Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Music Making in Video Games: Ganon Plays the Organ in Ocarina of Time.

Today in class, I asked the students about their favorite scenes that had music making as a part of them. One of the students mentioned the end of Ocarina of Time, where Ganon plays the organ.  You hear the organ play throughout the beginning of this video, but there's a big increase in dynamic once you enter the chamber where he and the cutscene ensues (5:20 in this video).



I'd totally forgotten about this scene.  I love moments in video games like this where music making is a part of the onscreen action!  What are your favorites?  Leave me a note/ link in the comments so I can check them out.
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4 comments:

  1. UnknownOctober 28, 2013 at 10:49 PM

    What are some of the other examples given by the students?

    I'm not quite sure I understand the question? Do you mean where your on-screen actions directly affect the music? Or did you mean a character playing an instrument as part of a scene/game? I guess a couple examples I think or are the piano in FF7 and the Tadpole Pond in Super Mario RPG, both of which I believe you have already discussed. I also thought the instruments in Donkey Kong 64 were a cool addition to that game. I've been trying to come up with more examples, but I keep drawing blanks, which is kind of disappointing!

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  2. Andy RobisonNovember 5, 2013 at 3:38 PM

    I apologise, this isn't related to this topic (which, I could only think of FF7 for, and Windwaker) but you don't have a contact bit anywhere!

    I was wondering if you have ever played Journey on the PS3? It's a fantastic game that has some exceptional music and was actually the first ever video game to have its soundtrack nominated for a Grammy! On top of that, the game is just a beautiful experience to go through, if you can get a chance to play it, I'd highly recommend it :)

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  3. Matthew ThompsonNovember 10, 2013 at 12:10 PM

    Hey Kevin, you've got it exactly right-- I mean a scene in a non-music based video game where making music is a part of the in game action. My favorite example is probably the opera in FF 6-- which takes around half an hour to complete. Manic Mansion making the demo tape is another scene that comes to mind-- or this one here with Ganon. I think maybe I should rename this series on the blog for a more self-explanatory title. What would that be though?

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  4. Matthew ThompsonNovember 10, 2013 at 12:12 PM

    Andy, I have played Journey. Love the music! Most of all, I love how the music is so tied in to great game play. Most often, the best music in the game is for cutscenes, but Journey does a great job of incorporating it into the play. Much to my students' disappointment, I played a scene from the end of Journey on the first day of class, so it's definitely one I've highlighted in class as well. I chose it because it won the GANG award last year for best music-- didn't know it'd been nominated for a Grammy!

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