For some time now I have been having an internal argument with myself about whether soundtracks should go the way of the dinosaurs. The side of me that thinks they are a pointless waste of time, money, and effort seems to be winning. This probably isn’t a surprise to some of our readers. I seem to have accumulated a bit of a reputation for grading games hard on their music. Some were even mortified that I was ‘meh’ about the soundtrack for Grim Fandango. But considering that more often than not a game’s soundtrack appears little more than an afterthought, and a poorly constructed one at that, I just can’t help questioning whether a game needs one.

Now, I am not saying every game gets it wrong. In fact, a number of games over the years have gotten it right. Riven is an excellent example of what a soundtrack should and can be. It had music worthy of being played just on its own. But it’s not just the quality of game soundtracks that has got me thinking about their future, it is the state of the adventure game industry itself. Right now adventure games make up a small portion of the industry. Compare the resources that companies behind first-person shooters or RPGs have with what most adventure game companies do and adventure budgets are downright diminutive. This lack of interest by larger publishers has increasingly led to adventure games being independently produced, usually constructed by small teams. Games like RHEM don’t even have a team; they have a staff of one. One person to lay out, design, and program a game. That is a lot of work by any standard. Add in time and budget constraints and it is not surprising that soundtracks tend to take a back seat in the design process.

If a company doesn’t have someone on the team with some knowledge, experience, or even an interest in sound design, bigger issues that directly affect gameplay are going to win a competition for attention every time. Knowing this, I just can’t help but wonder why designers don’t just opt out of a soundtrack altogether. Why not just focus on ambient sounds? The creaking door, the thudding footsteps, rushing water. These sounds are what create an immersive feeling, not endlessly-looped music, most of which seems to be of a tone or style that is almost wholly unrelated to what is happening in the game. And especially in situations where the sound ends up being intrusive, rather than engaging.

One of my all time favourite games, Amber, is an excellent example of how less sound can create more impact. The designers decided against including a soundtrack. As an independently produced game, this decision was probably monetarily motivated; however, it had the effect of improving the overall quality of the game experience. When a spectral finger writes on a mirror in the game, the streaking sound it made was far more frightening then hearing someone play a Yamaha over and over again. The lack of music made the impact of the sound far greater. This tells me that dropping the soundtrack and just including ambient sounds can create a more immersive environment for a player. If so, why do we still bother to create them? Why not just drop soundtracks altogether and just focus on creating the best palette of background noises you can? Not only would it be less work, it would decrease the cost of creating a game. Do gamers really care enough about a soundtrack to miss it if it isn’t there?