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Dynamic Soundscape Composition in Game Contexts

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Dynamic Soundscape Composition in Game Contexts DYNAMIC SOUNDSCAPE COMPOSITION IN GAME CONTEXTS by DURVAL NUNO SIMÕES PIRES BSc, University of Coimbra 2012 A DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF INFORMATICS ENGINEERING Department of Informatics Engineering Faculty of Sciences and Technology UNIVERSITY OF COIMBRA Portugal 2012/2013 Supervised by: Licínio Roque Abstract Most sound design techniques and tools used today were adopted from linear mediums, proving insufficient to cope with the dynamic nature of videogames. Moreover, Middleware tools, which are an alternative to deal with this challenge, can be out of range for indie developers, due to their price and required know-how. In this dissertation, we propose a Dynamic Soundscape Composition system, which aims to enhance soundscapes experienced during gameplay, by means of a holistic approach to Sound Design. The system implements soundscape composition techniques that follow principles from Acoustic Ecology, specifically, the notion of healthy soundscape. This composition module is supported by a set of composition techniques which attempt to deal with the dynamic nature of the medium. Also, the module composes the soundscape in a dynamic fashion, by following the designer‟s intentions defined in the game code by a new API, also presented in this work. The system provides designers the chance to characterize the soundscape by means of this accessible and intuitive API. This API empowers designers by allowing intentions for sound design to be materialized using sound design vocabulary, as opposed to plain programming procedures. Following specifications for the system‟s architecture, the API was validated by a formal usability test. Results of the experiment showed the API, although requiring time for an adaptation process, can be seen as an accessible alternative in terms of describing and implementing soundscapes in videogame contexts. Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... viii List of Appendices ......................................................................................................................... ix Glossary .......................................................................................................................................... x Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... xiii 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Motivation ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Context ............................................................................................................................ 2 1.3 Objectives ....................................................................................................................... 3 2 State of the Art ......................................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Videogame Audio History .............................................................................................. 4 2.1.1 The beginning ............................................................................................................. 4 2.1.2 Game Audio Evolution ............................................................................................... 5 2.2 Current Practices in the Context of Game Sound Design ............................................... 6 2.2.1 Current Videogame Sound Design Processes ............................................................. 7 2.2.2 Mixing ......................................................................................................................... 7 2.2.3 Dynamic Nature of Game Audio ................................................................................ 9 2.2.4 Sample Based vs Procedural Audio .......................................................................... 10 2.3 Sound Computing Architecture .................................................................................... 12 2.3.1 Middleware Architecture .......................................................................................... 13 2.3.2 Sound Lib/API Architecture ..................................................................................... 14 2.3.3 Procedural/Dataflow Architecture ............................................................................ 14 2.4 Sound Technologies ...................................................................................................... 15 2.4.1 Middleware Tools ..................................................................................................... 15 2.4.2 Sound Libs/APIs ....................................................................................................... 19 2.4.3 Procedural/Dataflow Tools ....................................................................................... 22 2.4.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 25 iv 2.5 Related Research ........................................................................................................... 25 2.6 Acoustic Ecology .......................................................................................................... 27 2.6.1 Soundscape Definition .............................................................................................. 27 2.6.2 Acoustic Communication.......................................................................................... 29 2.6.3 Acoustic Design ........................................................................................................ 30 2.6.4 Soundscape Composition .......................................................................................... 32 2.6.5 Acoustic Ecology Ideal ............................................................................................. 32 2.7 Conjecture on Soundscape Composition in Games ...................................................... 32 3 Approach ................................................................................................................................ 35 3.1 Research Objectives ...................................................................................................... 35 3.1.1 Soundscape Specification API .................................................................................. 36 3.1.2 Systematization of Soundscape Composition Techniques ....................................... 36 3.1.3 Dynamic Soundscape Composition Module ............................................................. 37 3.2 Methodology ................................................................................................................. 38 3.3 Planning ........................................................................................................................ 41 3.3.1 Milestones ................................................................................................................. 42 3.3.2 Execution .................................................................................................................. 44 3.4 Dynamic Soundscape Composition Solution Architecture........................................... 45 3.4.1 API Design ................................................................................................................ 45 3.4.2 Soundscape Composition Techniques ...................................................................... 52 3.4.3 Dynamic Soundscape Composition Module ............................................................. 59 4 Results.................................................................................................................................... 67 4.1 Prototyping Activities ................................................................................................... 67 4.1.1 Activities Developed ................................................................................................. 69 4.1.2 Work prioritization.................................................................................................... 73 4.1.3 Expected behavior ..................................................................................................... 75 4.1.4 Requirements ............................................................................................................ 75 4.2 Experimental Evaluation ............................................................................................... 78 4.2.1 Testing Technique ..................................................................................................... 78 4.2.2 Test Planning ............................................................................................................ 79 4.2.3 Test Scenario ............................................................................................................
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