Games - IMUSE

	Games - IMUSE

iMUSE (stands for Interactive MUsic Streaming Engine) is a game engine invented by Michael Land and his friend Peter McConnell. It is specifically designed to synchronize music with visual action in a video game. The point of iMUSE is to make the music fit to the scenes, characters and moods of the game. It is patented under US Patent No. 5,315,057 by LucasArts. It was added to the fifth version of the SCUMM engine in 1991.

The first game to use the iMUSE system was Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge and it has been used in all LucasArts adventure games since. It has also been used for some non-adventure LucasArts titles, including the entire X-Wing computer game series.

The system is designed so that the transition between the remixes is smooth, like one solid music piece.

Occurrences

A typical example of its facility is in the cemetery of Monkey Island 2: when outside the cemetery, creepy music is heard. When the player enters it, a remix of the same melody fades in, from the same point the transition happened. The same effect is heard when the player zooms in on a coffin. This is done by recording three different versions of the same piece with slight alterations, each triggered whenever the screen changes.

In Star Wars: X-wing, while the player is flying, the engine plays the normal soundtrack, loosely based on the Star Wars theme. When a Rebellion craft enters the area, the music is interrupted and the brief "Rebellion theme" is heard. Likewise, when an Imperial craft enters, the first cue of "The Imperial March" is heard. Other cues contribute when a mission objective is reached or failed, when the player enters hyperspace from a successful or a failed mission, etc.

The interruption of music, insertion of short cues, and continuing of the music, uses a sophisticated algorithm that makes the interruption unobvious. The result is a unique and flowing piece.

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