Video game music
Video game music is music composed or selected for games, including soundtracks, menus, and music that changes in response to gameplay.
Adaptive music: Music that changes in response to events, state, or input in an interactive work. It describes soundtracks whose arrangement responds to gameplay rather than following a fixed sequence.
Chiptune: Music made with the distinctive sound of programmable sound generators and other early digital hardware. Its constrained tones became the characteristic sound of many early game soundtracks.
Video game sound design: The creation and implementation of sound effects, music, and other audio in video games. Music shares the game’s audio system with effects, dialogue, and environmental sound.
Video game music in Japan: The traditions and industries surrounding music composed for games in Japan. Japanese game companies and composers strongly shaped globally recognized game-music traditions.
Film score: Original music composed or selected to accompany a motion picture. Film scores follow a fixed timeline, while game music may respond to player choices.
Horizontal re-sequencing: An adaptive-audio method that switches or rearranges complete musical sections during playback. It lets a game move between composed sections as locations or dramatic states change.
Video game music composers: Composers who create or adapt music for video games and their interactive soundtracks. The field grew through composers working within changing hardware and production practices.
Leitmotif: A recurring musical idea associated with a character, place, object, or dramatic concept. Recurring themes can make characters and locations recognizable across a game’s score.
Rhythm game: A video game genre in which actions are timed to music or rhythmic patterns. Here music is not only accompaniment but the primary structure of play.
Television music: Music composed or selected for television programs and broadcasts. Television cues accompany predetermined scenes rather than continuously changing gameplay.