Monday, December 19, 2005
Making Music for Games
My girlfriend, whose gamer credentials far exceed my own, recently turned my attention to this article. Unfortunately, the author never really approaches an answer to its Cage-referencing opening paragraph. However, it does do a good job of summarizing the current state of music for video games, describing the challenges of writing for an interactive environment, and distinguishing video game music from film scoring. All in all, it seems to me like a fascinating medium in which a composer could have both an unprecedented amount of control and an unprecedented ability to relinquish that control. Since I haven’t seen this topic broached here at Sequenza21, I thought I’d offer it up with a few thoughts and questions.
First, has anybody had any experience working in the gaming realm? I know there were several students in the department at Columbia with me who were interested in scoring games, but I’ve never met a composer who’s actually worked on one.
Second, for other composers like me who grew up with video games, do you find that gaming has influenced your composing? Personally, though I mostly stick with live instrumentation, I’ve begun to wonder if my tendency toward audience interactivity and open forms isn’t all because of Mario.
Third, how about audience interactivity in general - new direction or a dead end for new music?
posted by Lanier Sammons
2:36 PM
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