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The Number One Educational Resource for the Game Industry

Session Name: An Adaptive, Generative Music System for Games
Speaker(s): Jim Hedges, Kurt Larson, Christopher Mayer
Company Name(s): Freelance Composer/Sound Designer, Nihilistic Software,
Track / Format: Audio
Overview: Linear-media music is strained well past the breaking point in Massively-Multiplayer applications. This is a presentation of one viable alternative: the Adaptive Generative Music System (AGMS) developed by Chris Mayer and Kurt Larson. The programming approach, the musical goals, and the experience of the composers using the system are all covered. The live demonstration is given by the programmer who built the system and the composer's tool, the audio director who envisioned the system, and one of the composers who used it to create music.

There are two main messages in this lecture:
1. Linear music, even with stems, is probably not always the right approach, especially for casual online-environment applications or for long-session games like MMO's.
2. Randomness-enhanced, adaptive, generative music can be done quite easily if one is willing to think differently about music.

GDC 2010

Jim Hedges

Freelance Composer/Sound Designer

Kurt Larson

Nihilistic Software

Christopher Mayer

free content

Audio

Audio