Pandora is Great For Game Music

It is no secret that I’m a huge fan of running a game with some background music. Some of the other Gnomies from Gnome Stew and I share the love of  music, and you should check out these articles on music in games.

• Creating Deep and Simple Playlists
• What Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog Can Teach You About GMing

That isn’t what this post is about though. This post is about a really great resource to use to make great ever-changing music playlists. That resource is Pandora. I’ve been loving it at work, so much so that I paid the $38 upgrade fee to get the Pandora One desktop player. I made a station based off of Yoko Kanno’s music and realized how great Pandora can be for making a playlist.

All you have to do is setup a Pandora station based off of a soundtrack that you really like. Go to the Station setup and add in a few similar songs from other soundtracks or classical music that has the right feel and Pandora does the rest. You don’t worry about playing the right song at the right time, Pandora just shuffles between music that is similar to your seed music. Set up a few stations with general moods that you want to imbue. Drop in baroque classical and more refined soundtracks for good "Dealing with Nobles" music.  Seed a station with some deep Cantus music, stuff from the fountain soundtrack, or FF7’s Sephiroth theme song – one winged angel – for that epic Big Bad Evil Guy feel. Pull some Louis Armstrong, Ink Spots, Roy Brown, Miles Davis, and various other Jazz for a great noir game soundtrack.

One important thing to note is that the best music for background game music is mostly instrumental. Words often distract from the mood you are trying to set.  Give it a try and see how you like it.

(Image of Pandora one used for illustrative purposes)

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