Storytelling with Music: Adaptive Music in Video Games and Beyond

Music plays an essential role in storytelling within video games. Unlike motion pictures, which use linear music, video games need adaptive music because of their nonlinear nature. Since adaptive music can change according to specific rules in response to the player's input, it makes an immersive experience for the players.

Using the research-creation method, this research studied various techniques to produce adaptive music, including two main approaches, vertical and horizontal mixing and procedural music. To better understand adaptive music and its challenges, the researcher studied the soundtrack of the video game Gorogoa composed by Joel Corelitz as a case study and conducted creative research by composing adaptive music. The author found a new criterion called compatible loops, a great way to compose adaptive music for video games that presents the concept of player-as-composer. It is also ideal for composing musical soundscapes and long dynamic ambient tracks. This study also found that the distinction between music and the soundscape has been reduced, and adaptive music can be practical as the soundscape in real settings such as urban areas. Music gamification using adaptive music techniques can also provide innovative services for digital environments other than video games.