combat music gives the badguys away! when to switch to/from combat music?

so your wandering across some game world, and all of a sudden the combat music starts. obviously there's bad guys somewhere! i think its happened to all of us.

or the music keeps blaring on after all the bayguys are dead, until you sheath your weapon. that kind of thing.

so what are good trigger conditions for starting and stopping combat music?

when the player becomes aware of combat? as in hostile attempts an attack? or hostile nearby and player draws weapon?

and stop when hostiles are dead or sufficiently far away?

Though you might get some wonky case where they are behind a wall but aware of the player, might depend on the AI implementation.

and if the player is unaware, the combat music gives them away.

i have a feeling it can be boiled down to just two rules: starting, and stopping rules - both based on "player awareness of the enemy" and vica versa.

I think some sort of transition between the different themes can help the whole thing be less jarring, as it is super weird when it's like OK sheathed my sword and music immediately changed/stopped..

dynamic soundtracks are nice, but a little beyond the manpower capabilities of this humble little one man indie game studio unfortunately.

If there are any enemies nearby you could just have a generally more 'tense' theme to announce that the area may be unsafe

i consider this a design flaw in games.

the whole point of this thread is that music should NOT tip off the player as to the disposition of the badguys.

while dramatic, its also unrealistic, and therefore a hokey immersion reducer/breaker - if you actually think about it. at least in my opinion.

Either when the player spots an enemy that is aware of the player (in view frustrum?) or the enemy is performing an attack.

if the player is aware of the bayguy, and the badguy is aware of the player - you're already in combat - unless neither has attacked.

so the player has to be aware of the badguy, and the player must be intending to attack: if (badguy_detected && weapon_drawn).

or the badguy must be aware of the player and attempt an attack: if (badguy_attacks)

and stop if: no badguys nearby are aware of player.

but you also need the inverse of the trigger conditions as well, so

stop if:

(!badguy_detected) || (badguy_detected && !player_detected && !player_wpn_drawn)

does that handle all the cases and give the desired behavior? i think it might.

combat music starts if:

1. a badguy attacks.

2. the player spots a badguy and draws their weapon to attack.

muisc stops if:

1. all badguys are dead / flee far away

2. any remaining badguys don't see player, and player is not attacking.

It's not really a design flaw

like i said its a matter of opinion.