Then, imagine this lamb is saved from beheading by a god-like figure called The One Who Waits and must then start a cult to repay the favour, by recruiting followers, conducting dark rituals, and fighting the leaders of competing creeds.

This is the bizarre premise of the hotly anticipated video game Cult of the Lamb by Melbourne developers Massive Monster, set to be released on August 11.

For the past three years composer Narayana Johnson has been making an electronic soundtrack to go with the game's woolly adventures.

His ominous auditory landscape is one of drum beats, distorted bass, choirs and flutes, with reverb, echoes and delays marking out night-time scenes.

Johnson, 33, who also makes electro-pop under the moniker Riverboy, will share the secrets of gaming music at High Score, a Melbourne event that links musicians with game developers.

"You're adding emotional depth to a space, you're adding layers that might not have been there without the audio," he told AAP.

Unlike music for an album or film, a video game soundtrack is a series of loops programmed to respond to in-game events - which means it will be different every time a player picks up a console.

A good soundtrack is not only interactive, it has a strong theme without distracting from the action, according to composer Jeff van Dyck, a High Score keynote speaker.

"It's very dynamic, very technical, but when it works it feels amazing to the player, because the music is reacting very quickly to everything that they're doing," he told AAP.

The Brisbane-based composer began his 30-year career making gaming soundtracks after failing to make his name in electro-pop bands.

In 1992, van Dyck applied for a job at a company called Electronic Arts, which needed sound effects for a game based on the US National Hockey League.

As it turned out, that was the hit game EA NHL, later versions of which are still played.

"I haven't looked back since, I had to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming because I was literally doing the very thing I wanted to be doing," he said.

Despite winning three BAFTAs and composing the music for EA's FIFA, as well as Total War, Hand of Fate II and most recently Unpacking, van Dyck said he still encounters the assumption that his work is merely manufacturing beep noises.

"It couldn't be further from that now, Australia has a huge pool of talented people who are making incredible games and they are bringing a huge amount of money into the Australian economy."

Two thirds of Australians play video games, and in 2020/21 game development studios made $226 million, with 82 per cent of that money from overseas markets, according to figures from the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association.

The local industry got its start mainly because US gaming companies wanted to take advantage of the time difference to run 24/7 development, until the global financial crisis saw global studios shut local operations.

Many Australian developers took their talents to the US, but those who stayed were fiercely independent, according to Cameron Lam from music rights body APRA AMCOS, and the local industry is beginning to reap the benefits of that ethos.

"What we're seeing now is that generation of game developers and associated community coming to fruition," he told AAP.

Recent Aussie hits include Unpacking by Witch Beam in Brisbane, Hollow Knight by Team Cherry in Adelaide, and in Melbourne, Untitled Goose Game by House House and Florence by the studio Mountains.

For musicians who depend on income from live touring and album sales, video game royalties could be a new way to make money, Lam said.

But the industry is being held back by skill shortages and lack of funding, according to the association.

The federal government offered tax breaks for developers in 2021, then pledged fresh funding through Screen Australia in March.

According to van Dyck, Australians still don't really know where their latest video game actually comes from.

"The amount of money coming into Australia because of the games that we're making is huge, and it should be celebrated more in Australia," he said.

High Score: Composition and Sound Art for Games takes place from October 1 in Melbourne as part of Melbourne International Games Week.

Australian Associated Press