AGATE

AGATE

Adaptive, Generative Audio Tonal Environment

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...

•Minimal coverage for 30-hour game:

30 minutes music = $45,000

MMO Money For Music

• MMO gameplay can easily exceed 1000 hours.

• Heavy usage: 7000 hours or more!• Full coverage: all new music all the time =

420,000 minutes of music• 420,000 minutes 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.

AAdaptive daptive GGenerative enerative AAudio udio TTonal onal EEnvironmentnvironment

Composer

MusicData

AGATE

GameData

MusicSounds

AudioOutput

• Combat• Time of day• Weather• Location• Anything

• Density• Pitch• Tempo• Randomized Sound selection• etc.

provides

provides

informs

plays

Create

High-levelscript from in-house

audio lead

controls

What else?

•Sequences•Keymapping•Totally awesome lasers•Etc.

AGATE = 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, mostly research and design-iteration

• System = < 10kbytes• CPU usage is so small it is difficult to

measure

CHRISTOPHER MAYER

Contract Programmer

Composer

MusicData

AGATE

GameData

MusicSounds

AudioOutput

• Combat• Time of day• Weather• Location• Anything

• Density• Pitch• Tempo• Randomized Sound selection• etc.

provides

provides

informs

plays

create

High-levelscript from in-house

audio lead

controls

AAdaptive daptive GGenerative enerative AAudio udio TTonal onal EEnvironmentnvironment

WHERE DID THE TIME GO?

Edit Tool

AGATE

Gamehooks

1st - FMOD Events, AGATE 1, Game Hooks, Editor

2 months part time

2nd - XACT, AGATE 2, Editor2 weeks part time

3rd - FMOD Ex, AGATE 3, Editor5 hours

SAMPLE MOOD FILESoundbank: C:\Soundbanks\TestBank.fsb

Tempo: 360

Volume: .5

GuitarG3 5 64 1 Seq 1 1 -1 1 -12 12 952

ViolaG3 20 16 2 Seq .5 1 -1 1 -12 12 952

PianoG3 35 4 4 Chord .5 1 -1 1 -12 12 952

Snare 100 1 8 Chord .5 1 -1 1 -12 12 FFF

void main(int argc, char *argv[]){

audioInit();agateLoadMood(argv[1]);while (!_kbhit()){

agateLoop();audioLoop();

}agateUnloadMood();audioExit();

}

void audioInit(void);void audioLoop(void);void audioExit(void);void audioLoadSoundbank(const char *file);void audioPlay(int index, float frequency, float volume, float

pan);int audioGetIndex(const char *soundname);

typedef struct{

int soundIndex;int probability; // 0 to 100int nNotes; // 0 to ?int beat; // 1 to ?bool chord; // chord or sequenceint nQueued; // 0 to nNotesfloat volMin, volMax; // 0.0 to +1.0float panMin, panMax; // -1.0 to +1.0int pitchMin, pitchMax; // -12 to +12int pitchScale; // 12 bitsint *pitchList; // centsint pitchListSize;

}

AGATE_SOUND;void agateLoadMood(const char *filename);void agateUnloadMood(void);void agateLoop(void);

void agatePlay(int i){

float frequency = (float)_mood[i].pitchList[rand() % _mood[i].pitchListSize];

float volume = randFloat(_mood[i].volMin, _mood[i].volMax);

float pan = randFloat(_mood[i].panMin, _mood[i].panMax);audioPlay(_mood[i].soundIndex, frequency, volume, pan);

}

void agateLoop(void) {for (unsigned int i=0; i<_mood.size(); i++) {

if (_beat % _mood[i].beat) continue;if (rand()%100 < _mood[i].probability) if (_mood[i].chord)

for (int j=0; j<(rand()%_mood[i].nNotes)+1; j++) agatePlay(i);

else if (_mood[i].nQueued == 0)for (int j=0; j<(rand()%_mood[i].nNotes)+1; j++) _mood[i].nQueued++;

if (_mood[i].nQueued) { _mood[i].nQueued--; agatePlay(i);}

}_beat++;Sleep(60000/_tempo);

}

Who would compose music with this?

• Composer should be:– Comfortable with non-linear, non-

traditional music and methods– Technically savvy (?)– Games-oriented– Familiar with ambient music– Familiar with generative music– Enjoys helping to design new technology

JIM HEDGES

Independent Composerand sound-designer

San Francisco, CA

How is this different from other forms of adaptive music?

“Vertical” approach: Layering and cross fading tracks

“Horizontal” approach: Starting and stopping cues

Often the two are combined Both approaches tend to rely on through

composed, long “stems”

How is this different from other forms of adaptive music?

AGATE uses smaller elements, from short clips to individual notes

It combines these elements both horizontally and vertically i.e it starts/stops and layers elements

It combines pre-determined elements with probability and randomization

Why use middleware intended for sound design?

This kind of music has much in common with sound design approaches and practices

Avoiding repetition and producing variety while retaining a recognizable identity

Collections of small elements, recombined at run time using randomization and probability

AGATE leverages these strengths of sound design middleware for creating music

Musical examples: Interlocking rhythm

Musical Examples: Timbre

Musical Examples: Melody

Prime


Prime


Prime

Up 4


Prime

Up 4

Down 4

Musical Examples: Stingers

Conclusion: Impressions Forces composer to think primarily in terms

of timbre, density and orchestration A more “sound design” approach to

composition Learn how to work with semi-randomness Be comfortable adapting one's approach

during the compositional process

Conclusion: Impressions

• “Each thing you add modifies the whole set of things that went before and you suddenly find yourself at a place that you couldn't possibly have conceived of, a place that's strange and curious to you. That sense of mystery, learning to live with it and make use of it, is extremely important.”

- Brian Eno

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

• Infinite minutes of music in finite storage and RAM

• Large coverage with very reasonable amount of work from composer


• Increased sales for games with in-game purchase model. See Julian Treasure’s “Sound Business” for extensive research references.


AGATE: YOU LIKE IT HEREOr perhaps, “You like it hear”

AGATE

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