I’m definitely addicted to the new Bejeweled Stars. Technically, I blame Karen Collins, who first told me how great the game and audio were when we had her on the show last month.
In any event, I was taken by the brilliance of the music of Bejeweled Stars. Composer Guy Whitmore is responsible for it, and it was a pleasure to speak with him. Guy has long been a pioneer of adaptive music (also known as interactive music). With adaptive music, the audio changes according to set events in a game. For instance, if a monster in a game jumps into your path, a short, loud chord of music might play.In Bejeweled Stars, the music adapts as players make matches. Additionally, it adapts based on what type of match you make and if matches are cascading, or if you’re about to run out of moves.

Guy started working on adaptive music during his time at Sierra Games in the 90s. He eventually worked for Monolith Producitons, and has now been at PopCap for about six years.
Our Patron of the Week is Mike Manor. Mike lives here in the Twin Cities and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him at various conventions around town. Here is his list of favorite game music; we talked about the first two:1. “Life in the Mines” from Donkey Kong Country by David Wise2. “Terra’s Theme” from Final Fantasy VI by Nobuo Uematsu

3. “Dragonborn” from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim by Jeremy Soule

4. The Main Theme from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past by Koji Kondo

5. “Vampire Killer” from Castlevania by Michiru Yamane

6. “Baba Yetu” from Civilization IV by Christopher Tin