Game music that leaves room for silence

When music never stops, players stop hearing it. After an hour, a constant soundtrack fades into the background, and many players turn it off. In Mytheria, our pixel-art co-op game, the music comes and goes: a track, then a stretch of quiet where you hear the wind and your footsteps, then another track. In a fight the music steps aside, and in a boss fight it takes over.

How should music work in a game?

Treat silence as part of the score. Play a track, then leave a gap so the world's own sounds come through, and the next track arrives fresh. Give each area its own small set of tracks and its own rhythm of music and quiet. Let the music react to what's happening, by lowering it under fights so hits come through and switching to dedicated music for big moments like a boss.

The short answer

How Mytheria's music works:

• Between tracks there are 20 seconds to almost two minutes of quiet, depending on the area.
• Each area has its own program: a few tracks and its own gap length.
• Tracks play from a shuffled set, never the same one twice in a row.
• Fights lower the music by 10 dB so the hits come through, and it comes back after.
• Boss music plays with no gaps, rising from the approach to the last phase.
• The music is quieter underground, much quieter in danger zones, and softer in menus.

Leave quiet between tracks

Every area plays a track, fades it out, waits, then starts another. In the Woodland the wait is 25 to 50 seconds, in the home meadow 30 to 60, and in the Hollow Heart, the strangest place on the island, a full 60 to 110 seconds. In the quiet you hear the birds, the wind and your own steps, and when the next track fades in, you notice it again.

Pick an area and see fifteen minutes of its music, with the game's own track lengths and gaps:

Pick an area, then shuffle a few times

WoodlandMeadowCopper BloomUndergroundHollow Heart

Shuffle again

Give each area a mood

Each area gets a small program from a shared set of tracks, chosen by mood. The meadow, your home, plays the two calmest tracks. Copper Bloom mixes an upbeat track with a calm one, with shorter gaps. Underground, the music plays at 70 % of its usual level and waits longer between tracks. At night the calm program plays, so home feels safe, and the danger comes through in the sounds.

Duck the music under a fight

When a fight starts, music competes with the sounds you need to hear: the swing, the hit, the warning before an attack. So when a blow lands near you, Mytheria lowers the music by 10 decibels in about an eighth of a second, holds it while the fight goes on, and brings it back over a little under a second once things are quiet for two seconds. In a boss fight the dip is 6 decibels, because the boss music is part of the fight.

Turn your sound on and hear one real fight with the game's music. Switch to the music alone to hear it dip on the first hit:

▶ Play with sound

Turn your sound on, play, then switch to the music alone

Music and soundJust the music

The sound effects themselves are in game sound effects.

Let the boss take over

Boss music plays without gaps or shuffling. Walking into a keeper's antechamber starts a low drone with a heartbeat. When the fight begins, a dedicated track takes over, and the last phase of the final boss switches to a faster, harder one. Music is part of what makes the fight an event; more on that in boss fight design.

Combat with ordinary creatures has its own lighter layer too: if something has been hunting you for a second and a half, an energetic track starts, and it stays for ten seconds after the last threat so a short scuffle doesn't flip the music back and forth.

A checklist for game music

• Leave quiet between tracks, and let the ambience fill it.
• Give each area a small program and its own rhythm.
• Never play the same track twice in a row.
• Duck the music under fights, quickly, and bring it back slowly.
• Hold combat music a while after a fight, so it doesn't flicker.
• Give bosses dedicated music without gaps.
• Lower the music where the player needs to listen, such as underground and in danger zones.