Increasing interactivity in video game music

Abstract

This thesis studies the historical and current conventions, outlooks, applications and research in the field of game music systems and proposes its novel dynamic music strategy based on the musical and narrative principle of tension. The introduction section aims to illustrate the context and background for the research in addition to introducing the related terminology. The development of video game music systems is described in the first part, in which notable examples that are influential to this thesis are put forward together with a brief history of the medium. In the second section, the practice and theory of composing for video games is questioned. The process of composing for games, in addition the conventional models of synchronizing music to the narrative structure of games are analyzed. The second part of the thesis consists of the primary contribution of the paper and aims to put the background research into theoretical practice. It puts forward the novel dynamic music strategy of dynamic tension model which essentially proposes mapping game data, user output and game states and musical parameters in a way that facilitates dramatically conflicting structures of suspense and repose. First, the priorities and the approach of the proposed model are put forward. Afterwards, the related narrative and musical concepts are identified and explained. Then, a demo composition is realized for a specific video game. To conclude, the resulting score is evaluated and further discussed. The final part of the thesis consists of a conclusion which shows the effort of systemizing the findings of the novel compositions and the theoretical review. It discusses further application areas and elaborations of the dynamic music strategy as well as its advantages and disadvantages in the video game music paradigm.