Having big and interesting game worlds has been a holy grail of games since the beginning. In the early years, technical constraints meant that big worlds were simply infeasible, without heavy use of procedural generation - Elite in 1984 for example boasted thousands of planets - but nowadays, the main constraint is dev effort. Put simply, to create lots of interesting content, you need to put in lots of work.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t use clever techniques to get the most bang for buck.

Bigger is not Better

When we look at lists of biggest game worlds, space games like Elite Dangerous and Starfield dominate, but that’s not particularly insightful when you consider they are mostly empty space. A bit lower in the rankings you’ll find Daggerfall, which dwarfs other Elder Scrolls game worlds while being much older than them - notably having “the size of Great Britain” - but again, isn’t interesting as most of the game is empty wilderness, sparsely filled with randomly generated towns.

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I love games and music, and one of my favourite game genres is RTS. I don’t know which led to the other, but one thing’s for sure: RTS music slaps. I would argue that it is one of the best genres for awesome, listenable music that you can put in your playlist. For example, RPGs have great music too but their soundtracks are too eclectic, as they are strongly themed to specific levels or characters. Action games can also have great music but they are very situational, with a mix of stealth, action and boss tracks. RTS games have a perfect blend of strong yet consistent themes, and the gameplay gives the music plenty of space to develop itself, not being dictated by the action onscreen.

In this post we’ll review great RTS music from its golden age, from the mid-90’s to early-mid-00’s. We’ll see how diverse studios and composers take different approaches to what style of music to use, and how they serve the game.

A brief history of golden age RTS music

The start of the RTS golden age (variously reckoned to be somewhere between Dune II and Command and Conquer) coincided with the wide availability of CD technology, and RTS music rode this technological wave and showcased high-fidelity soundtracks. The genre is perfect for music, its 10-30 minute gameplay sessions allowing uninterrupted, extended play. While Dune II had to use limited chiptune, by the time games like Command and Conquer came around, everyone jumped onto the CD audio bandwagon, since music is so key to RTS games.

The golden age is often characterized by the fierce rivalry between Westwood (Command and Conquer) and Blizzard (Warcraft, Starcraft), but was by no means a two-horse race, with quality releases from many other studios such as Ensemble (Age of Empires), Relic (Homeworld, later Dawn of War and Company of Heroes), Cavedog (Total Annihilation), and not to mention the numerous clones and contenders. The best of these entries also had fantastic music.

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[Most] games are awful for about 80 percent of the process—there’s no fun in the game until the very end.

David “Dr. Doak” Doak, excerpt From GoldenEye 007 by Alyse Knorr

I recently read Goldeneye 007, a terrific book covering the making of that classic game, and came across the above quote. I could not help but strongly agree with this observation, as I’ve seen it first hand countless times. Whether it’s making a game, or writing music, drawing art, or any creative activity, it always seems like the first 80% of the project is a slog. It feels like working on something that seems like utter crap and somehow refuses to come together, until the very end. It happens regardless of the type of project, the length, or even how challenging it is.

So it was very heartening to learn how ubiquitous this problem is. Apart from knowing and accepting that most creative work will feel like crap, what other things can we take away?

Things will suck, until they don’t

Even my most successful projects did not break this first-80%-is-crap rule. When making Dunkman for Ludum Dare, about half way through the jam, I posted this progress update:

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To make better games, I’m a big believer in the value of learning the fundamentals, even if they aren’t directly related to game dev. You can elevate your game dev skills using the principles of design and art. Go beyond the amateurish, to something that is professional and powerful.

Take animation, which is more than a century old. My go-to bible is The Animator’s Survival Kit, an absolute classic by an award-winning veteran. When people ask for quick tips, I also recommend Disney’s 12 Principles of Animation. Even though these guides were written before computer animation became ubiquitous, their principles apply regardless of the tools you use.

I often see people making games, putting a lot of love and effort into it, but the animation is lifeless and basic. If only they applied some basic animation principles, this could look so much better! Well, now I’d like to show how to do this, using a basic, side-scrolling platformer character example.

Let’s take a basic, pixel-art side scrolling character. This is Ticcy, the mascot for the TIC-80 fantasy console:

Giving Ticcy a basic walk and run animation might look something like this:

…and Ticcy has a hat, just because

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Once upon a time I made a few 3D games, but these days I make exclusively 2D games. This includes both games that take place in a 2D space, and the artwork is made using 2D techniques. I believe it is easier to make a good 2D game than a 3D one, both in terms of playability and looking great.

While 3D definitely has its advantages - there’s nothing quite like the immersion of a first-person perspective, and 3D models can be infinitely oriented - overall I prefer 2D much more. Here are my reasons:

Easy to Understand

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Hard to believe there was actually a 3-D Bomberman (right), released one year later

With the notable exception of VR, most games are played on a 2D screen, so it is natural to present games in a 2D plane. Humans have thousands of years of experience mapping things onto 2D surfaces; most maps are drawn on a flat surface (and it’s also why most maps of the world lie).

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