"As an indispensable part of the game product, the quality of the music must also keep up with the progress of the quality of the game." At the 2021 Shanghai Conservatory of Music International Digital Music Festival Game Music Creation Summit Forum held on December 12, Cai Jinhan, Music Director of Mihayou and Director of HOYO-MiX, explained his understanding and suggestions for the development of current game music.
As the game industry moves towards the era of high-quality products in an all-round way, the development of game music has also entered the fast lane. Game music, which was once just a "supporting role", has now become an increasingly important part of the overall construction of the game. HOYO-MiX is the original music team of The Chinese people established by Mihayou in this context, producing songs and soundtracks for many of Mihayou's game projects, including "Crash Gakuen 2", "Crash 3", "Original God", "Undetermined Event Book", and winning a number of domestic and foreign game music awards.
In order to further explore the outstanding game music works and talents, Mihayou and HOYO-MiX joined hands with the Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center for Music and Art Development to jointly host the festival. In addition to the summit forum, the festival also officially established the Digital Music Professional Alliance and held the finals of the Game Music Competition to stimulate the creativity of teachers, students and industry practitioners of digital music majors in art colleges and universities and their in-depth thinking in the field of digital music, and promote the development of cultural creativity and digital content industry.
Cai Jinhan also said in his speech that if the development of domestic game music wants to break through the bottleneck, the cultivation of talents and the accumulation of experience are very important. Therefore, Mihayou also hopes to let more music practitioners understand game music, join the game music industry, and contribute to the development of domestic game music.
The following is the full text of Cai Jinhan's speech:
Good morning teachers, I am Cai Jinhan, music director of Miha Tour. Thank you to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music for providing such an opportunity for us to meet here. This year's Shanghai Conservatory of Music International Digital Music Festival has set up a game music group, and many surprising works have emerged, and I would like to take this opportunity to sort out and share our understanding of game music as a game music practitioner.
In the past two years, people's lifestyles have been greatly affected by the epidemic. But thankfully, game products, as the main form of online entertainment, are getting better and better. With the improvement of users' aesthetics of games, they put forward higher requirements for the quality of games. Then, music, as an indispensable part of the game product, the quality of music must also keep up with the progress of game quality.
Based on our practical experience, I will summarize them into three points.
First, break the stereotype in aesthetics
Game music can improve the world view of the game, express the game scene, emotionally guide the plot and so on. Compared to traditional music, game music is more purposeful and functional. Our Mihayou music team, HOYO-MiX, is slogan, which is "building the world with music", which is what we have been trying to do.
With the popularity of 5G and the advancement of science and technology, the user's network speed is faster, the capacity of mobile phones is larger, and even the emergence of cloud games has greatly reduced the requirements of large games on game devices. Taking mobile games as an example, the size of the game's package and the amount of music are no longer a limit. With the development of the times, the amount of information received by users on a daily basis is also exploding. Their energy is limited, and what can keep them is higher quality content. Therefore, the user's aesthetic is improving, and the aesthetic inclusiveness has become higher.
I have always believed that the human aesthetic is the product of accumulation, and he does not mutate. Users will have a stereotype based on inertia based on a certain style corresponding to a certain product. This will be true for users, and it will be true for game practitioners. In fact, there is really no need to be so rigid. Whoever breaks the limits and makes music that is both suitable for game products and refreshing, can be at the forefront of this industry. Many years ago, I saw an air combat game for flying an airplane, paired with flames of flame-like guitar music from Flamenco. At that time, the hairs on my whole body stood up. So in this world, there is nothing good or bad, there are just ideas and wishes.
Second, to achieve cultural resonance and infiltration.
We strive to build the world with music, and we also try to connect the world with music. Our game product "Original God" has a multicultural worldview, according to the cultural characteristics of which, when we chose the musical style, we decided to use orchestral music as a base and joined the national instruments around the world. Immerse players around the world in the proto-god worldview while also having empathy for their own culture and recognizing other cultures.
We are also committed to recording with top orchestras in different countries. In fact, through performance, it can be seen that players from different cultural backgrounds will have very different interpretations of the same piece of music. The inner interpretation and emotions of these players will not be wasted, and will be recorded in a very complete work through large-scale recording. We don't like to talk about value for money, we think, this is the will, is the necessary process, it is worth it. Maybe one day, when a user hears a piece of music with the same cultural background, they will think "I heard it in the original god" and will explore more content on their own. This is the supreme gaming experience we want our users to have.
Third, realize the interaction and re-creation of players.
In the era of digital music, "playing music" is no longer just a matter for professional musicians, everyone has the conditions to complete a simple musical work. With the help of users' performances, words filling, and cover songs, game music has more scenes of dissemination. Let the coverage of the population be wider, and the chance of acquiring new users is greater. Therefore, we also tried to embed interactive music experiences in the game, providing convenient creative tools to encourage players to recreate music.
For example, in the original god, we have added a sound game in the form of a mini-game, where users can play the piano in the game, and the corresponding musical instruments will also be opened to the player as game props for redemption. Many players also uploaded their own in-game music on video platforms. Players can also experience the unlimited game and music, and even develop more extensions of game music to become a part of it. A better atmosphere in the music community is also something we are happy to see. Because of the game music, many creators have become players, and many players have become musicians. This change of role shows the charm of the industry and the possibilities of the future.
We are musicians and gamers. The most important thing is that game musicians should be based on products, respect the market, know how to accept feedback from users with an open mind, and not be arrogant or delayed. Therefore, Mihayou chose the way of building a self-built team, maintaining a high degree of synergy with the project, and through efficient information synchronization, the music, art and gameplay were constantly run-in, and finally a dynamic balance was reached. We always pay attention to user evaluation and industry frontiers, and adjust the direction of creation on this basis, constantly refine the "ability to review questions", and form a positive cycle of ecological chain. The quality of domestic games has improved rapidly in recent years, and game music, as an indispensable part of game quality, must be developed. It has to keep up with the progress of game quality.
The gap between us and foreign countries is that game music needs games as a carrier. There is a lack of more world-class game works in China, and game musicians rarely have the opportunity to harvest market feedback from all over the world. The lack of experience cannot be compensated for by hard work. It is possible that the direction of the creation may not be right. Judging the preferences of foreign users stays on the surface, and more often can only rely on guessing, resulting in an unstable level of final results.
Therefore, the improvement of the domestic music industry environment, the cultivation of talents, and the accumulation of experience are very, very important.
In summary, Mihayou hopes to do something for the development of the game music industry. Let more music practitioners understand game music and join the game music industry. Thank you again for this cooperation with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
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