>> PAYTON: Video games are magic!

Is a lie we tell ourselves to get out of thinking of how much planning and writing and coding and playtesting and crunch really go into making something that won't set your console on fire.

But if anything in games comes close to actual magic, it's when the music really comes together with the game to transport you to another world, to a specific time and place.

We've all played games with okay music.

I'm sure we've played games with music that's pretty painful.

♪ Oh, baby ♪ >> PAYTON: But writing a score that effectively brings together what the player is feeling and doing and seeing is -- phew, it's complicated.

♪ Welcome to "Flyover Culture," your guided tour of pop culture and entertainment in the Midwest.

I'm Payton Knobeloch.

The concept of adaptive or reactive video game soundtracks is a trendy one, but it's one that goes back decades.

Before Junebug was crooning the lyrics we chose in Kentucky Route Zero, the pitter-patter of Yoshi's boots was adding layers of percussion to Super Mario World.

But just as true now as it was then, is the work that goes into making those little touches shine.

The effort it takes for a game's music to truly elevate the entire experience.

To explain, I enlisted two composers -- one who's wrapping up his education, and another who's been in the industry for a minute now.

>> JOEL: I'm Joel Corelitz.

I am a composer and sound designer.

I kind of don't really impose any limitations on what kind of media I write for, but I love video games, and so it occupies a lot of my time.

>> PAYTON: Joel is a Chicago-based composer who's worked on big, AAA titles like Death Stranding, and the upcoming Halo Infinite, as well as smaller indie titles like Gorogoa, the Unfinished Swan, and this year's Eastward.

>> JOEL: I think one of the things I figured out about my career and my love for sound, is I wanted to do both.

Like, I didn't want to limit myself -- And so that's kind of a way I can be somewhat of chameleon.

>> PAYTON: Just getting his games composition career started is Jamie Kunselman, an Indiana University Jacobs School of Music doctoral student who's got a couple projects under his belt now, Beat Skater and Matter of Great Import.

>> JAMIE: Obviously, I've done a lot of concert music, a lot of concert pieces, but I've also worked on a few short films and scored two games recently.

I've always been interested in gaming, and in the music within it, but I hadn't really had an opportunity to start with it until now.

As a percussionist, I think my music tends to be pretty pulse driven and very rhythmic.

But as I said, I'd like to explore other things as well.

So I'm fascinated by music that just kind of, like, floats in a mood, and it feels kind of timeless.

>> PAYTON: So what does it take to compose for games?

Well, there's one very big factor to keep in mind, unlike, say, scoring for film, games are a dynamic medium.

>> JAMIE: There's a level of interactivity there, and the player has agency within the world.

So it's never going to be exactly the same.

Like, you can have smaller ideas that are attached to certain events, like sound effects or, like, little themes when something starts happening.

But for the most part, it can change, and the music has to be ready -- ready for that.

It needs to be ready to move to a different cue at any given time.

It needs to be able to endure many repetitions.

>> JOEL: It's this fusion of sound design and musical sensibilities.

It's this approach to music in terms of texture and design, as opposed to melody and chords.

Even though, you know, I'm perfectly happy to think that way, and I do on a lot of projects.

But to me, it's this kind of approaching music as a textural design and sensibility.

If you're composing for an indie game, you have to help figure out what that sensibility is.

So you are not just the composer, but the music supervisor, and you are supervising yourself.

So you are doing two jobs.

You're doing this sort of what we call an audio branding where you're doing discovery, which is -- let's just take stock of what this world is and what it should sound like.

And let's just -- you know, probably by virtue of throwing a whole bunch of stuff at the wall -- or at least that's going to be involved at some point.

How do we figure out what sounds right for this world?

>> PAYTON: There are a few little tricks that composers employ to help build out these worlds.

Like layering.

As I mentioned earlier with Mario, the score starts, and then a variable like Mario riding on Yoshi layers on a set of percussion to the soundtrack.

Or looping, which involves repeating a certain musical phrase for as long as you need until a player completes a section.

>> JAMIE: You have to be thinking about when we get to the end of this track, first is it going to go to something else, or is it going to loop back to the beginning?

And how smooth is that?

Like, is it super noticeable that you crash into the end of the track, and all of a sudden everything disappears and you're back at the beginning again?

Like that's fine if -- if that's what you're going for.

>> PAYTON: When composing for games, is the term "adaptive soundtrack," is that even applicable to every project?

What sort of vocabulary do I need to be aware of when talking about this kind of stuff?

>> JOEL: I would put adaptive music in sort of the bigger bucket of implementation, and implementation just -- just being the way -- how is music presented in the game?

Something that's adaptive or reactive is a certain -- it's a choice that -- that you can make if it's necessary, or if it helps enhance the experience.

Not every game needs it.

And I think that that's part of -- you know, certainly on an indie -- on an indie project, that is very much part of my job.

On Gorogoa, we talked tech and kind of the overall vision for the way the music would be presented before we even wrote a note.

I teach a music for games class, and one of the things that I think I caution against is sort of implementing around creative challenges, because a lot of times the best -- the best piece of music is just the one that's the most thoughtfully composed.

And so implementation is not a -- it's not a stand-in for the right kind of composition.

We talked about Gorogoa.

Its function there is to sort of just serve as a backdrop and aid you in solving the puzzles.

If it starts to fight that process, then it's wrong.

>> PAYTON: But the biggest thing to keep in mind, according to Joel, is how a game score factors into what the developers have envisioned for that game.

Or more crucially, if that score distracts from the final vision.

>> JOEL: The sort of point of view that I'm always trying to assess is that of the player.

So for a game like Gorogoa, it's -- my question is, is this going to get in the way of solving puzzles?

You know, it seems like nine times out of ten, composing and iterating it -- the iterations are almost reductive.

So we had this concept for how we wanted the music to work in Gorogoa.

When I say we, it's me and Jake Roberts, the developer.

The early experiments were just cacophonous and too busy.

You know, and so we just -- we pulled back and pulled back and pulled back.

So there was just enough to provide a backdrop that helped support the world and helped support the mood, but that didn't get in the way of the player.

And the question that we have to ask: Is this annoying?

You know, because if it's annoying, and it's a puzzle game and it's a meditative puzzle game, there's just no way it's going to work for the player.

>> PAYTON: For people wanting to get into composition for games, where do they start and kind of what sensibility do they need to -- what headspace do they need to get into?

>> JOEL: It's about communication.

Being able to verbalize and listen to the needs of someone else and figure out how to translate that into music.

Whether or not it's good or great depends on how appropriate it is for the thing you are writing for.

>> JAMIE: There are so many opportunities for it.

You just kind of have to be okay with reaching out to a ton of people and getting your music in front of people, and always looking for opportunities to make new connections and -- I don't think the game industry is going to go anywhere any time soon.

I think there will be -- there will be many opportunities there.

It's a -- it's still a growing field, and -- yeah, I'm excited to move forward with it.

>> PAYTON: At the end of the day, these composers are putting their own personal stamp on a world they're helping to create.

>> JOEL: Being a composer is such a collaborative experience with the developer and for video games specifically.

I want to figure out what -- what the player should be feeling.

And for me, it's always about kind of mood and energy level.

So what's going to deepen the experience with the world is really the question that I -- that I'm always asking.

You know, obviously there's a million ways to do that.

I think for me, the central question is: Does this -- does this music enhance the players' experience with the environment or, you know, whatever is -- whatever is going on in the game?

And if it does, then I've done my job.

>> PAYTON: A very special thanks to Joel Corelitz and Jamie Kunselman for talking with me for today.

Go check out their music.

I'll have links to where you can find it down in the description.

And as always, be sure to like and subscribe.

And, please, let me know in the comments what kind of videos you want to see from "Flyover Culture" in the future.

Thanks for watching.

And we will see you next time.