I'm debating pulling music from my app and only having sound effects. Almost everyone I've spoken to have said that they like listening to their own music. Thoughts?
If you've gone to the trouble of having music you might as well leave it in. Then just detect if people are playing their own music and if so disable yours
Then what's the problem? Do it the Firemint (and J2ME) way - have a screen upon game loading that lets you pick if you want to play game music or your own. You could even 1up Firemint by having the 3.0 music controls built-in right there, at the start. I'd like to build something like that into my first app.
What's the problem? He's not the one asking the question =P I always want music in my games. It gives the game a soul =O
Definitely music. Especially for games where you want to evoke some sort of feeling/emotion, even some puzzle games need that. Of course, you need to add the option to let users listen to their own music as well, but that does not mean disabling music completely!
I'd say I almost always prefer listening to a game's own soundtrack, unless it's terrible or too repetitive. --Eric
I like the vipValet music - adds to the frenzy And I always listen to the game soundtrack rather than my own music. It usually really adds to the atmosphere, and makes the game a more immersive environment. A rich environment will make your game more sticky and draw the players back into it As long as people have the option of listening to their own music instead, definitely leave it in there. And you don't really need the 3.0 music selection feature in there for that. As long as they're able to mute your game music and sound effects separately, and play their own music over it, it's fine.
My bad there! But still, I figure, leave it in and give them an option. And don't do it in an options menu (thereby cutting off the existing music until you navigate to the options menu) - do it at the beginning.
Yaa, I think I should just revamp the music screen. I usually just buy a music pack that I feel fits the game because it's hard to compose my own stuff. I was hoping to avoid any 3.0-specific features right now to give people time to upgrade. The first screen of my apps is currently an 'Audio? Yes / No' screen, so it's the first thing they pick. I don't have music/sound fx seperated though. I'll try and put in a fix for that before the next release.
Music definitely makes a difference to me, I'm not one of those who usually listens to their own music while playing games.
I don't demand music, but I prefer it: I often want to just play a game and not have to bother picking my own soundtrack first. It also adds to the unique and memorable "character" of a game.