This is a list of published texts, journals and websites for ludomusicological research and reference, organised by general focus. It is by no means exhaustive, but we recommend this collection as both a strong starting point and continued point of reference.
Monographs and Edited Collections
Game Music and Audio Scholarship
From Pac-Man to Pop Music (2008) – Karen Collins
Game Sound Technology and Player Interaction: Concepts and Developments (2011) – Mark Grimshaw
Playing with Sound (2013) – Karen Collins
Music and Games: Perspectives on a Popular Alliance (2012) – Peter Moormann
Music in Video Games (2014) – K.J. Donnelly, William Gibbons, and Neil Lerner
Sound Play: Video Games and the Musical Imagination (2014) – William Cheng
Music Video Games (2016) – Michael Austin
Understanding Video Game Music (2016) – Tim Summers
Ludomusicology: Approaches to Video Game Music (2016) – Michiel Kamp, Tim Summers, Mark Sweeney
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Game Music History and/or Design
The Complete Guide to Game Audio: For Composers, Musicians, Sound Designers, and Game Developers (2001) – Aaron Marks
Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture (2003) – David Kushner
Game Sound (2008) – Karen Collins
Video Game Music (2015) – Daniel Ross
Keys to Play: Music as a Ludic Medium from Apollo to Nintendo (2016) – Roger Moseley
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Game Music Composition
Music for New Media: Composing for Video Games, Web Sites, Presentations, and other Interactive Media (2007) – Paul Hoffert
Keeping Score: Interviews with Today’s Top Film, Television, and Video Game Composers (2009) – Tom Hoover
A Composer’s Guide to Game Music (2014) Winifred Phillips
Composing Music for Games: The Art, Technology and Business of Video Game Scoring (2015) – Chance Thomas
Writing Interactive Music for Video Games (2015) – Michael Sweet
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Music and Sound in Screen Media
Film Art: An Introduction (1979) – David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson
Hearing Film (2000) – Anahid Kassabian
Audio-Vision: Screen on Sound (1994) – Michel Chion
Media Archeology: Approaches, Applications, and Implications (2011) – Jussi Parikka
The Oxford Handbook of Sound and Image in Digital Media (2013) – Carol Vernallis, Amy Herzog and John Richardson
The Oxford Handbook of Film Music Studies (2013) – David Neumeyer
The Routledge Companion to Screen Music and Sound (2017) – Miguel Mera, Roland Sadoff and Ben Winters
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Video Game Scholarship, Design and Culture
Trigger Happy: Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution (2001) – Steven Poole
What Video Games Have to Teach us About Learning and Literacy (2003) – James Paul Gee
Rules of Play (2003) – Eric Zimmerman and Katie Salen
Game Design: Theory and Practice (2004) – Richard Rouse II
Videogames (2004) – James Newman
Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds (2005) – Jesper Juul
Digital Gameplay: Essays on the Nexus of Game and Gamer (2005) – Nate Garrelts
Playing Video Games: Motives, Responses, and Consequences (2006) – Peter Vorderer, Jennings Bryant
Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture (2006) – Alexander R. Galloway
Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Video Games (2007) – Ian Bogost
Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction (2008) – Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Jonas Heide Smith, Susana Pajares Tosca
Digital Cultures: Understanding New Media (2009) – Glen Creeber and Royston Martin
Game Feel: A Game Designer’s Guide to Virtual Sensation (2009) Steve Swink
Playing Along: Digital Games, Youtube, and Virtual Performance (2012) – Kiri Miller
Digital Play: The Interaction of Technology, Culture, and Marketing (2015) – Stephen Kline, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Greig De Peuter
Video Games Around the World (2015) – Mark J. P. Wolf and Toru Iwatani
The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses (2015) – Jesse Schell
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Ludology, Narratology and Media Studies
Homo Ludens (1938) – Johan Huizinga
Man, Play and Games (French Les Jeux et Les Hommes) – (1958) – Roger Caillois
The Laws of the Game: How the Principles of Nature Govern Chance (1975) – Manfred Eigen and Ruthild Winkler
Image Music Text (1977) – Roland Barthes
Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method (1980) – Gérard Genette
Narrative Comprehension and Film (1992) – Edward Branigan
Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation (1997) – Gérard Genette
First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game (2004) – Noah Wardrip-Fruin
Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (2006) – Henry Jenkins
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Business & Marketing
The Business and Culture of Digital Games: Gamework and Gameplay (2006) – Aphra Kerr
Journals and Website Research
Screen Sound Journal (Australia/Oceania focus)
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