Travis Taylor
Final Major Project
Creating a new Rhythmic Gameplay System
For this project, I aimed to create a new music gameplay system using "Strudel REPL".
The goal was to create a world that responded to the music, rather than the music responding to the gameplay.
Video Essay
References / Bibliography Document
Gameplay Video
Conclusion
I believe the project has potential. However, whilst there are many useful features, there are numerous flaws that I noticed during the development of the pipeline.
Pros
Strudel is a
musical software,
making it easier to set BPM and Rhythms compared to just using Unity.
Strudel can be used to generate algorithmic drum patterns, and many rhythms that don't follow strictly 16th note rhythms.
Allows for more "Random" music.
It makes tying game elements to musical elements significantly easier.
Cons
Latency.
Drums would
sometimes lag
behind the music.
Requires Node.Js,
which makes it difficult to distribute.
Game requires running a Websocket Server to function.
Can sometimes cause mild complications (particularly when opening the game for the first time).
Ultimately, the pipeline would need reworking to an extent before being a viable method for creating a rhythm game.
If I were to start again, I would instead explore making FMOD the master clock of the music system, instead of Strudel. Currently, Strudel handles all of the timing and pattern generations, meaning that by the time the messages have been sent through the pipeline, it's too late for FMOD to play the drum elements in time.
If FMOD were to be the master clock, and send Callbacks on timeline events, Strudel could still be used as a pattern generator, but have the patterns be queued for FMOD to play when ready.
This would potentially eliminate the latency issues currently present.
Whether this is something that is possible or not will require more time and research.
