This course offers practical instruction in designing and programming music for video games.  Students will first gain an understanding of the medium of gaming by exploring its interactive context, and its differences from other media.  Gaming technology, for example, has exhibited a profound influence on the "sound" of gaming, and so students will learn how to produce the sounds of vintage video game hardware such as the Nintendo NES and Sega Genesis, using modern music software and plug-ins.  The course will also introduce students to design elements unique to game scoring, such as the requirement of flexibility in the face of dynamic gameplay, in their compositions.  Finally, students will compose their own interactive composition, by using the video game music and sound effects "middleware" authoring tool, FMOD.