Abstract

Music creates identity when a distinctive style can be perceived. Furthermore, music is a language that expresses and evokes significant emotions. When utilized in video games, combined with audio that is dynamically matched to the action, the perception of a visual scene can be enriched. This is achieved by the increased immersion, depth, and emotional engagement. As a result, a strong affective connection of emotion to the music in particular game situations is created. The objective of this thesis is to demonstrate an approach for a system that generates audio that dynamically adapts to video game events. Video games can be viewed as a combination of a rule-based formal system and a fictional world. Thus, one of the purposes of audio in video games is to support the user’s interactions with the system and sense of presence in the fictional game world. Without audio, the game is reduced to rules and their game mechanics, as the positive effects of great immersion described above are lost. Based on the requirements and typical realizations of a reactive event-driven system, the assumption is that audio playback can be realized by using this system. For this purpose, the statecharts presented by Harel are used. They are a visual formalism for complex systems. The statechart models the behavior of the audio representation based on the video game state changes. Such behavior is interpreted by a resolver which generates a continuous audio playback. Prerequisites are external and internal state changes provided by the rule-based formal system and (input) data from the player with corresponding actions and events in the virtual game environment. System requirements are the formal, clear, and complete information on the capabilities, behavior, and complexity of the video game audio. The statechart determines the decisions on what to play according to the current gameplay situation. Several examples are used to demonstrate how corresponding audio behavior can be performed with the help of such statecharts. These individual examples are merged. The behavior is then simulated using sample progression through these statecharts which is then converted into a continuous audio flow by the resolver. Another example of state- chart construction and resolution is shown by using the game "Lighten the Mood".

Results/Implementation/Project Description

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