Scoring the Original Soundtrack of an Escape Room

Abstract

Through the example of Nobody – Vis et ressens (Nice, France, 2021), this article sheds light on the musical creation process involved in the conception of an automatized escape room, where participants experience a multimodal experience (sound, light, scenery, video) driven by an original scenario. As the composer, sound designer, and computer music designer, I propose to study Nobody as a playful game. I show how current ludomusicology insights can be used and adapted to a game that is played in a physical space. After first exposing considerations of both technical and aesthetic aspects, I explain the artistic choices made for creating the soundtrack of six interactive puzzles. Through practice-led research of these different mini music games, I analyze how the influence of electronic dance music (EDM) and related club culture are melded together into the development of the plot and its retro-futuristic theme. I show how constraints forced me to adapt the audio content yet also opened a wide range of musical possibilities. The analysis helps clarify how what I call “game music” differs from “background music”. Moreover, the discussion highlights compositional issues that are similar to video game music-making and shows that escape rooms need to be studied further within the field of ludomusicology. Although some of the analytical tools remain valid because of their technical aspect (transition types, typology of music games, transition speed quantization) or their theoretical aspects (ALI model, branching-layering concept, triple lock of synchronization), traditional concepts such as “immersion” or “game feel” need to be questioned for escape room games, as that type of game takes place in a physical space.