Music Composition and Preparation for Video Games

Nacho Gonzalez

Authored by Nacho Gonzalez

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Course Code: OMPRD-325

Learn video game music composition and create adaptive scores that respond to gameplay in real time. In this undergraduate course, you’ll apply advanced harmony, develop interactive music systems using Audiokinetic Wwise, and build professional scoring workflows for indie and AAA games, from composition through implementation and delivery.

Level 3
Intermediate Plus
Modality
Online
Duration
12 Weeks
3-Credit Tuition
$1,575
Semester Starts
Jan 11
Accreditation
NECHE

Key Learning Outcomes

  • Build professional DAW templates for composing, mixing, and delivering interactive video game scores that meet industry standards
  • Design and implement adaptive music systems in Audiokinetic Wwise using vertical layering, horizontal re-sequencing, randomization, and real-time gameplay controls
  • Compose dynamic video game scores using advanced harmonic techniques, including interval-set harmony, Neo-Riemannian transformations, reharmonization, and twelve-tone serialism
  • Navigate the business of video game composition, from project pricing and client negotiations to recording sessions, pitching, and portfolio development
Overview Syllabus Requirements Instructors Related Music Career Roles
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Course Description

Working in game scoring today is like composing for film during the transition from silent cinema to synchronized sound: a new artistic and technical language is being forged as the medium itself evolves. Because video games are inherently non-linear, scoring them requires a fundamental departure from the fixed structures of traditional media. To support player agency, a game's musical score must function as a dynamic, living system that reacts in real time to gameplay states and variables. This course is designed for composers and focuses on the creative strategies and technical implementation frameworks needed to write fluid, adaptive music for both indie games and large-scale AAA titles produced by major studios and publishers.

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Over 12 weeks, you will work through the production pipeline from the composer's chair, with hands-on production work from the first week. You will build, organize, and mix a professional DAW template and master standard delivery specifications, then take a deep dive into Audiokinetic Wwise, establishing an interactive sandbox where you build, test, and refine your work in SoundCaster. From there, you will explore vertical layering, horizontal re-sequencing, and structural randomization, and learn to write material that varies: melody, ostinato, reharmonization, stingers, and subtracks.

The middle of the course is devoted to contemporary harmonic systems—interval-set harmony, interlocking 7ths and 9ths, Neo-Riemannian triadic transformations, the augmented scale, and twelve-tone serialism—always mapped back to real-time game states. Week 8 pulls the production side together with hybrid scoring and transition writing, which sets up a four-week final project for the final four lessons.

During the last portion of the course, we'll also shift to the professional side of music composition for games: working with developers and audio directors, scoping, pricing, proposals, negotiation, recording sessions and score preparation, sound design and sampling, pitching, and career strategy.

The implementation pipeline for this course is DAW to Wwise to SoundCaster. No game engine build is required; gameplay footage is captured from the game you choose to score.

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

  • Apply contemporary harmonic systems—including interval-set harmony, interlocking 7ths and 9ths, Neo-Riemannian triadic transformations, the augmented scale, twelve-tone serialism, and reharmonization—to create dynamic game scores
  • Employ vertical layering, horizontal re-sequencing, and structural randomization to adapt musical arrangements to changing game states
  • Construct and implement complex interactive music systems in Audiokinetic Wwise, including transitions, randomized playlists, subtracks, music event cues, and real-time parameter controls (RTPCs)
  • Design and configure professional multibus DAW templates that meet interactive game-music export and asset-delivery standards
  • Develop business and career strategies for scoping, pricing, pitching, proposals, negotiation, networking, portfolio development, and client communication
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Syllabus

Lesson 1: DAW Templates and Asset Specifications

  • To Template or Not To Template
  • Symbols, Colors, Naming, and Searchability
  • Signal Flow, Groups, and Deliverable-Ready Routing
  • Mic Balance, Panning, EQ, VCAs, and Section Balance
  • Specs, Purging, Sample Lag, and Negative Delay
  • My Template Tour
  • Assignment 1: Template Walkthrough and Workflow Design

Lesson 2: Navigating the Wwise Interactive Music Hierarchy

  • Wwise from the Composer Perspective
  • Asset Preparation and Delivery: Looping, Naming, Loudness, and Routing Checks
  • Wwise Hierarchy for Interactive Music
  • Game Syncs
  • RTPCs and Vertical Layering
  • DAW Workflow for Non-Linear Scores
  • Assignment 2: Vertical Layering in Wwise

Lesson 3: Horizontal Re-sequencing and Structural Randomization

  • To Branch or Not To Branch: Horizontal Re-sequencing
  • Playlist Randomization
  • Transition Matrix and Connecting State 1 and State 2
  • Events
  • Music Event Cues
  • SoundCaster: Testing your Project
  • Assignment 3: Branching and Horizontal Re-sequencing in Wwise

Lesson 4: Melody, Ostinato, Reharmonization, and Wwise Variation Tools

  • The Power of Melody
  • Ostinato Writing for Interactive Scores
  • Reharmonization I: One Theme, Many States
  • Stingers
  • Expanding Orchestration Through Subtracks
  • Switch Tracks and Conditional Arrangement
  • Assignment 4: Advanced Non-Linear Music System in Wwise

Lesson 5: Interval Sets and Interlocking Harmony

  • Music as Storytelling Through Intervals
  • Home Away from Home: Harmonic Ideas That Feel Fresh, Not Random
  • Moving Further Away From Home: Uneven Layers, Inversions, Symmetry
  • Building Tension with Interlocking 7ths and 9ths
  • From Theory to Practice: Let's Make Music With Intervals!
  • Wwise Application—Interval Sets as Interactive Systems
  • Assignment 5: Non-Linear Tonality—Three-State Intervallic Wwise System

Lesson 6: Neo-Riemannian Theory and the Augmented Scale

  • Triadic Transformation: Why Neo-Riemannian Theory Fits Interactive Scoring
  • P, L, and R Operations and Hexatonic Cycles
  • N and S Operations and Weitzmann Regions
  • Tonnetz and Cube Dance
  • The Augmented Scale
  • Writing and Implementing Neo-Riemannian Material in Wwise
  • Assignment 6: Neo-Riemannian Two-State System

Lesson 7: Twelve-Tone Serialism and Randomizing Harmony

  • Life After Tonality: Pitch-Classes, Intervals, and Set Theory
  • The Twelve-Tone Row and the Magic Square
  • Designing the Row: Tonal References, Stacked Intervals, and Interval Recycling
  • Wwise Application—Serialism as a Generative Music System
  • Assignment 7: Schönberg Meets Wwise

Lesson 8: Advanced Reharmonization, Hybrid Scores, Transitions and Sound Design for Game Audio Composers

  • Reharmonization II: Advanced Reharmonization and Modulation
  • Hybrid Scores I: Orchestra, Synths, Percussion, and FX as One Instrument
  • Hybrid Scores II: Structure, Escalation, and Arrangement Craft
  • Writing Transitions
  • Sound Design Principles for the Game Composer
  • Assignment 8: Hybrid Two-State Sketch with a Bridge Transition

Lesson 9: Design, Concept, and Wwise System Architecture

  • Final Project Roadmap: From Game Choice to Audio Guide
  • Your Fourth Door
  • Telling Your Story: Building Your Network Online and Offline
  • Audio Direction
  • Wwise System Architecture: Planning the System Before You Write
  • Working with Soloists: Selection, Direction, and Recording
  • Assignment 9: Final Project Audio Guide

Lesson 10: Targeted Composition and the Business of Game Music

  • Final Project Checkpoint: From Audio Guide to Composition Draft
  • The Composer as Head of Department
  • Scoping a Project and Pricing Your Music
  • Estimating Sound Effects, Dialogue, and Added Services
  • Building a Professional Proposal
  • Assignment 10: Final Project Part II: Composition Draft

Lesson 11: Implementation and Testing in Wwise, Preparing for Live Music

  • Final Project Checkpoint: From Composition Draft to Interactive System
  • Negotiating the Deal
  • Preparing for a Recording Session
  • Score Prep for the Studio: Recorded Music vs. Performed Music
  • Expert Perspectives: Live Musicians and Global AAA Teams
  • Assignment 11: Final Project: Implementation in Wwise

Lesson 12: Final Delivery, Expert Perspectives and Where to Go Next

  • Final Project Checkpoint: From Working System to Finished Reel
  • Sampling and Building Your Own Sonic World
  • Expert Perspective—Pitching Your Music to Audio Directors, Music Supervisors, and Developers
  • The Role of the Assistant Composer
  • Next Steps: From Plan to Action
  • Assignment 12: Final Delivery and Interactive Reel

Requirements

Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements 

Prerequisite Courses, Knowledge, and/or Skills
Completion of Game Audio Production with Wwise and one of the following courses: Pro Tools 101, Accelerated Pro Tools, Pro Tools 110, Producing Music with Logic, Producing Music with Cubase, Ableton Live Fundamentals, or equivalent knowledge and experience is required.

Students should have:

  • prior experience with harmony, composition, orchestration, and music notation sufficient to analyze and create harmonic and melodic material.

Software

  • Full-featured Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), such as Pro Tools (Studio or Ultimate), Logic Pro, Cubase Pro, Ableton Live (Suite or Standard), Reaper, Reason, or FL Studio (Producer or Signature). Note that GarageBand is not acceptable.
  • Notation software, such as Sibelius, Dorico, MuseScore (free), etc.
  • Audiokinetic Wwise. Exact version will be specified within the course.
  • Software to record computer screen and audio, such as OBS

Hardware

Student Deals
After enrolling, be sure to check out our Student Deals page for various offers on software, hardware, and more. Please contact support@online.berklee.edu with any questions.

General Course Requirements

Below are the minimum requirements to access the course environment and participate in Live Classes. Please make sure to also check the Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements section above, and ensure your computer meets or exceeds the minimum system requirements for all software needed for your course. 

Mac Users

  • macOS Monterey 12.0 or later

PC Users

All Users

  • Latest version of Google Chrome
  • Zoom meeting software
  • Webcam
  • Speakers or headphones
  • External or internal microphone
  • Broadband Internet connection

Instructors

Nacho Gonzalez
Nacho Gonzalez

Author & Instructor

Nacho González Nappa is a Los Angeles musician and producer, and founder of the award-winning studio Brave Notes. González Nappa has scored multiple award-winning video games like Kingdom Rush Vengeance, Junk World, Legends of Kingdom Rush, and Iron Marines Invasion. His music combines the Western tradition of the orchestra with more local and ethnic elements from different regions of Latin America. He has also scored movies and TV Shows for Netflix and Amazon. Nacho founded U-Lab, Univision’s Music Lab, where he worked with Grammy-winning artists like Alejandro Sanz, Carlos Vives, and Jorge Drexler, and has collaborated with Terence Blanchard, John Patitucci, and Rubén Rada, among others. During that time, he produced a concert in the border between Mexico and the US, broadcasted to 80 million people, featuring some of the most important Latin pop stars. Nacho also co-founded two of the largest Latin American non-profits: TECHO and SociaLab, with presence in more than50 cities and a budget of over $60 million. His work has impacted the lives of millions volunteers and people in the bottom of the pyramid. PODER magazine recognized him as one of the "TOP 20 under 40" Hispanics in the US. Additional honors for Nacho include receiving the Wayne Shorter Award, the Jazz Education Award, MassCultural Council Fellowship, and the National Award in Classical Music by the Ministry of Education in his native Uruguay.

What's Next?

When taken for credit, Music Composition and Preparation for Video Games can be applied towards the completion of these related programs:

Related Certificate Programs

Related Music Career Roles

Employers look for skills learned in this course, when hiring for the following music career roles:

Arranger

Audio Director

Audio Programmer (Video Games)

Composer (Film)

Composer (Television)

Composer (Video Games)

Copyist (Film, TV, and Video Games)

Music Contractor

Music Director (Television)

Orchestrator (Film and TV)

Supervising Sound Editor (Film and TV)
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