The Revenant Style Music etc

[henroe32]

First of all, if any of you haven't seen the revenant I thouroughly recommend it especially if your into the North American snowy-mountain-landscape which I'm guessing most of us adore for it's beauty. This is why I feel that to improve The Long Dark you should take inspiration from this movie.

Don't get me wrong, the gameplay is incredible and I love it but especially the music of the game could be improved in my opinion. In The Revenant, the music is subtle but also heard when it needs to be; it adds an edge to the mood and experience you feel. The Long Dark's music is good but I definitely think it requires a greater presence when you enter places such as hydro dam as well as when you gaze blissfully at the Aurora Borealis. 

I understand that this may be hard to program and having a strong soundtrack accompanying a survival game may take away from the realism created. A balance or required to fulfill this need.

One way that I would recommend you implement more music into the game is through the use of faint orchestral music such as becoming  ocean by John Luther Adams. This piece of music is featured at the start of The Revenant but is not featured on the official soundtrack, mainly because it is used for maybe 3 minutes when the actual composition last for around 40 minutes. If this song were added to the game it would add a dreamy, thought provoking edge to gameplay, similar to that of the games very own description.

The game currently focusses on using natural noises such as creaking trees and the wind as music and I just want to be clear that I do not feel this should be abandoned in any way; I just want to make the game more enjoyable for those of us trying to add music to a game that needs it. 

Another example of a game that has done this is The Witness, a thought provoking puzzler. This games problem was that you were on your own on a lifeless island with no environmental noises or any music at all. This meant that although you had fun playing the game, you often ended up talking to yourself or putting some music on after playing for a while.

Don't let The Long Dark shudder in silence. I can appreciate that the game is still in Alpha; I can appreciate that buying the rights to use music or making it yourself can be costly but I strongly suggest that before the grand story we're waiting for releases, at least one long dark composition such as becoming ocean is added.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=youtube+becoming+ocean&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

[Patrick Carlson]

On 3/3/2017 at 3:39 PM, henroe32 said:

First of all, if any of you haven't seen the revenant I thouroughly recommend it especially if your into the North American snowy-mountain-landscape which I'm guessing most of us adore for it's beauty. This is why I feel that to improve The Long Dark you should take inspiration from this movie.

Don't get me wrong, the gameplay is incredible and I love it but especially the music of the game could be improved in my opinion. In The Revenant, the music is subtle but also heard when it needs to be; it adds an edge to the mood and experience you feel. The Long Dark's music is good but I definitely think it requires a greater presence when you enter places such as hydro dam as well as when you gaze blissfully at the Aurora Borealis. 

I understand that this may be hard to program and having a strong soundtrack accompanying a survival game may take away from the realism created. A balance or required to fulfill this need.

One way that I would recommend you implement more music into the game is through the use of faint orchestral music such as becoming  ocean by John Luther Adams. This piece of music is featured at the start of The Revenant but is not featured on the official soundtrack, mainly because it is used for maybe 3 minutes when the actual composition last for around 40 minutes. If this song were added to the game it would add a dreamy, thought provoking edge to gameplay, similar to that of the games very own description.

The game currently focusses on using natural noises such as creaking trees and the wind as music and I just want to be clear that I do not feel this should be abandoned in any way; I just want to make the game more enjoyable for those of us trying to add music to a game that needs it. 

Another example of a game that has done this is The Witness, a thought provoking puzzler. This games problem was that you were on your own on a lifeless island with no environmental noises or any music at all. This meant that although you had fun playing the game, you often ended up talking to yourself or putting some music on after playing for a while.

Don't let The Long Dark shudder in silence. I can appreciate that the game is still in Alpha; I can appreciate that buying the rights to use music or making it yourself can be costly but I strongly suggest that before the grand story we're waiting for releases, at least one long dark composition such as becoming ocean is added.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=youtube+becoming+ocean&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

Thanks for your thoughtful feedback on the game's current soundscape. And the Adams piece is brilliant --- thanks for the tip on that.

We've adjusted the frequency of music cues in the game in the past, and I am sure that -- if needed -- music will continue to be tweaked in Sandbox mode towards release. (although I don't have any news on concrete plans to do so, just that it is an area that sees constant attention). 

Also keep in mind The Long Dark will be getting an entirely new score that lines up with Story Mode. It's also not clear at this time if any of that music will be used in some way in other game modes, but I wanted to make sure and point out that more music is coming to the game as a whole. 

[tentacles]

On 3/4/2017 at 0:39 AM, henroe32 said:

The Long Dark's music is good but I definitely think it requires a greater presence when you enter places

I am no musician or anything the like, but I also feel that this aspect of the game could be improved.

The game does need times when all you hear are the noises of the trees moving in the wind, crows flying above you, the items you are carrying hitting each other and your own foot steps in the snow. But that makes it challenging to let the music start playing again in a way that doesn't startle the player.

Other games use music to indicate that something is going on (e.g. a new enemy is close or you just entered a special area). So even if you are unaware of your surroundings, simply hearing a change in music will let you know that you just triggered something.

So quite frequently, when the music suddenly starts playing again, I ask myself what just happened. Maybe I'm wrong, but I somewhat doubt that TLD's music is supposed to trigger that kind of feeling when you are walking over large empty areas. Or maybe I am just unable to realize what change caused the music to start playing again.

[henroe32]

You could maybe add a subtle score to the challenges. For instance, in the hunted part 1 you could have the music playing so quietly that you can barely hear it normally but when the bear gets closer the music slowly gets lowder. Because the music was always there in the background its slow build will not surprise the player but can serve to give the game a distinct edge.

Another idea is to add this kind of music as the player condition decreases. Like wise you could have different pieces for each of the different stat bars.

when you are healthy, your senses are sharp and keen so that you hear the creaking of the trees and footprints in the snow but as you get tireder your senses of sound seem to drift away into a subtle orchestral score.