game for background based on area. If he adds music to the boss battle at endgame, it will be stunning!

 

I am not trying to sound like a jerk but if the developer adds the music to a certain game in the future, I can *guarantee* that he will have much higher profits. If he doesn't believe me then I already have proven it.

[Dikiyoba]

Welcome to Spiderweb Software. Leave your sanity at the door!

 

I am not trying to sound like a jerk but if the developer adds the music to a certain game in the future, I can *guarantee* that he will have much higher profits. If he doesn't believe me then I already have proven it.

Um, how would that work, exactly? Keep in mind that Spiderweb would have to pay extra to get music to use in their games, and the lack of music isn't a dealbreaker that prevents people from buying the game. (That said, good background music would improve the game.)

[Lilith]

Jeff Vogel, Spiderweb's lead developer, has mentioned that he personally dislikes music in video games and always turns it off when he can. Of course, he's also become more of a hard-nosed businessman as he's grown older, so it's possible that he'll include it anyway if he thinks it'll produce enough sales to justify the cost. Realistically, though, I think most people for whom the lack of music would be a dealbreaker would already be much more turned off by the graphics, which are even more expensive to improve.

[mynameismudd]

All I am saying is that when you get to different parts of the game, it differentiates and sets the theme to the game. Besides when you have fight scenes nothing is more epic than some cool music to make the tone. I think that the developer will eventually do it so it makes no difference for the current games. I shouldn't have made this topic.

[Xaiya]

In most games, I like music when it's done well. However, in Spiderweb games, I think the ambient noises work very well. Actual music would feel a tad out of place.

[Thynar]

In my opinion, the music is where it needs to be, the ending credits, and the main menu.

[Little Fyora]

When I play Fallout 1 or 2, the music tells me that Im in dangerous territory -

 

I can't decide whether that's a good or a bad thing from the player's perspective; I guess it depends on the player and also on what type of game it is.

[stranger]

There exists many pieces of free music all over the place (example, look at some open source projects). They have no royalties as per their open licenses, so they have no cost.

Either Jeff doesn't want music in his games, or he hasn't found any free music that he is happy with. Cost is not the limiting factor.

[Aran]

If it managed to blend into the background like in most* Myst games or Minecraft, and was only on occasionally at random moments, maybe. Anything else, I'd probably turn off inside of ten minutes. Also, definitely no on slapping on some random free tracks, or even licensing ready-made stuff. If they get music, they should get a characteristic and unique soundtrack.

 

Don't see where you get the lack of dialogue from, though; these games are pretty much full of it.

 

(*Except for Serenia. Had to turn off the music entirely there to stop losing my sanity after an hour of it.)

[Lilith]

There exists many pieces of free music all over the place (example, look at some open source projects). They have no royalties as per their open licenses, so they have no cost.

Either Jeff doesn't want music in his games, or he hasn't found any free music that he is happy with. Cost is not the limiting factor.

 

The problem with free music is that it's free for everyone else, too. People already complain about finding it distracting that they recognise the games' sound effects from other places.

[Juan Carlo]

I almost always turn off music and play my own when playing video games. I don't do it for adventure games or stuff where there's lots of dialogue, obviously, but part of the appeal of playing strategy games or grindy RPGs has always been that it provides an opportunity to listen to music. And in Spiderweb's case especially, I don't see how anyone could stand playing these games for long stretches and hearing the same ambient noises over and over. If I didn't provide my own soundtrack I'd go crazy.

 

Most video game music is awful, though, so unless you can get someone really talented who will do something that's worth listening to in itself, I say don't bother. Lots of big budget RPGs spend tons of money on music and it all usually just ends up sounding like generic, fantasy, epic, pablum.

[Necris Omega]

I'm fine with just the ambient sound myself - really, unless you can go all out with music, I'd rather it be left out. Spiderweb makes really, really huge games, and if all it offers is 1-2 tracks for a handful of situations, I'd rather just fire up my own music library. I'd rather not see five hours of content stretched over dozens.

[Painted Lady]

Jeff did an AMA several weeks ago, and the subject of music came up. He said that he was a terrible sound engineer, so adding music would require paying someone to do that job. Don't know that he feels it is worth adding significant cost to the game development.

[Death Knight]

A lot of my favorite games have very little amounts of music tracks. There's like 2-5 in Planescape. Its not required if your game that you are playing is just that awesome. Avadon, Avernum and Geneforge are epic with or without music. Jeff might add tracks when Avadon 2 comes out in Oct 30 and President Obama thanks Jeff for what he did

[Alorael at Large]

I think good music would enhance Spiderweb games, but there's emphasis on the good there. Free music is rarely going to create a good soundtrack; sure, they might be individually nice pieces, but you won't get a cohesive musical score. There won't be recurring themes or leitmotifs. Getting those things requires a composer or team thereof, which is expensive. Getting it done well requires good composers, which is more expensive. And it probably won't win over all that many people anyway.

 

I might, of course. Good music in games can be very compelling. But some of the great RPG successes on PC have forgettable music. Bioware's games have serviceable background music but few memorable, stirring pieces, for example.

 

—Alorael, who ultimately thinks that Jeff isn't such a bad sound engineer that he couldn't manage to code "start music here" as appropriate." He does think Jeff is too lazy to bother figuring out music licenses and contract work and engineering it when he's doing just fine without.

[Rockhound]

I agree whoever said the music is already right where it needs to be. If I need to, I can always pull out my phone and hit up Pandora. The ambient background noise is very good for immersion because I don't hear music everywhere I go. It doesn't change when turn down a dark alley and could get jumped by thugs, and doesn't change when I come in or go outside. Next you have theme... what kind of music would really work for Avernum or Avadon? I think adding background music would cripple the games.

[Rya.Reisender]

I like music in video games, often a reason I prefer JRPGs over WRPGs despite latter exceling in gameplay. I also miss it that Spiderweb games don't have music. I have to use Winamp and randomly play through my MP3s to have some kind of music, but that kind of ruins the mood because the music doesn't fit the situation of course.