How Video Game Soundtracks Help You Level Up Your Creativity

Even if you aren’t gaming, here’s how video game soundtracks can help you level up your creativity

Whether you’re crafting, painting, or editing images, getting into the flow while you’re working can help you focus and better enjoy the creative process.

Listening to music is a great way to do that. Research suggests that listening to happy music promotes divergent thinking, which is a key element of creativity. Beyond that, music can also help get you into a flow state, if it meets certain criteria.

While some people favor classical music, video game soundtracks have become increasingly popular for creatives looking for background music to help them focus.

To understand why video game soundtracks might be a great addition to your work playlist, it’s important to understand why this music exists in the first place.

What video game music does

Though its early history isn’t well recorded, video game soundtracks have always been a crucial part of getting players engaged.

Music influences a game’s emotion and tone, helping to tell its story: players are drawn into a game and, once immersed, are more likely to interact with their virtual environment.

At the same time, a game’s music can’t be too distracting or annoying, since it will be repeated throughout gameplay. Additionally, by blending songs together, composers can manipulate a player’s sense of time and keep them playing for longer.

Video game music beyond the game

Hugely popular international orchestral tours of music from the Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy soundtracks show how great soundtracks reach far beyond the games they inhabit.

The world of video game soundtracks continues to grow as companies have come to recognize the prestige they give to a game. Nowadays, big game developers set aside a large proportion of their budget for the composition of their music.

Video game soundtracks as background music

Video game soundtracks are fundamentally designed to engage listeners and encourage progress, urging players to advance to the next level. This motivational quality is also helpful for non-gamers looking for music to improve their concentration.

Many creatives who need to keep focused for long periods of time can be distracted by music with lyrics or other distracting elements. This makes unobtrusive and motivational video game soundtracks the perfect accompaniment to their work flow.

The soundtrack you choose depends on the immersive mood you want to create: soothing tracks can keep you calm as you take on complex tasks, while a more epic soundtrack can make pushing to meet a deadline feel even more triumphant.

There’s a video game soundtrack for every mood, personality, and task. So next time you’re looking to fill the silence, check out popular soundtracks from games like Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Frostpunk, or Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

You may also be interested in:

- 5 Online Courses to Learn 3D Animation For Beginners.
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- 7 Books to Inspire You When Writing Video Game Scripts.