Ari Rahikkala
Chieftain
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2007
- Messages
- 98
I see we're talking about music. Let's talk about music!
Stop trying to listen to how the music sounds. Listen to what it *says*.
Baba Yetu says "there is an amazing breadth and depth to the history of the world, and experiencing it is going to be awesome - let's go!". The way it says that is one of the most eloquent in the history of gaming, and Baba Yetu's shoes are pretty enormous to fill... but if you can't, it's okay if the song at least says the right thing.
One thing that might work out for C2C oddly well is actually... John Adams's work. Yeah, the stuff in the modern age in Civ4. This, for instance. Using that as the musical reflection of modern era gameplay in Civ4 is one damn fine musical choice IMO: The gameplay consists of massive amounts of routine clicking, yet often the story that plays out through that clicking is one of massive wars, or of mankind's reach for the stars. And that's exactly what the music says, in that context: Great things happen through grinding work!
Consider a few examples that say things that C2C *isn't* about (but that I'm linking as examples of songs that say what they are about in a clear and honest way): The Fate of the World title theme says "there is a threat on the horizon, but it can be defeated". Or take Under a Red Sky from the Star Control 2 remixes: "All of the people of the Earth are suffering a terrible fate together, and there *isn't* any way out". Or, for a more Civ-ish example, every game of the Planetfall mod opens up with A Better Place by Edgen Animations, which is a song about just about every untouched natural idyll ever (Edgen Animations is not my favourite artist)... but in that context, it does interpret pretty neatly as being a question about what you are going to *do* to that idyll.
I think the current soundtrack remains an excellent choice for C2C. It's reasonably obvious what it's saying - "you're (only) going to like this if you are ridiculously obsessed with Civ and can't have enough of it", and, well, that's a pretty honest message IMO. I most obvious honest thing you *could* say with the opening music is "this is an amazingly grand experience, but you probably won't reach the classical era in the time it takes to play a game of normal Civ", i.e. something similar to John Adams's minimalism. Think something like Anthem by Philip Glass, except of course that would only work in an alternate universe where that song is not immediately associated with The Truman Show. It's surprisingly difficult to find a piece in this genre that says the right thing but also is willing to let itself support the game rather than be the center of attention - I went through a lot of Steve Reich's work, for instance, but all of it had far too much ambition to be usable here.
Stop trying to listen to how the music sounds. Listen to what it *says*.
Baba Yetu says "there is an amazing breadth and depth to the history of the world, and experiencing it is going to be awesome - let's go!". The way it says that is one of the most eloquent in the history of gaming, and Baba Yetu's shoes are pretty enormous to fill... but if you can't, it's okay if the song at least says the right thing.
One thing that might work out for C2C oddly well is actually... John Adams's work. Yeah, the stuff in the modern age in Civ4. This, for instance. Using that as the musical reflection of modern era gameplay in Civ4 is one damn fine musical choice IMO: The gameplay consists of massive amounts of routine clicking, yet often the story that plays out through that clicking is one of massive wars, or of mankind's reach for the stars. And that's exactly what the music says, in that context: Great things happen through grinding work!
Consider a few examples that say things that C2C *isn't* about (but that I'm linking as examples of songs that say what they are about in a clear and honest way): The Fate of the World title theme says "there is a threat on the horizon, but it can be defeated". Or take Under a Red Sky from the Star Control 2 remixes: "All of the people of the Earth are suffering a terrible fate together, and there *isn't* any way out". Or, for a more Civ-ish example, every game of the Planetfall mod opens up with A Better Place by Edgen Animations, which is a song about just about every untouched natural idyll ever (Edgen Animations is not my favourite artist)... but in that context, it does interpret pretty neatly as being a question about what you are going to *do* to that idyll.
I think the current soundtrack remains an excellent choice for C2C. It's reasonably obvious what it's saying - "you're (only) going to like this if you are ridiculously obsessed with Civ and can't have enough of it", and, well, that's a pretty honest message IMO. I most obvious honest thing you *could* say with the opening music is "this is an amazingly grand experience, but you probably won't reach the classical era in the time it takes to play a game of normal Civ", i.e. something similar to John Adams's minimalism. Think something like Anthem by Philip Glass, except of course that would only work in an alternate universe where that song is not immediately associated with The Truman Show. It's surprisingly difficult to find a piece in this genre that says the right thing but also is willing to let itself support the game rather than be the center of attention - I went through a lot of Steve Reich's work, for instance, but all of it had far too much ambition to be usable here.
