Why is game music no more enough?
- Hall:
- Earth Hall (Mix Track)
In this lecture, we'll discuss how the attitude to music in the Russian-speaking segment of the game dev industry changed over time and where everything stands now. Next, we'll find out why even custom music is no longer enough and what marketing has to do with it. Finally, we'll look at practical cases and determine what needs to be done to make music work for the audience.
What the talk is about
Ruslana Kruchek explains why custom music alone is no longer enough for a game. Competition for players' attention is huge, and small and mid-sized projects can hardly match the giants in narrative or visuals, so music and audio become a chance to stand out. She shows how music works as a marketing tool: bringing in a well-known artist, crowdfunding a soundtrack, making a track release part of the marketing plan, getting into streaming playlists, and releasing standalone soundtracks, with examples such as Roblox and Assassin's Creed Valhalla. She then describes her agency's approach: analysing the niche, competitors and audience needs, building a mood board of audio references, creating several demos of the main theme (the "audio DNA") that sets the sound of the whole game, and testing with the audience. Useful for indie developers, marketers and audio professionals.