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.
Game Music Studies
Game Music Composition, Design, and History
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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
Journal of Sound and Music in Games (University of California Press)
Screen Sound Journal (Australia/Oceania focus)
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