InterAmus Music Systems AB announces a new technology for compositional realtime music morphing at the Game Developers Conference, GDC 2006 in San Jose. This technology makes it possible to create computer games with music that seamlessly follows the story in the game, without knowing the gamers actions or the outcome of the game.
Unlike film music, where every scene is planned in detail in advance and the producer knows exactly what piece of music will succeed another, detailed preparation of fully adaptive music scores for games cannot be done in advance. But to get a really full gaming experience the music should be interactive and follow the action, says Jonas Edlund, founder/ceo of InterAmus Music Systems.
The Musifier is a tool for musicians. The music score generated by the Musifier at a specific gaming session adapts continuously to the course of events of the game by morphing together the composers predefined music based on the state of the game, for example the distance between a hero and a villain.
The Musifier music morphing technology generates all voices note by note in realtime. The composer does not have to handle the details of transitions between different keys, rhythms, tempi etc. and can instead concentrate on core continuous pieces of music. The Musifier takes care of all transitions between the different pieces and makes the music production more efficient, even if there are multiple pieces or tracks involved in the morph.
Were used to constant soundtracks in entertainment. The more exactly the game soundtrack matches the experience, the more involving the experience is. We want to take the experience that everybody has at the movies and make it into something that you can control. InterAmus Musifier Virtual Orchestra adds the component that makes you really play through your own adventure, adds Edlund.
When working with dynamic mixing systems the composer must ensure that the sequences of short fragments he uses will work in every possible scenario, both horizontally and vertically. Its like working with single frame animation in photography. The Musifier takes care of this kind of detail in real-time at the specific gaming session allowing the composer to focus on the broad musical outline. The Musifier is to adaptive music scoring what motion pictures are to photography.
The technology enables the music to seamlessly flow and blend between different themes, like morphing between pictures. A game music developer can now easily adapt the music to whats going on in the game, the mood in a particular situation, and the dramatic and emotional tension in the game.
This patented technology is based on eight years research and development.
The Musifier music morphing technology is demonstrated at booth 1741.
InterAmus Music Systems AB (www.interamus.com/) develops easy-to-use and effective technology for the creation of highly responsive music for interactive applications. The company is part of Kista Innovation & Growths Incubator Business Lab. In 2005 InterAmus Music Systems AB was awarded the VINN NU 2005 and Venture Cup 2005 prizes by VINNOVA The Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
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