The Game Music Handbook: A Practical Guide to Crafting an Unforgettable Musical Soundscape

Do you want to learn everything you need to know to be a fantastic video game music composer? The Game Music Handbook is for you. This book takes readers on a journey through many of the greatest video game soundscapes to date, discussing key concepts and technical practices for how to create top-level game scores. It organizes game scoring techniques into an applicable methodology that gives readers a clear picture of how to design interactive elements, conceive and create a score, and implement it into the game. Readers will gain a solid understanding of the core techniques for composing video game music, the conceptual differences that separate it from other compositional fields, as well as many advanced techniques and topics essential to excellent game music scoring. These topics include using music to design emotional arc for nonlinear timelines, the relationship between music and sound design, music and immersion, discussion of the player's interaction with audio, and more.

For beginning composers, this book makes the learning process as clear as possible. However, it also offers invaluable information for intermediate to advanced readers. It includes discussion of game state and its effect on player interaction, a composer-centric lesson on programming, as well as information on how to work with version control, visual programming languages, procedural audio, and more. It also offers indispensable knowledge about advanced reactive music concepts, scoring for emergent games, music for VR, and other important topics. Overall, this book explores the practical application of player and music interaction through the examination of various techniques employed in games throughout video game history to enhance immersion, emphasize emotion, and create compelling interactive experiences.


Author: Noah Kellman
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 09/22/2020
Pages: 296
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.40h x 6.30w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780190938697


Review Citation(s):
Choice 02/01/2022

About the Author

Noah Kellman is a composer for video games, film and multimedia based in New York, NY. He is the 2017 recipient of the ASCAP Henry Mancini Fellowship, as well as the recipient of two ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards.