Conclusion and Bibliography
Conclusion
After completing my portfolio and finalising the logic within FMOD, I believe I’ve achieved my initial goals of creating a characterful, audio-visually cohesive, heavily adaptive score for a fantasy game. The project has also given me opportunities to expand my knowledge of techniques within FMOD to create free-flowing scores through solving problems I encountered
In terms of individual compositions, I believe they all fit their respective areas well, utilising both timbral and cultural associations as well as realistically mirroring similar audio effects the player character would be experiencing in these areas to create an immersive soundtrack. As there was no original visual aid for my compositions, only pre-existing screenshots, there is a possibility that some elements of the pieces lack in an original vision, but, thanks to the experience I gained in this project, I feel that tackling new ideas and compositional styles in the future for original projects using the Logic to FMOD workflow is now far less daunting. I also believe that I did create some innovative and imaginative adaptive qualities, especially between the floors in the tomb and when ascending the mountain in the ice area.
I’m also very proud of how I utilised functions within FMOD to solve problems, an ability that I strongly feel shows true understanding of the program, and to create smooth transitions between different pieces. I believe these features are well tested using my theoretical player runs, documented on a previous page, and have internally consistent logic that works well.
Bibliography
Ferrero, Santiago. (2013) A Study about Adaptive Music through Analysis and Design, Södertörn University, Stockholm.
FMOD. (2020) Randomisation and Crossfading of Musical Sections. Available at: https://qa.fmod.com/t/randomization-and-crossfading-of-musical-sections/16274 (Accessed: 02/05/22)
Kamp, Michiel. (2014) ‘Musical Ecologies in Video Games’, Philos. Technol., 27(1), pp. 235-249
Nintendo. (2007) Super Mario Galaxy [Video Game]. Nintendo.
Nintendo. (2011) The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword [Video Game]. Nintendo.
Phillips, Winifred. (2014) A Composer’s Guide to Game Music. Massachusetts: MIT Press.
SoundLibrarian. (2018) Deadspace Game Audio Analysis. May 16. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l0hZ0wesLA (Accessed: 02/05/22)
Additional Sources
8-Bit Music Theory. (2017) Orchestration Techniques in Banjo Kazooie [PATRON REQUEST]. April 21. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-IZaebZ43Y (Accessed: 02/05/22)
Bustani, Hareth Al. (2018) ‘In The Chair: Peter McConnell’, Retro Gamer, 28 December. Available at: https://www.pressreader.com/uk/retro-gamer/20181228/281698320841260 (Accessed: 02/05/22)
Famà, Alessandro. (2022) Vertical Re-Orchestration in FMOD Studio. Available at: https://alessandrofama.com/tutorials/fmod/fmod-studio/vertical-reorchestration (Accessed: 02/05/22)
Noodle. (2019) Adaptive Music (In Gaming) Is Amazing. July 7. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLd5wmBNCBM (Accessed: 02/05/22)