Musical creativity and composition techniques in video games

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to discuss, analyse and present the compositional techniques used in various video game genres and their music, while also discussing the correlation of said genres and their music and whether they work together harmoniously to further enhance the atmosphere and image that its creators were aiming to present. This will hopefully result in a greater understanding and appreciation of video game music as a genre of its own.This dissertation will refer to various origins/areas of music in order to explain and correlate with video game music while also asking fundamental questions such as whether video game music should be regarded as a genre of its own. Video game music should be understood as being composed of multiple subgenres based on the type of game being played, whether it be an RPG (Role-Playing Game) or an Action FPS (First-Person Shooter), and care will be given to make this point clear. Excerpts from various games will also be discussed in order to provide examples and perhaps discover trends within the genre, whether it be through instrumentation or simple harmonic techniques.As stated previously, video game music will be approached by its own standards, and not on the norms of existing music genres. It is a genre rich in history and development which perhaps only recently has begun to be appreciated by the wider audience. This will also be noted within the dissertation. As an additional case-study, original compositions will be provided in the written style of certain pieces that will be discussed, in order to demonstrate the approachability of these compositional techniques.