My first exposure to this was Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast. My mind was blown.
Such a shame more games don’t use this. It worked for PSO because fights were relatively drawn out/telegraphed, so there was always a chance to build up/slow down the music.
I wonder if AI could get used to dynamically generate a transition between battle/overworld themes. Or at least, if the composer makes one and use AI to make all necessary versions.
Any recommendations?
Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal are probably the kings of this for me. Metal: Hellsinger too but that’s a rhythm fighting game
Anyone else remember iMUSE in the old LucasArts games? I adored the CMI soundtrack.
Dungeon Keeper 2. Fuck yeah.
I actually dislike most adaptive game music because most games that use that term just use it for having combat music that swaps in dynamically when you’re near a hostile mob.
The games where the music is just a combination of things based on what’s going on, however, are fucking dope as hell. It’s not something I see (er… Hear) all that often though which is disappointing.
It’s awesome when you notice that you can affect the music that’s playing by jumping or doing specific attacks/actions or based on how many/what kind of enemies are around, etc and not just “the music is this now because you’re fighting.”