GAMS: Generative, Adaptive Music System Slipgate Ironworks

Why do we want this? We want music because it can support the emotional experience of the player. But, repetitious or emotionally inappropriate music can distract the player from their actual emotional experience.

The Nature of audio repetition Identical audio repetition = bad (usually). The more traditionally “composed” music is, the less it bears repetition. Usual solutions? –Buy MUCH music –Hope no one notices until it is too late

Money For Music Music = $1,500 / minute 30 hours gameplay = $45,000

MMO Money For Music MMO gameplay can easily exceed 1000 hours. Heavy usage: 7000 hours or more! 7000 hours of music = $630,000,000.

Forget Games, Invade A Country!

ANSWER: GENERATIVE MUSIC Think of it as wind chimes: Never repeating but always familiar. Not good for highly-structured, intensely-composed music (“cinematic”). Very good at loosely-structured static mood music (“ambient”). VERY well-suited to MMO game environments.

G enerative A daptive M usic S ystem Composer Music Data GAMS Game Data Music Sounds Audio Output Combat Time of day Weather Location Anything Density Pitch Tempo Randomized Sound selection etc. provides informs plays Create High-level script from in-house audio lead controls

GAMS = World Music Good for the background; the primary voice and spirit of your game world. Important: Vary the delivery of the music: –Fade your world music in and out. –Bring in bits of more traditionally-composed music to accentuate specific things.

SO EASY AND LIGHT One programmer One audio designer Several weeks of less-than-100% man-hours * two people Tool + system = < 100kbytes

CHRIS MAYER Programmer, Slipgate Ironworks

WHAT MADE IT SO EASY? Good Communication Simple Design

G enerative A daptive M usic S ystem Composer Music Data GAMS Game Data Music Sounds Audio Output Combat Time of day Weather Location Anything Density Pitch Tempo Randomized Sound selection etc. provides informs plays create High-level script from in-house audio lead controls

WHERE DID THE TIME GO?

SAMPLE XML music/chimera music/tavener music/texture1 music/texture2 music/windchime music/modpad music/chimera music/tavener 1 music/tavener music/texture music/texture Etc...

WHAT MADE IT SO EASY? Good Communication Simple Design Use The Right Language Use The Right Programmer

Who would compose music with this? Composer must be: –Comfortable with non-linear, non- traditional music and methods –Technically savvy –Games-oriented –Familiar with ambient music –Familiar with generative music –Actually likes debugging software

JIM HEDGES Independent Composer San Francisco, CA

How this music is different from other interactive/adaptive music? “Traditional” adaptive music is still based on linear forms.

JOHN CAGE Used divisions of time as the structural principle of the piece, essentially abandoning harmony and melody as structural components. The divisions of time are mapped out, and then various combinations of sound/silence can be played according to the temporal structure.

ERIC SATIE “There is no need for the orchestra to grimace when a character comes on the stage. Do the trees in the scenery grimace? What we have to do is to create a musical scenery, a musical atmosphere in which the characters move and talk”

EARL BROWN Pieces : “Music for violin, cello and piano” Influenced by Alexander Calder and Jackson Pollack Constructed with units of self contained rhythmic and melodic groups, which can be played back in any order, in any combination. The result being “one static version of compositionally mobile events” “December 1952” “Four Systems” - take the oposite approach. The structure is fixed, but the material is unspecified.

MORTON FELDMAN “Projections” 1951 – Graphic scores which project sounds into time, while specifying pitch only in terms of high, medium and low.

BRIAN ENO Absorbed all of these influences, and used many similar techniques. Used the modern recording studio and synthesizers instead of traditional concert instruments.

COMMON APPROACH Musical elements which are normally interdependent are separated Certain elements are relatively fixed, other elements relatively free RESULT: Pieces with a recognizable identity, which never sound exactly the same over repeat performances

FROM MUSIC TO GAMES These techniques address the inherent problems of audio in non-linear media

THANK GOD FOR MIDDLEWARE ! FMOD

1. Events: Pitch, Timbre, Motive (melodic and rhythmic) + 2. Temporal Relationships: How events occur relative to each other = 3. Density/Orchestration over time: Color, Mood, Structure

Potential Problems Ownership/blame: Easy for client to alter composer’s assets. Delivery of sounds: Rights/legal issues. Not conducive to highly-composed, focused music. Possibly hard to sell to producer, director, execs (i.e. “sounds weird”). Probably less effective in low- memory contexts.

HOW TO GET APPROVAL: EXPLAIN WHAT PROBLEMS YOUR AUDIO TECH WILL SOLVE

What this can do for the player and for your company: It will make your players much less likely to turn off the music or even all the sound. –Informal poll: Everquest guild of 100+ people: 92% said they had music turned off, 74% said they had all sound off!

It will make the game directly, viscerally pleasurable to play –Better reviews –Better word-of-mouth What this can do for the player and for your company:

Increased sales for games with in- game purchase model. See Julian Treasure’s “Sound Business” for extensive research references. What this can do for the player and for your company:

GAMS: YOU LIKE IT HERE Or perhaps, “You like it hear”