Segments

Each piece of music utilizes only one primary Segment. That Segment contains five tracks: Tempo, Time Signature, Style, Groove, and Band. The Tempo Track is fixed, as are the Time Signature, Style, and Band Tracks. The Style is inserted at beat one measure one of the Style Track. When you are done with this, DirectMusic automatically inserts that Style's Band into the Band Track.

The game controls the groove level of the Segment Groove Track by incrementing or decrementing the groove level when "clear row" or "add row" occurs. The primary Segment plays continually as its groove level moves up or down, thereby changing the Style/pattern currently playing. For example, as the game starts, the Segment plays groove level "Intro 20" and then moves to groove level 20. The groove level increases to 21 as the player clears a row and moves to 22 when the player clears the next row. Then groove level "Break 22" plays if the player pauses the game. The player ends the game, triggering groove level "End 22."

Motifs and Secondary Segments

Motifs in Russian Squares layer short musical gestures over each composition's primary Segment. Five motifs accent relevant game events: add row, clear row, blocker, clock, and high score. You create motif patterns just as other Styles/patterns are created, but they are stored within a Style's Motif folder. Each motif in Russian Squares uses only one or two pattern parts. This simple orchestration functions well over the main body of music, which is denser. Creating appropriate DLS instruments for each motif blends these gestures coherently into the overall arrangement. The game triggers these motifs frequently, so it is crucial that the timbres be convincing without sounding weak or obnoxious. A Performance boundary of grid, for clear row, add row, and blocker, ensures quick response while synchronizing up rhythmically (to the nearest sixteenth note) with the underlying music. Clock and high score motifs synchronize to the beat of their primary Segment (Performance boundary set to beat).

The clear row and add row motifs act as instant feedback to the player. Each gesture's distinctiveness becomes a keynote sound to the player. The clear row motif rewards the player's progress, while the add row gesture indicates the player's regression. Each composition enlists a different set of sounds for these motifs. Synthesized pitch bend gestures indicate clear row (upward pitch bend) and add row (downward pitch bend) in Spin Cycle. Harp glissandos signal clear row and add row in Bubble Matter, while Gravity Ride uses a shaker and claves for those motifs. The blocker motif accents each theme aggressively with single staccato gestures. As with the other motifs, the instrument timbres mesh with the respective music themes.

The clock motifs are the only looping motifs. They begin as the game clock is running out of time (it turns red) and end when a row is cleared or the clock runs out of time. This means that the clock motif always ends as a clear row or add row motif plays, which creates a nice bookend. Each composition uses a unique instrument for the sound of the clock — buzzer sound, wooden tick tock, and metal clanks, respectively. The high score motif rewards the player when a high score game is completed. These phrases are two or three measures long and overlap a composition's end pattern. High score motifs are simple one-instrument arpeggiated patterns that highlight the player's victory.

Motifs are inserted into secondary Segments for playback by the game. (Motifs can be called independently of secondary Segments, but the programmer requested they be called via secondary Segments due to the calls available in DirectX Audio Scripting.) Each of these secondary Segments contains a Time Signature Track and a Segment Trigger Track. An insertion is made in the Segment Trigger Track, and the properties window allows for selection of the Style/motif. The game calls the secondary Segments, and they in turn play the motifs.

Testing, Delivery, and Integration

We tested the DirectMusic components satisfactorily within Producer. Transitions from pattern to pattern worked well using the A/B Transition button. We mixed by listening to all of the patterns back to back and making adjustments to individual pattern parts or the Band as needed. We delivered the files to the DirectMusic programmer in the run-time format, and no container files were used.

All of the DirectMusic code was written using DirectX Audio Scripting. The game engine passed relevant cues to DirectMusic, and the script handled the DirectMusic calls. We evaluated the initial game build, made adjustments to the script and the DirectMusic files, and created another build of the game. At this stage we discovered that a motif tied to the active block was being triggered too frequently and was thereby removed. We also honed the clear row function so that the last three rows of a level did not increment the groove level. We did this because the player can eliminate the last three rows in a matter of seconds, undesirably triggering a quick succession of patterns. So, with three rows to go, the current groove level continues until the level is completed. I adjusted some instrument levels after hearing the music within the context of the game. Overall, the music functioned as designed and even exceeded expectations. The pattern transitions sounded musical, and the embellishments were timely and seamless.

Puzzle games offer unique opportunities to composers. Game states change more often and quicker than in action/adventure or roleplaying games, thus the adaptive scoring must be more tightly integrated with its game elements. An apt analogy: Scoring a puzzle game is like scoring a Saturday morning cartoon, in which every action on screen has a musical gesture associated with it, whereas scoring an action game is more akin to scoring an epic movie where broad musical gestures paint the soundscape and follow the overall mood of the story. The score for Russian Squares demonstrates DirectMusic's ability to realize the adaptive music goals of this highly active puzzle game. For those interested in learning adaptive music techniques, I highly recommend scoring a puzzle game. Puzzle games allow the composer to focus on a few key gameplay elements while utilizing a wealth of potential adaptive solutions.