DOCSLIB.ORG

UC Irvine UC Irvine Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
UC Irvine UC Irvine Electronic Theses and Dissertations UC Irvine UC Irvine Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Advanced Dynamic Music: Composing Algorithmic Music in Video Games as an Improvisatory Device for Players Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1s995322 Author Liu, Yihui Publication Date 2021 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ 4.0 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE Advanced Dynamic Music: Composing Algorithmic Music in Video Games as an Improvisatory Device for Players DISSERTATION submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology by Yihui Liu Dissertation Committee: Professor Mari Kimura, Chair Professor Christopher Dobrian Professor Vincent Olivieri Assistant Professor Theresa Jean Tanenbaum 2021 © 2021 Yihui Liu DEDICATION To my family and friends in recognition of their worth “But every time you hurt me, the less that I cry And every time you leave me, the quicker these tears dry And every time you walk out, the less I love you Baby, we don't stand a chance, it's sad but it's true I'm way too good at goodbyes” Lines from a song by Sam Smith called Too Good at Goodbyes (the remixed version by Snakehips). I have been listening to this song hundreds of times while I was writing this paper and it has become a musical inspiration to me in many ways. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ..............................................................................................................................................................ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF ACRONYMS ............................................................................................................................................ xiv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................................................... xv VITA .......................................................................................................................................................................... xvi ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................. xvii Chapter 1. Introduction to Game Music .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Purpose of This Dissertation ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Style-diverse Game Music ......................................................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 2. Research and Literature on Game Music .................................................................................. 6 2.1. Characteristics of Game Music ................................................................................................................................ 6 2.2. Game Music Composition ..................................................................................................................................... 15 2.2.1. Techniques and Approaches ........................................................................................................................ 15 2.2.2. Methods of Theoretical Analysis ................................................................................................................ 16 2.3. Game Music VS. Film Music ................................................................................................................................... 18 2.4. Towards ADM .............................................................................................................................................................. 22 2.5. Motivation for Developing ADM .......................................................................................................................... 24 Chapter 3. Composing ADM - Do or Die: A Roll Playing Adventure ..................................................... 26 3.1. Structural Design ....................................................................................................................................................... 26 3.1.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................ 26 3.1.2. Tools and Software........................................................................................................................................... 27 3.1.3. Game Triggers and Parameters .................................................................................................................. 29 3.1.4. The Musical Movements ................................................................................................................................ 30 3.1.5. Tempo Design ..................................................................................................................................................... 32 3.1.6. Meter Design ....................................................................................................................................................... 38 3.2. The Musical Assets: Instrumentation, Timbre, and Audio Samples .................................................... 40 3.2.1. The Title Scene ................................................................................................................................................... 40 3.2.2. The Gameplay Scene ........................................................................................................................................ 41 iii 3.2.3. The Gameover Scene ....................................................................................................................................... 47 3.3. Music Sequences and Sections ............................................................................................................................. 48 3.3.1. Title and Game Over Movements: Dynamic Loops and Static Loops ......................................... 48 3.3.2. The Backing Group in Gameplay ................................................................................................................. 52 3.3.3. Triggering Conditions and Transitions ................................................................................................... 56 3.4. Progressions, Phrases, and Patterns ................................................................................................................. 64 3.4.1. Harmonic Progression in the Title and Game Over Movements .................................................. 65 3.4.2. Phrases and Patterns in the Gameplay .................................................................................................... 66 3.4.3. Generative Patterns, Timer, and Probabilities ..................................................................................... 72 3.5. Real Time Signal Processing and Spatial Design .......................................................................................... 84 3.6. Summary of Project .................................................................................................................................................. 87 Chapter 4. Composing ADM - Mastery........................................................................................................... 89 4.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................. 89 4.1.1. A Multi-movement Piece................................................................................................................................ 89 4.1.2. Collaboration ...................................................................................................................................................... 90 4.2. The Generative Counter Melodies - A Pitch Ranking System ................................................................. 91 4.2.1. The Beginning of the Journey ...................................................................................................................... 91 4.2.2. Algorithmic Rules for Harmonious Generation ................................................................................... 92 4.2.3. The Pitch Collections (PCs)........................................................................................................................... 95 4.2.4. Pitch and Voice-leading ............................................................................................................................... 101 4.2.5. Dynamic Instrumentation and Sequencing ........................................................................................ 108 4.2.6. Static Notes in Counter Melodies
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Injective Modules: Preparatory Material for the Snowbird Summer School on Commutative Algebra
    INJECTIVE MODULES: PREPARATORY MATERIAL FOR THE SNOWBIRD SUMMER SCHOOL ON COMMUTATIVE ALGEBRA These notes are intended to give the reader an idea what injective modules are, where they show up, and, to a small extent, what one can do with them. Let R be a commutative Noetherian ring with an identity element. An R- module E is injective if HomR( ;E) is an exact functor. The main messages of these notes are − Every R-module M has an injective hull or injective envelope, de- • noted by ER(M), which is an injective module containing M, and has the property that any injective module containing M contains an isomorphic copy of ER(M). A nonzero injective module is indecomposable if it is not the direct • sum of nonzero injective modules. Every injective R-module is a direct sum of indecomposable injective R-modules. Indecomposable injective R-modules are in bijective correspondence • with the prime ideals of R; in fact every indecomposable injective R-module is isomorphic to an injective hull ER(R=p), for some prime ideal p of R. The number of isomorphic copies of ER(R=p) occurring in any direct • sum decomposition of a given injective module into indecomposable injectives is independent of the decomposition. Let (R; m) be a complete local ring and E = ER(R=m) be the injec- • tive hull of the residue field of R. The functor ( )_ = HomR( ;E) has the following properties, known as Matlis duality− : − (1) If M is an R-module which is Noetherian or Artinian, then M __ ∼= M.
    [Show full text]
  • A Non-Slick Proof of the Jordan Hölder Theorem E.L. Lady This Proof Is An
    A Non-slick Proof of the Jordan H¨older Theorem E.L. Lady This proof is an attempt to approximate the actual thinking process that one goes through in finding a proof before one realizes how simple the theorem really is. To start with, though, we motivate the Jordan-H¨older Theorem by starting with the idea of dimension for vector spaces. The concept of dimension for vector spaces has the following properties: (1) If V = {0} then dim V =0. (2) If W is a proper subspace of V ,thendimW<dim V . (3) If V =6 {0}, then there exists a one-dimensional subspace of V . (4) dim(S U ⊕ W )=dimU+dimW. W chain (5) If SI i is a of subspaces of a vector space, then dim Wi =sup{dim Wi}. Now we want to use properties (1) through (4) as a model for defining an analogue of dimension, which we will call length,forcertain modules over a ring. These modules will be the analogue of finite-dimensional vector spaces, and will have very similar properties. The axioms for length will be as follows. Axioms for Length. Let R beafixedringandletM and N denote R-modules. Whenever length M is defined, it is a cardinal number. (1) If M = {0},thenlengthM is defined and length M =0. (2) If length M is defined and N is a proper submodule of M ,thenlengthN is defined. Furthermore, if length M is finite then length N<length M . (3) For M =0,length6 M=1ifandonlyifM has no proper non-trivial submodules.
    [Show full text]
  • EXTENDED FICTION in GAME DESIGN Austin Anderson (Michael Young) Department of Computer Science
    University of Utah UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH JOURNAL UNMASKING THE PLAYER: EXTENDED FICTION IN GAME DESIGN Austin Anderson (Michael Young) Department of Computer Science INTRODUCTION In any story, an element being diegetic means that it is an element of the story that the characters of the fiction can sense. The simplest example is that of music in a movie; if there is a radio playing music in the scene, that music is diegetic. If a musical soundtrack plays over the scene but is something the characters cannot hear, it is non-diegetic(DIEGETIC). The border between the diegetic and non-diegetic is most commonly referred to as “the fourth wall” (Webster), in reference to the imaginary fourth wall of a play set, where the sides and back of the room that events are taking place in are fully represented on the theater stage, but the opening through which the audience observes the events of the play is an imaginary barrier. This barrier isn’t just literally a completion of the four walls in a traditional room of a building, but also metaphorically separates the reality from the fiction, quarantining both from each other as to not interfere. The problem with this boundary is that it can’t fully encompass the medium of video games. Video games, at their very essence, are an interactive medium. They require some breach of the fourth wall for them to function, as the game could not proceed to tell its story without a player’s input, which is an addressing of the audience due to the necessity of their action.
    [Show full text]
  • Gaming Systems and Features of Discovery Centre Station 1
    Gaming systems and features of Discovery Centre Station 1: XBox 1 with Remote The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 Wii U and Wii U Remote Braid Playstation 4 with Remote The Bridge Gaming PC with Gaming keyboard and The Cat and the Coup mouse Cave Story+ Downloaded games in station 1 include: Closure 7 Grand Steps, Step 1: What Ancients Begat Cogs 140 Coil AaAaAA!! – A Reckless Disregard for Colosse Gravity Colour Bind ABE VR Crawl Achron Cube & Star: An Arbitrary Love AltscpaceVR Dayz Amnesia: The Dark Descent Deep Under the Sky Analogue: A Hate Story Desktop Dungeons A Story About My Uncle Destinations B.U.T.T.O.N. Dinner Date Bad Hotel Dream Banished The Dream Machine Bastion The Dream Machine: Chapter 3 The Beginner’s Guide The Dream Machine: Chapter 4 Besiege The Dream Machine: Chapter 5 Between IGF Demo Dungeon of the Endless Bientôt l’été Dust: An Elysian Tail Bigscreen Beta Elegy for a Dead World BioShock Infinite Endless Legend The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth Ephemerid: A Musical Adventure BIT.TRIP RUNNER Estranged: Act 1 BlazeRush Carleton University Library and the Discovery Centre September 2019 Euro Truck Simulator 2 Interstellar Marines Evoland Intrusion 2 Evoland 2 Invisible, Inc. Fallout Jamestown Fallout 2 Joe Danger Fallout Tactics Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes Farming Simulator 17 Kentucky Route Zero Flotilla LA Cops FLY’N Legend of Dungeon The FOO show Life is Strange The Forest LIMBO Fotonica Lisa Frozen Synapse Little Inferno FTL: Faster than
    [Show full text]
  • Cole, Tom. 2021. ”Moments to Talk About”: Designing for the Eudaimonic Gameplay Experience
    Cole, Tom. 2021. ”Moments to Talk About”: Designing for the Eudaimonic Gameplay Experience. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis] https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/29689/ The version presented here may differ from the published, performed or presented work. Please go to the persistent GRO record above for more information. If you believe that any material held in the repository infringes copyright law, please contact the Repository Team at Goldsmiths, University of London via the following email address: [email protected]. The item will be removed from the repository while any claim is being investigated. For more information, please contact the GRO team: [email protected] “Moments to Talk About”: Designing for the Eudaimonic Gameplay Experience Thomas Cole Department of Computing Goldsmiths, University of London April 2020 (corrections December 2020) Thesis submitted in requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Abstract This thesis investigates the mixed-affect emotional experience of playing videogames. Its contribution is by way of a set of grounded theories that help us understand the game players’ mixed-affect emotional experience, and that support ana- lysts and designers in seeking to broaden and deepen emotional engagement in videogames. This was the product of three studies: First — An analysis of magazine reviews for a selection of videogames sug- gested there were two kinds of challenge being presented. Functional challenge — the commonly accepted notion of challenge, where dexterity and skill with the controls or strategy is used to overcome challenges, and emotional chal- lenge — where resolution of tension within the narrative, emotional exploration of ambiguities within the diegesis, or identification with characters is overcome with cognitive and affective effort.
    [Show full text]
  • Bioshock Infinite
    SOUTH AFRICA’S LEADING GAMING, COMPUTER & TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE VOL 15 ISSUE 10 Reviews Call of Duty: Black Ops II ZombiU Hitman: Absolution PC / PLAYSTATION / XBOX / NINTENDO + MORE The best and wors t of 2012 We give awards to things – not in a traditional way… BioShock Infi nite Loo k! Up in the sky! Editor Michael “RedTide“ James [email protected] Contents Features Assistant editor 24 THE BEST AND WORST OF 2012 Geoff “GeometriX“ Burrows Regulars We like to think we’re totally non-conformist, 8 Ed’s Note maaaaan. Screw the corporations. Maaaaan, etc. So Staff writer 10 Inbox when we do a “Best of [Year X]” list, we like to do it Dane “Barkskin “ Remendes our way. Here are the best, the worst, the weirdest 14 Bytes and, most importantly, the most memorable of all our Contributing editor 41 home_coded gaming experiences in 2012. Here’s to 2013 being an Lauren “Guardi3n “ Das Neves 62 Everything else equally memorable year in gaming! Technical writer Neo “ShockG“ Sibeko Opinion 34 BIOSHOCK INFINITE International correspondent How do you take one of the most infl uential, most Miktar “Miktar” Dracon 14 I, Gamer evocative experiences of this generation and make 16 The Game Stalker it even more so? You take to the skies, of course. Contributors 18 The Indie Investigator Miktar’s played a few hours of Irrational’s BioShock Rodain “Nandrew” Joubert 20 Miktar’s Meanderings Infi nite, and it’s left him breathless – but fi lled with Walt “Shryke” Pretorius 67 Hardwired beautiful, descriptive words. Go read them. Miklós “Mikit0707 “ Szecsei 82 Game Over Pippa
    [Show full text]
  • Game Narrative Review
    Game Narrative Review ==================== Vikingur Oskarsson George Mason University [email protected] September 2014 ==================== Game Title: Hotline Miami Platform: PC, Mac, Linux, Playstation 3 Genre: Top-down action Release Date: October 23rd, 2012 Developer: Dennaton Games Publisher: Devolver Digital Game Writer/Creative Director/Narrative Designer: Jonatan “Cactus” Soderstrom Overview Hotline Miami is an homage to the games and movies of the 1980s, being styled as a top-down, 8-bit NES title, while referencing violent action films with its setting and plot. The player takes control of a man known only as Jacket, a silent, brutal killer who dons animal masks with different personalities. At the instruction of a voice on his answering machine, Jacket drives to different buildings in Miami and murders everyone inside. Over time, a growing conspiracy begins to reveal itself, and Jacket finds himself in ever greater danger as outside events force him in deeper. Characters Jacket – The player character, Jacket is named only after his omnipresent letterman jacket. He also keeps a suite of animal masks that give him different abilities and sometimes speak to him in hallucinations. Jacket’s personality is taciturn and stoic, and he seems to never speak on his own. However, his masks speak to him and seem to represent different parts of his personality. Without speech, his primary means of expression is murder. The Masks – Three of Jacket’s masks appear to him at different times in hallucinations. The apparent dominant personality is Richard the Rooster. They ask Jacket about what he thinks and feels, and give him clues about where he is and what he is doing.
    [Show full text]
  • [Math.AC] 3 Apr 2006
    ON THE GROWTH OF THE BETTI SEQUENCE OF THE CANONICAL MODULE DAVID A. JORGENSEN AND GRAHAM J. LEUSCHKE Abstract. We study the growth of the Betti sequence of the canonical module of a Cohen–Macaulay local ring. It is an open question whether this sequence grows exponentially whenever the ring is not Gorenstein. We answer the ques- tion of exponential growth affirmatively for a large class of rings, and prove that the growth is in general not extremal. As an application of growth, we give criteria for a Cohen–Macaulay ring possessing a canonical module to be Gorenstein. Introduction A canonical module ωR for a Cohen–Macaulay local ring R is a maximal Cohen– Macaulay module having finite injective dimension and such that the natural ho- momorphism R HomR(ωR,ωR) is an isomorphism. If such a module exists, then it is unique−→ up to isomorphism. The ring R is Gorenstein if and only if R itself is a canonical module, that is, if and only if ωR is free. Although the cohomological behavior of the canonical module, both in algebra and in geometry, is quite well understood, little is known about its homological aspects. In this note we study the growth of the Betti numbers—the ranks of the free modules occurring in a min- imal free resolution—of ωR over R. Specifically, we seek to answer the following question, a version of which we first heard from C. Huneke. Question. If R is not Gorenstein, must the Betti numbers of the canonical module grow exponentially? By exponential growth of a sequence bi we mean that there exist real numbers i i { } 1 <α<β such that α < bi < β for all i 0.
    [Show full text]
  • Notes on Commutative Algebra
    Notes on Commutative Algebra Dan Segal February 2015 1 Preliminary definitions etc. Rings: commutative, with identity, usually written 1 or 1R. Ring homomor- phisms are assumed to map 1 to 1. A subring is assumed to have the same identity element. Usually R will denote an arbitrary ring (in this sense). Polynomial rings I will always use t, t1,...,tn to denote independent indeterminates. Thus R[t] is the ring of polynomials in one variable over R, R[t1,...,tn] is the ring of polynomials in n variables over R, etc. The most important property of these rings is the ‘universal property’, which will frequently be used without special explanation: • Given any ring homomorphism f : R → S and elements s1,...,sn ∈ S, ∗ there exists a unique ring homomorphism f : R[t1,...,tn] → S such that ∗ ∗ f (r)= f(r) ∀r ∈ R and f (ti)= si for i = 1,...,n. Modules An R-module is an abelian group M together with an action of R on M. This means: for each r ∈ R, a −→ ar (a ∈ M) is an endomorphism of the abelian group M (i.e. a homomorphism from M to itself), and moreover this assignment gives a ring homomorphism from R into EndZ(M), the ring of all additive endomorphisms of M. In practical terms this means: for all a, b ∈ M and all r, s ∈ R we have (a + b)r = ar + br a1= a a(r + s)= ar + as a(rs)=(ar)s. 1 (Here M is a right R-module; similarly one has left R-modules, but over a commutative ring these are really the same thing.) A submodule of M is an additive subgroup N such that a ∈ N, r ∈ R =⇒ ar ∈ N.
    [Show full text]
  • Amended Final Draft
    Independent or Indie? Creative Autonomy and Cultural Capital in Independent Video Game Production Martin Graham Smith A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Manchester Metropolitan University for the degree of Master of Arts (By Research) Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art and Design (MIRIAD) May 2016 ABSTRACT The use of the word ‘indie’ in relation to video games has shifted from referring to games made independently of a large publisher to being a more nebulous term that is harder to define but that is clearly used at times to refer to games other than those made without the financial assistance of publishers. This thesis seeKs to contribute to the ongoing debate in academic writing on video games as to the meaning of the phrase ‘indie games’. The thesis combines textual and institutional analysis to contextualise the modern indie game by investigating the history of independent video game production in the UK and USA from the 1970s to the modern day, with reference to how changes in technology have shaped independent video game production over time. Alternative models of production that existed before the indie games of the mid-2000s onwards are an under researched area, and this thesis argues that a number of independent counter trends to dominant industry practices set precedents for many of the features of later indie games, in terms of content, style, distribution methods, and models of production. The thesis also contains a case study into the publisher-funded indie games of Jenova Chen and Thatgamecompany which investigates the conflicting definitions of indie in academic writing on video games and other forms of media, arguing that as with indie in cinema, indie in games functions as a form of cultural capital for the audience and developers.
    [Show full text]
  • Colt Canyon - Fact Sheet
    Colt Canyon - Fact Sheet “People love westerns worldwide. There's something fantasy-like about an individual fighting the elements. Or even bad guys and the elements. It's a simpler time. There's no organized laws and stuff.” (Clint Eastwood) DEVELOPER TEAM: • Retrific aka. Jonathan Mannshoven (Concept, code, design, most of the pixel art) Plus Freelancer Support: • Niilo Takalainen (Sound) • Luigi-Maria Rapisarda (Music) • Fabian Donner (Additional art: User interface and some pixel art) JONATHAN MANNSHOVEN: • 24 years old • German solo developer and student, Colt Canyon his magnum opus • Studying Game Design, working on Colt Canyon in his free time • Making games is his passion, already spent many thousands of hours making games ATMOSPHERE, PROGRESSING & STORYTELLING: • Distinguished Western feel by environmental sounds, music and graphics • Focus on great gameplay and game feel, story kept simple • Roguelike progression through unlocking more characters (with varying stats and strengths) and weapons through various challenges – secrets or random encounters and by learning the games mechanics and getting to know the world’s objects and enemies. After a couple of failed runs, you will be able to read the environment more clearly and therefore be able to make decisions faster and easier, helping you to live on longer, until you finally beat the game. • Getting inspiration from games like Hotline Miami, Nuclear Throne, Enter The Gungeon, Hunt: Showdown, Red Dead Redemption and many others • Large, open levels allow for exploration and a unique atmosphere • High replayability FEATURES: • Simple on the surface but with a lot of depth and intertwining features • Easy to learn but hard to master • Polished to perfection • Roguelike gameplay mechanics incl.
    [Show full text]
  • A Retrospective Analysis and the Future for Game Music. Bbw Hochschule
    Interactive Music writing in the Age of AI: A retrospective analysis and the future for game music. bbw Hochschule – Management of Creative Industries MA Ugur, Huseyin Can Matriculation Number: 037201 Course Code: HM029 Primary supervisor – Peter Mathias Konhäusner Secondary supervisor – Prof. Dr. Ingo Schünemann Submitted on: 26/09/2020 Abstract In this thesis, the practices, workers and monetary aspects of interactive music industry has been investigated. As the terminology regarding this industry is observed to be ambiguous, each of the elements that make up the industry and where they came from were explored. Once the definitions and their relevance to industry have been established, the effects of progressive technology on this industry have been hypothesized. As technologies such as Virtual Reality and Augmented reality are still limited to niche area of console gaming and just recently making their appearance on mainstream, they have been only mentioned. However, with the all-encompassing nature of Artificial Intelligence technologies and what they offer to software industry int this thesis it is hypothesized to impact the industry on its population of workers and their financial and professional practices. As the industry has been observed to be in a stable state financially and dependent on the gaming industry itself, it is proposed that the biggest impact will be in their use of technology and how they can bring new dimensions to future games have been discussed. Furthermore, as these effects have been described anecdotally, to observe the psychosomatic experience a more developed game music can offer, an experiment game based on earlier studies in the field have been conducted.
    [Show full text]