Collin 8, and more music!

Collins throws out 4 goals he believes music should strive for:
1. The ability to create music that changes with each play-through (whether he means through each level or through playing the whole game a second time I'm not sure. It seems that if the music was pre-recorded and assigned parts that the ability for it to change from the first play through would be unrealistic).
2. The ability to create multicolored production by transforming themes in the same composition. (I'd think of an example being a music score that would portray different regions and therefore be recognizable or just reflecting the theme of the overall game. aka, 8 bit music for an arcade style game).
3. Add new surprises and increase gameplay enjoyment. (This could be when a player finds a hidden item and is rewarded with the typical zelda like sound da da da daaaaa!)
4. Add elements that increase gameplay features. ( This I think of all the surprising sound effects that reinforced what is happening in the game.)

Poorly developed music is something that becomes tiring, as Collins calls it: listener's fatigue. Nothing's worse than spending time and energy in game design only to hear that people are muting your game and listening to their own music. Your score should be taking advantage of the player's sense of sound, and if it's becoming something that is mundane then the game's engagement value will suffer.

There are plenty of issues that come with sound development. A few years participating in a band or orchestra has taught me to appreciate the collaboration of instruments and timing. Within games, I've always recognized the poor transition in music, but with good transitions you'll hardly even notice. Many challenges face game sound design, the biggest one in my opinion is conflicting actions. Say a player is moving from one area to the next, each holding a different sound score, but then is encountered with a dialog scene or reward scene. Even more so, what if you have two different players each in a different scene within a game? If you had chose to play different music in different areas for multiplayer games, then there'll again be conflict.

My best suggestion for those looking to switch scenes and improve transitions between actions would be fade in and fade outs. Just like DJs, the music should seamlessly transition from one feel to another. From peaceful to battle scene and so on.

Music is probably one of the most underplayed roles in game design, which is too bad. It's probably too late in game development before inexperienced designers realize it's integration with game play.