CHAPTER 1

THE LANGUAGE OF
MUSIC STORYTELLING
IN GAMES

In this chapter you’ll learn about the language of

music storytelling in games and basic approaches
to game scoring. Beginning with an overview
of how game music is conceptualized, you’ll
understand the methodology to make the best
creative music choices for your game. This material
doesn’t require you to have a music composition
degree, but rather is a top-down overview of the
fundamental processes and terminology that
drives the creation of a game score. You’ll learn
about game music types, music functions within a
game, and the building blocks for critical analysis of
interactive scores.

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16 CHAPTER 1 THE LANGUAGE OF MUSIC STORYTELLING IN GAMES

What Makes a Video Game Unique?

To build a language to use when describing video game music, it’s important to understand
some of the unique characteristics of the medium of video games. This chapter begins by
breaking down the anatomy of a video game, comparing and contrasting elements to linear
media. These differences affect how the music is conceptualized, composed, and synchronized
to work within a game.

There are several key differences between scoring for linear media like film and scoring for
video games. If we look at a direct comparison between films and games, as you’ll see in
Table 1.1, you’ll begin to discover and identify some of these key differences.

Passive versus Active Interaction

Video games require the player to be actively involved so as to make decisions based on the
action that is occurring on screen. This active interaction is the most important element that
distinguishes the medium. Players are actively involved in determining the outcome of a game,
whereas in linear media like film there is no interaction; instead, viewers watch passively.

This interaction between player and story in video games creates a reactive feedback loop, with
each one affecting the other. The level of interaction is determined by the rules and mechanics
of the game and is usually controlled by the player through a game controller or a keyboard/
mouse combination.

This active interaction between the game and the player also affects how the music must
change and react to player decisions. The music must be written in such a way that it is adapt-
able based on the player interaction. Throughout this book you’ll learn about different ways to
compose adaptive and interactive music compositions for video games.

Table 1.1 Key Differences between Films and Games

Attribute Film Console Game
Type of experience Passive watching Active interaction
Average length 2 hours 10+ hours
Number of plays Usually once Many times
Structure Linear: one beginning, one mid- Nonlinear: multiple outcomes and
dle, one end evolving storylines
Average amount of music 1 hour 2–3 hours

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 WHAT MAKES A VIDEO GAME UNIQUE? 17

Table 1.2 Length of Music in Games

Game Type Play Experience Average Amount of Music
Casual game 2–3 hours 15+ minutes
Console game 10+ hours 2–3 hours
MMORPG 50+ hours 15+ hours

Variable Length of Experience

Length of the gameplay experience is one of the most important aspects in determining the
amount of music that must be conceived and written for a game. Video games vary greatly in
the length of experience compared to film. Furthermore, each game genre has a length that
is most suitable for the style of play, whether it’s puzzle solving in a game like Myst (1993) or
defeating an alien invasion in a game like Halo (2001).

Casual games (Tetris, 1984; Bejeweled, 2001; Diner Dash, 2004) that are played from beginning to
end might be only 2 to 3 hours in length, whereas a massively multiplayer online roleplaying
game (MMORPG) like World of Warcraft (2004) might have a play experience totaling more than
50 hours. Typically AAA (pronounced “triple-A”) console titles for Xbox or PlayStation have a
play experience that lasts 10 or more hours.

Table 1.2 summarizes the differences in the length of play between different game types.

The time it takes to play a game depends on many different factors, including length of the
story, game variability, and the experience of the player. These additional factors are discussed
throughout the chapter. In some very large games, players sometimes play for as much as 20 to
30 hours per week!

Many games today also have expansion packs that allow the game to grow by extending the
player experience with new storylines and additional content. These expansion packs may also
increase the amount of music in a game. Popular games that include expansion packs include
Angry Birds (2009) and Bioshock: Infinite (2013).

note
Game players from around the world play MMORPGs together on computer serv-
ers where they interact with one another in real time, helping each other with
quests and battles. These games are massive in scope and take hundreds of hours
to complete. Consider the scale of a game like World of Warcraft (2004):

■■ The average World of Warcraft player plays approximately 20 hours

per week.

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18 CHAPTER 1 THE LANGUAGE OF MUSIC STORYTELLING IN GAMES

■■ There is more than 23 hours of composed music within World of

Warcraft.

■■ At the game’s peak success, there were approximately 14 million

subscribers, each paying a monthly fee of $15 to play the game.

■■ The game development team that works exclusively on World of

Warcraft consists of several hundred members, along with a team of
audio professionals working on the music and sound.

Number of Plays
The play experience in games is significantly longer than the experience with most linear
media. Consequently, players often don’t finish games in one session. Instead, it typically takes
many sessions for a game player to finish a game.

This has direct implications for the music. How do we approach the interruptions caused by
players stopping and starting in our music? Is there a way to bring the player back into the story
more seamlessly, reminding the player where he or she left off?

A composer can use several different approaches to enhance the storytelling in the game
between interruptions. For example, composers often use thematic material to tie the story
together by representing characters or places in their music. The “Music Conceptualization”
section of this chapter discusses this in more detail.

warning
THE REPETITION PROBLEM George “The Fat Man” Sanger—a pioneer video game
composer primarily known for his work on Wing Commander—is generally credited
with the quote “Repetition is the problem” with regard to video game music.

You may have noticed in Table 1.2 that the play experience is typically far longer
than the music can support. Video games in the past have been known for their
repetition, and it’s a problem to look out for when developing music for video
games.

Composers are challenged by many constraints when working on video games,

including memory, voices, and games growing in scope and size. Sometimes the
music must be repeated within games because of one factor or another.

Composers must take this issue into account when creating their scores. To mini-
mize music repetition in games, composers frequently look to interactive composi-

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 WHAT MAKES A VIDEO GAME UNIQUE? 19

tion techniques. Modern composers have many more options for getting more
mileage out of the score by using various interactive techniques that you’ll learn
about in this book.

Game Mechanics
In addition to a storyline, video games have specific game mechanics that make them differ-
ent from film. These mechanics or rules define the play experience and dictate how the player
interacts with the game system. For instance, in the early arcade game Space Invaders (1978),
the basic gameplay mechanic is to shoot the impending alien march while avoiding getting hit
by the enemy’s lasers or having the aliens reach your home world. Put even more simply, the
mechanic is about winning or losing a specific game level. The player’s skill level determines
whether the game continues or ends. Other examples of game mechanics include solving
puzzles, taking turns, racing against a clock, beat-matching, and many more.

Game mechanics are a system of rewards and challenges that a player faces when entering the
game. Game music systems need to be aware of game mechanics and, in turn, enhance the
play experience by supporting these mechanics.

Pacing, Synchronization, and Flow

Video game players typically drive the storyline at their own pace. Players can move quickly
or more slowly through a level, depending on their skill level. Since a composer cannot write a
customized score for every individual player, he or she may instead write an adaptive score that
takes the player’s skill level and pacing into account. This way the composer supports the same
emotional pacing for each player. For example, in an open-world game like World of Warcraft
(2004), the player at any given moment may decide to go to places within the world like Elwynn
Forest or Ironforge. These decisions affect which music will play and determine the transitions
that happen to get us from one piece of music to the next.

Unlike in linear media, where a composer can synchronize the music to a specific frame num-
ber, the game storyline is driven by the player. Synchronization in music is achieved by follow-
ing changes in emotional context. These changes then direct how the music might play, in the
same way that a conductor cues the woodwinds in a symphony.

The interactive music system in a game can take into account many different factors besides
location, including the player’s health, proximity to enemies, various artificial intelligence (AI)
state(s), the length of time the music has been playing, and so on. These variables can help
change and adapt the music so it is synchronized to the events that unfold for the player.

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