pixel soundtracks: exploring video game music through twenty games

Tim Summers provides an engaging introduction to video game music aimed at game fans, music enthusiasts, budding composers, music professionals, and anyone with an interest in the topic. Based on the latest research, chapters explore a wide variety of topics, including:

• the history and evolution of game music
• technology
• music composition
• the role of music in games
• inner workings
• aesthetic considerations
• musical genres
• cultural importance

Filled with many case studies, the book is separated into five stages and a ＂final boss,＂ and sections build off each other into increasingly broader topics. Starting with the specifics of computer chips, the book evolves, and at the end, questions of game music’s engagement with identity are addressed. Along the way, Summers discusses many classic and beloved games such as Space Invaders, Super Mario Bros., BioShock Infinite, Dark Souls III, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda. The book’s ＂final boss＂ brings together ideas presented throughout the book.

The book will allow readers to better understand the fantastic experiences and meanings that arise when games and music fuse together.

Tim Summers is senior lecturer in music at Royal Holloway University of London. Summers co-founded the European Ludomusicology Research Group and was a founding editor of the Journal of Sound and Music in Games. His books include Understanding Video Game Music, The Queerness of Video Game Music and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - A Game Score Companion. Tim regularly contributes to articles, podcasts and radio programs on the topic of video game music.