Rebecca Murray
How might music contribute to the construction of character identity in videogames ?
Rebecca Murray explores how music and character identity in videogames through two of her favourite indie games : ‘ Undertale ’ and ‘ Night in the Woods ’.
Character identity is key to creating an engaging narrative within a videogame . Frith ( 1996 ) suggests that ‘ identity is not a thing but a process ’ ( Frith , 1996 , p . 110 ). When crafting a character ’ s identity , game developers employ many different processes and techniques . Music is a key technique used in identity construction because it offers an intense sense of self and others ( Frith , 1996 , p . 110 ). To analyse how videogame music can impact the overall construction of character identity , two distinct games that craft unique characters will be utilised as case studies . These are the 2D role-playing game ‘ Undertale ’ ( Toby Fox , 2015 ) and the single-player adventure game ‘ Night in the Woods ’ ( Infinite Fall , 2017 ).
‘ Undertale ’ ( Toby Fox , 2015 ) is a critically renowned and highly respected role-playing video game . It is a heavy narrative game that features different but interlinked storyline routes depending on how the user chooses to play the game . The player takes control of a human child- that has an androgynous design to allow players to decide their gender ( Seraphine , 2018 , p . 13 ) - that falls into the monster-filled ‘ Underground ’. By journeying through this ‘ Underground ’, the player must complete puzzles and either defeat or befriend monsters to return to the surface world . Whereas ‘ Night in the Woods ’ ( Infinite Fall , 2017 ) is a singleplayer adventure game that features exploration , narrative and platforming elements . The player takes control of the
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