Hello from the new issue of GameDev’s Journey!
Thank you for those who have subscribed the newsletter since the last issue. I hope you enjoy and find these things useful as much as I do. In today’s issue:
What to Listen to When Game Dev?
Tutorials on making music for your game
Asset bundles, articles, tips, and more
LET’S GO.
Increase Your Focus and Productivity With Music
Recently, I’ve been listening to dungeon synths or video game soundtracks whilst working on my game, and I realized it actually helped me focus. It became a ritual for me to open two-hours long Skyrim ambient soundtrack before starting to work.
So I wanted to research the effects of music on productivity to see if there is anything interesting to uncover. I know classical music helps with concentration, and I learned same can be said for video game music too.
What do studies say?
There are numerous studies showing the effect of music on mood and focus. But it still depends on the person. It’s a matter of personal habits. If you are not used to listening to music while working or studying, it can negatively affect your attention. And some tasks are just not well-suited for having Witcher 3 music on the background. But with the right type of music with the right type of task, you can increase your efficiency and achieve more.
For example, according to a study, music can improve your speed and accuracy if you are working on repetitive tasks that you are already familiar with. Another study shows it’s also important to listen to music that you enjoy. But of course, that doesn’t mean it will help you focus just because you enjoy it. What type of music you listen to is also important.
What types of music to listen to while working?
Instrumental Music Without Lyrics: Think twice before listening to “Livin' On A Prayer” while working, because a study shows lyrics distracts listeners. Try to stick to instrumental music without lyrics if you are coding your save-system.
Fixed Tempo: Music with fixed tempo and volume might help you stay focused since they won’t surprise you with sudden speed-up or slow-down.
Ambient Noise and Nature Sounds: Background noise is not always a bad thing according to a study. Since we constantly hear them, our brains do not get distracted as long as it’s at moderate level. It can even enhance creativity.
Other types of music includes classical music, epic fantasy music, lo-fi beats, white noise, and of course… video game music!
Video game music
As Laura Lee puts it in her blog, “Video game music is composed with a purpose”. It is composed to help you stay focused on your task you are carrying out in the game. It needs to immerse you to the game and convey emotions without distracting you.
Think about all the things you do in Skyrim. And imagine doing all those things while Bon Jovi is shouting “Livin' On A Prayer” to your ear. Or imagine doing them in complete silence. The right music is what makes running around in Skyrim peaceful and enjoyable. Even the beautiful views don’t look the same without music.
This study shows that music and sound effects in games help players perform better. In an experiment, players tended to play better with the game sound on.
So if game music helps you perform better in a game, maybe it can help you perform better while you work as well?
Game music to listen to
I listen to so many games’ soundtrack. Here are my favorites:
Disco Elysium
Skyrim
Witcher 3
Kingdom Come: Deliverance
World of Warcraft
Others: Chrono Trigger, Pentiment, Dragon Age, Abzu, Bastion, Gris.
Audio sources
And here are some audio sources created to enhance your focus:
Music For Programming: “The goal of this series is not to present music as disposable background noise to be mostly ignored or tuned out, but the complete opposite — the goal is to present music that can engulf the listener, carefully selected works that can be fully appreciated (perhaps even enhanced) despite sometimes only having peripheral attention paid to them.”
Noisli.com: “High quality sounds, curated Playlists, advanced Timer to work in sessions and a beautiful distraction-free Text Editor.”
Coffitivity: “Coffitivity recreates the ambient sounds of a cafe to boost your creativity and help you work better.”
Conclusion
What do you listen to when game dev? I have no doubt you have your own list of music. Please share your favorite down in the comments!
For further reading, check out the sources below.
Is Noise Always Bad? Exploring the Effects of Ambient Noise on Creative Cognition
Effects of background music on concentration of workers
Sound Advice: What to Listen to While Working
10 Video Game Soundtracks To Study To
Video Games: Do You Play Better With the Sound On or Off?
10 Video Game Soundtracks That Will Increase Your Productivity
Tutorials
How to make VIDEO GAME MUSIC for free (beginners' guide)
How To Make Music For Your Game
How Toby Fox Composed the Music of UNDERTALE
A Beginner's Guide to Music Theory
Other
Unity plan pricing and packaging updates: Apparently, Unity is tired of being the people’s favorite game engine. They revealed their new pricing package, which causes disappointment and anger among indie dev community. They want to charge developers per install. Yes, per install…
Learn Unity: Game Development Bundle
Face Gallery: Free character portrait created with random components
DMHeroes: Allows you to create RPG character portraits
Killing The Myths Behind Steams’s Visibility
Reading: Recently finished The Sword of Kaigen: A Theonite War Story by M. L. Wang. Definitely one of my favorite reads this year.
Watching: House of the Dragon. Didn’t have time for this last year. It’s time to check it out.
Playing: P:WotR. Reached Act 4.
Listening:
Thanks for reading!
And that’s it from today’s issue of GameDev’s Journey. I hope you enjoyed it and find it useful. If you did, please like and leave a comment. Reach out for suggestions, objections, questions, or just say hi!
But regardless, thank you so much for reading, and have a great game dev journey!