ABSTRACT
The Game Music Toolbox provides readers with the tools, models, and techniques to create and expand a compositional toolbox, through a collection of 20 iconic case studies taken from different eras of game music. Discover many of the composition and production techniques behind popular music themes from games such as Cyberpunk 2077, Mario Kart 8, The Legend of Zelda, Street Fighter II, Diablo, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, The Last of Us, and many others.
The Game Music Toolbox features:
- Exclusive interviews from industry experts
- Transcriptions and harmonic analyses
- 101 music theory introductions for beginners
- Career development ideas and strategies
- Copyright and business fundamentals
- An introduction to audio implementation for composers
- Practical takeaway tasks to equip readers with techniques for their own game music
The Game Music Toolbox is crucial reading for game music composers and audio professionals of all backgrounds, as well as undergraduates looking to forge a career in the video game industry.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter Chapter 1|8 pages
Space Invaders(1978)
Mickey mousing, programmable sound generators, and the birth of interactive game music
chapter Chapter 3|7 pages
The Legend of Zelda (1986)
Music sequences, musical SFX, and the SNES sound
chapter Chapter 6|8 pages
Street Fighter II (1991)
Melodic tension in Guile's, Ken's, and Blanka's themes
chapter Chapter 7|6 pages
Mortal Kombat (1992)
From the arcades to the dance floor, formulaic writing makes a classic hit
chapter Chapter 8|9 pages
Diablo (1996)
Chromatic chords and non-functional harmony in Tristram Village
chapter Chapter 9|11 pages
Assassin's Creed
Music as a time travelling device in four historical games of the franchise
chapter Chapter 11|9 pages
The Last of Us (2013)
When less is more – Space and silence as storytelling devices
chapter Chapter 12|7 pages
Alien Isolation (2014)
In space none can hear you scream – Controlling tension with a vertical layers system
chapter Chapter 14|7 pages
Apotheon (2016)
Recombinant cells – A generative technique for producing musical variation
chapter Chapter 17|6 pages
Call of Duty: WWII (2017)
A conversation with the composer Wilbert Roget, II
chapter Chapter 18|9 pages
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018)
Music as meditation, lost instruments, and 3D mixing
chapter Chapter 20|11 pages
Cyberpunk 2077 (2021)
Diegetic music in Night City, riff-based composition, and the sound of sci-fi
