Tempo/Beats per Minute
by Jon Jorajuria · in Torque Game Builder · 10/11/2006 (3:50 pm) · 5 replies
I am attempting to do the following:
Set a tempo with in my game which will synch up all the characters, good and bad, so that they are moving to the same time signature. I have looked all over the place for this with no luck. Does anybody have suggestions or a good starting point?
Thanks in advance.
I should add, 90% of all movement is physics based.
Set a tempo with in my game which will synch up all the characters, good and bad, so that they are moving to the same time signature. I have looked all over the place for this with no luck. Does anybody have suggestions or a good starting point?
Thanks in advance.
I should add, 90% of all movement is physics based.
About the author
#2
10/12/2006 (2:23 pm)
Pat, I have to open this can of worms. The 2d project I am playing with could help out what we have discussed on the forums and via e-mail. In fact, I just sent you an e-mail regarding this stuff. iTickable may work for a prototype, but not for the whole game...yes you were very helpful.
#3
10/13/2006 (1:17 am)
I'm out of my comfort zone here, but if MIDI isn't a viable option (for obvious reasons), what about its big brother from back in the day: S3M/MOD/alternate trackers?
#4
The first is a sound card that is MIDI compliant. The second is that you would be limited to MIDI samples. IMO MIDI has it's place, but for a more diverse sound analog recordings/samples would round out the complete package. Also if you are trying to synch up objects, this is an unknown to me, I would presume that if the sound card criteria is not met te engine would not know how to synch up the objects.
10/13/2006 (9:09 am)
There are a couple of issues with MIDI and its big brother...The first is a sound card that is MIDI compliant. The second is that you would be limited to MIDI samples. IMO MIDI has it's place, but for a more diverse sound analog recordings/samples would round out the complete package. Also if you are trying to synch up objects, this is an unknown to me, I would presume that if the sound card criteria is not met te engine would not know how to synch up the objects.
#5
But trackers may still be a good option. Bejeweled 2 used that pretty well I think, and it sounds like Hexic did too. Since you're providing your own samples, sound quality can be very good. What it really enables is variety. Once you have the samples, each new tune adds insignificantly to the overall game download size. One problem, however, is that you're going to have to come up with the samples on your own, since most sample libraries forbid distributing their samples that way. That pretty much eliminates orchestral or jazz music, unless you want to sample an orchestra yourself. That leaves a lot of techno/electronic stuff, which may or may not be appropriate for the game. Also, the tracker tools I've seen aren't that great.
I have yet to work on a game using trackers, but I think it'd be a fine way to go. Sounds like a good option for a tempo-based game.
10/13/2006 (9:53 am)
MIDI's day (as a playback option) has come and gone.But trackers may still be a good option. Bejeweled 2 used that pretty well I think, and it sounds like Hexic did too. Since you're providing your own samples, sound quality can be very good. What it really enables is variety. Once you have the samples, each new tune adds insignificantly to the overall game download size. One problem, however, is that you're going to have to come up with the samples on your own, since most sample libraries forbid distributing their samples that way. That pretty much eliminates orchestral or jazz music, unless you want to sample an orchestra yourself. That leaves a lot of techno/electronic stuff, which may or may not be appropriate for the game. Also, the tracker tools I've seen aren't that great.
I have yet to work on a game using trackers, but I think it'd be a fine way to go. Sounds like a good option for a tempo-based game.
Torque 3D Owner Pat Wilson
a) With MIDI songs.
b) With lots of brain hurting code and research.
Option a is pretty easy (integrate MIDI into Torque) however it is limiting, and I personally feel it is not a good option. Option b is tougher, however it has a larger awesome factor.
What I am thinking on option b is to do beat warping similar to the way Ableton Live does it. On the programming side, we will need to play audio at a certain tempo, keeping the pitch. Now my first, unresearched, idea on this is basically, we need to take the waveform, which is a collection of samples, and be prepared to interpolate between the samples of the audio. I am not 100% sure that this will work, nor am I sure what it will sound like, but it's a start. This is technology that I am eventually planning on developing for future pie-in-the-sky projects.
In the meantime, this is what I would do. I would come up with a synched interface which all objects you think should be synched to the "tempo" of the game. Use ITickable, for right now, to be the metronome of the game, as it were. This can then later be replaced by something else. You are going to want to have the physics processing tied to this tempo, so that the physics simulation is getting a constant update rate based on the tempo, and independent from all other factors.
Helpful?