Computer games rely on the player to make decisions within the game, so music needs to react and interact to these decisions in real-time. As technology has advanced, new approaches to interactive music systems have been created and have now become just as important as graphics and gameplay. West B. Latta explains,
"Games are an interactive medium, and as such, the presentation of musical soundtracks must also be able to adapt to changing gameplay. To get a truly immersive experience, the music in games must change on-the-fly according to what is happening in the game, while still retaining a cinematic quality." http://www.shockwave-sound.com/Articles/C01_Interactive_Music_in_Games.html
The earliest forms of games were limited to simple 8-bit sounds that would play when triggered or heard as a short musical loop playing in the background. Classic games such as Zelda and Supermario started to show signs of development with the idea of an interactive music system, but were still bound by the technology of their time. The interactive music scheme in Super Mario Brothers music changed in tempo as the player's time was running out.
An interactive music system reacts to the player's choices within the game, such as finding hidden objects and entering certain areas. Project Bar-B-Q 2003 discusses interactive audio systems and questions what an interactive audio system is as well as what it should be.
"An audio system that is designed to have its pre-determined sonic behavior influenced in response to real-time events, and is comprised of an Interactive Audio Engine and Interactive Audio Data". http://www.projectbarbq.com/bbq03/bbq03r5.htm
Below is a flow diagram of the Interactive Audio System in games
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| http://www.projectbarbq.com/bbq03/bbq03r5.htm |
Some argue that music in video games does not require an interactive element and a musical score will suffice. However, some of the benefits of an interactive music system seem more appropraite than a simple cinematic score. Here are some of 'project bar-b-q's outcomes:
- It enhances the user experience.
- It empowers the user via participation and choice, facilitating the market trend toward active consumption.
- It provokes and inspires user involvement.
- It creates a unique personality for products.
- It enables users to perform new types of activities.
- It creates a participatory education experience.
- It's potentially cheaper to implement.
- It allows simplification of the system and cost reduction.
- It allows audiences to experience interactive audio outside of its original context.
http://www.projectbarbq.com/bbq03/bbq03r5.htm
"It would be really cool if game music could complement onscreen action with the same kind of subtlety, depth, and expression. The complication is that, in games, the timing, pacing, contexts, and outcomes of the onscreen action are constantly in flux, depending on the actions of the player." http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/129990/defining_adaptive_music.php?print=1
One of the first interactive music systems to be used in games was 'Direct Music Producer' which was a component of Microsoft DirectX. It allows the user to create music and sound effects that would be selected by the users choices in the game. It enables the gamer to experience variation in the music and sounds. 'Stainless Steel Studios' was a games company that adopted the use of 'Direct music Producer' in games such as 'Empires: Dawn of the Modern World'. Sound designer Scott Morgan was drafted in to create an interactive music system for 'Empires: Dawn of the Modern World' due to his experience with Microsoft and 'Direct Music Producer'. Here is Morgan's demonstration of 'Direct Music Producer';
Middleware
In modern production of video games, there are two leading pieces of software that are integrated into games... Fmod and Wwise.
FMOD
Through event systems the composer can utilize multichannel audio files or 'stems'. This allows certain individual instruments or sections to be added or subtracted based on games states. or any other dynamic information fed into FMOD such as health, location, proximity to certain objects or enemies. FMOD takes a more 'logic based' approach and allows the designer to define various cue, segments and themes that transition to other cues, segments or themes based on any user-defined set of parameters. FMOD allows for beat-matched transitions, and time-synchronized 'flourish' segments.
FMOD was used in
- Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Depending on the level of 'stealth and stress' of the player, different intensities of music would begin to be brought in. This is called 'vertical' approach to music system design
- Tomb Raider: Legend
Troels Folmann used a system which he devised called 'micro-scoring', which is crafting vast number of small musical phrases and themes that were then strung together in a logical way based on the players actions throughout the course of the game. An example in the game: the player may explore a jungle area with an ambient soundtrack playing. As they interact with an artifact or puzzle, a seamless transition is made to a micro-score that is specific to that game event.
Wwise is the product of AudioKinetic, which allows multichannel stems to be intergrated into a "logic-based" approach to music design. With these features composers can create a series of themes with time-synchronized transitions which are created through game events or states. It also allows other parameters to fade various musical stems in and out of the mix, creating smooth transitions and a more professional finish. Wwise is a system that incorporates both a horizontal and vertical approach to music design. (West B. Latta)
Wwise has been used in a huge amount of games
Such as:
- Batman: Arkham City
- Halo Wars and Halo 4
- Mass Effect 2 & 3
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2
- Assassin's Creed 2, 3 & Brotherhood
Wwise also includes features such as, cross-platform sound engine, real-time game simulator, plug-in architecture and SoundFrame API
Video Example of Interactive Music System
"The “X-Wing” (PC DOS) series, which debuted in 1993, featured MIDI versions of John Williams and John-Williams-esque orchestral music. Lucas Arts’ patented iMUSE music engine handled sophisticated run-time interactions between dramatic onscreen action and a database of music loops, cues, and transitions. (Evolving versions of iMUSE were also used on a number of later Lucas Arts projects.)" http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/129990/defining_adaptive_music.php?print=1
Here is an example of an Interactive Music System being used in conjunction with the timing of an online game of Battlefield 3. What you hear at first is only sounds from within the game, such as gun fire and explosions etc. However, at 0:48 in the video the enemy team only has five remaining lives and are about to be defeated. At the moment the number reaches five the music starts, which builds in texture until the game concludes. The music then continues to play in full orchestration during the scoresheet screen.
The use of interactive music in Battlefield 3 is used in every game type, and used in a similar manor. As a team is reaching the end of a game, the music starts. Each team hears different music, which will either be victory music or defeat music. The increase in musical texture gives the players a sense of urgency and can often push them further in the game with added adrenaline.
Another example of Battlefield 3's interactive audio implementation is through dialogue in online games. Using game type 'conquest' as an example, the dialogue will be heard when a flag has been captured. But the intensity of the dialogue will be assessed on how many of the flags have been lost in total. So if your team has three flags captured but the fourth has just been lost, it will only be explained but with little expression. However, if the you had just lost all the flags, the dialogue would be screamed out, to suggest that you need to work harder.
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