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Evolving in-game mood-expressive music with MetaCompose

Published: 12 September 2018 Publication History

Abstract

MetaCompose is a music generator based on a hybrid evolutionary technique that combines FI-2POP and multi-objective optimization. In this paper we employ the MetaCompose music generator to create music in real-time that expresses different mood-states in a game-playing environment (Checkers). In particular, this paper focuses on determining if differences in player experience can be observed when: (i) using affective-dynamic music compared to static music, and (ii) the music supports the game's internal narrative/state. Participants were tasked to play two games of Checkers while listening to two (out of three) different set-ups of game-related generated music. The possible set-ups were: static expression, consistent affective expression, and random affective expression. During game-play players wore a E4 Wristband, allowing various physiological measures to be recorded such as blood volume pulse (BVP) and electromyographic activity (EDA). The data collected confirms a hypothesis based on three out of four criteria (engagement, music quality, coherency with game excitement, and coherency with performance) that players prefer dynamic affective music when asked to reflect on the current game-state. In the future this system could allow designers/composers to easily create affective and dynamic soundtracks for interactive applications.

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cover image ACM Other conferences
AM '18: Proceedings of the Audio Mostly 2018 on Sound in Immersion and Emotion
September 2018
252 pages
ISBN:9781450366090
DOI:10.1145/3243274
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

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Published: 12 September 2018

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Author Tags

  1. Affective expression
  2. Music generation
  3. evolutionary algorithms

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AM'18
AM'18: Sound in Immersion and Emotion
September 12 - 14, 2018
Wrexham, United Kingdom

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