Making Games to Learn Music: this case study explores an intersection of Twine, activity-centred learning, and tertiary music composition students

<p dir="ltr">Composing music for games requires an understanding of context. The medium is interactive and structurally complex, and so the planning, design, and implementation, of a music system, will always be bespoke. At the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, my students make original games to enrich their experience of learning musical composition. This thesis outlines the strategies I have devised to achieve music learning via game-making, which have been largely based on gut feelings, observation, experience, and (somewhat stubbornly held) beliefs about what is best. This includes use of Twine templates, curation of supportive game examples, and peer collaboration. And so, my approach is open to further scrutiny: Can making games really make for better composers of music?</p><p dir="ltr">This case study is multidisciplinary, but rooted in the field of digital game-based learning, in which research is often built from niche examples of real practice. Six students from my 2023 Composing for Games cohort were interviewed to diagnose their music learning, after making original games in an environment where ‘music learning’ itself is contested, and their potential future practice is fragile. They highlight the challenges that arise from making games outside of a formal game education program, difficulties in prototyping for web audio, and that they want to make games that are more complex than the game engine, Twine, will generally allow. These insights inform useful future iterations on the design of the unit, while positioning accessibility and empowerment as central to learning. While niche, these ideas apply more widely to digital game-based learning, to inform educators whose students make games via interdisciplinary, activity-centred approaches.</p>