By Oscar van der Burgh
When I first saw a Commodore 64 in 1990, I was imidiately hooked. Unfortunately it wasn't me owning one. It was my friend. But we would spend hours together in the realm of games. Fighting Ninja's, Exploring Castles and Racing Sport Cars.
When I think back. I hear the sounds. I love the sounds. And it reminds me of the best days of my life. Ofcourse I'm not the only one. In fact 8 bit sounds and graphics were here to stay!!
Further down the road, I got hooked by Tomb Raider 2 on the PlayStation 1. This great adenture was a real escape from reality and a more fun challenge then school! The sounds where more realistic and the music actually moved me! The Musical theme of this game is so iconic that it can still moves me when I power up Tomb Raider's 2 menu right now!
These Sounds and Music is what makes these games really reach their full potential.
In fact. Some games are broken because of poor sound and music.
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood on the Switch is a great example of an abominable soundtrack. Rumor has it that the composers were given only 24-hours to design the soundtrack due to contractual issues. They re-used old material, but it did not work for the game. In fact, It hurts the game badly.
It happens more often then you think. And with reason! A lot of Indie Game Developers don't have a budget at all!! So they use free audio and music from the web. As a result, these games end up being ok instead of amazing.
It has become Runesound's Mission to create sound and music for developers on a budget!