Concept
I wanted to create a short 8-bit indie game type of story, but I also wanted the audience to sort of build the story/game themselves. By naming the functions as I did, I hoped to stir the audience to know what part of the game/story they were in. once_upon_a_time is meant to signify the beginning of the game, usually where the story is told. “adventure” builds off from once upon a time and shows a more adventurous part of the game. “uh_oh” means trouble, the boss fight or critical moment in the game. By skipping directly to the end credits, I wanted the user to imagine the ending themselves, whether they won or lost, if it was a happy or sad ending, open to creativity and interpretation!
Sound
Most of the sounds I used were already existing sound samples and synthesizers available in SuperDirt. The only “original” sound that I used was the piano sound as the sounds produced by SuperPiano did not fit the theme or vibe I was going for. I made three separate sections with an idea of what role each section would play in the overall story/game experience I was aiming for. The three sections are as follows: beginning (once_upon_a_time and adventure), climax (uh_oh) and ending (end_credits). The difficulty I faced the most was combining all the different parts together since they were all drastically different. But i’m happy with how the outcome was overall
Visuals
I built the visuals separately and then adapted them based on how I imagined the sounds would look like. Most of the experimenting I did with the visuals was trying to find out which parameter and which sound would be best to sync together to better match the visuals.
Reflection
Although it was frustrating at times, I really enjoyed working on this assignment and trying to think of a way to convey a story by combining sound and visuals. Taking into consideration the feedback I got in class, I would change the colour scheme to be more unified to give it a more coherent outcome. Overall I’m happy with the outcome.
There’s the link to the recorded performance:
Hydra Code:
//start cc[2] = 0 cc[8] = 0 cc[1] = 0.5 cc[9] =0 shape(()=>cc[2]*4+2,.6,.3).color(20,1,10).modulateRepeat(osc(2),()=>cc[1]*3+1,()=>cc[1]*3+1).modulate(noise(()=>cc[0]*3)).posterize().blend(src(o1), ()=>cc[3]).blend(o2, ()=>cc[8]).blend(o3, ()=>cc[9]).out() shape(()=>cc[2]*4+2,.6,.3).color(20,1,10).modulateRepeat(osc(2),()=>cc[1]*2+1,()=>cc[1]*2+1).modulate(noise(()=>cc[0]*3)).modulateScale(o0,0.1).colorama(1).out(o1) //mid shape(100,0,3).repeat(2).modulate(noise(1,()=>cc[4]*10)).invert().mult(osc(1, 0.8, 1).color(-3.5, -3.0, -3.0)).posterize(1.1).scale(()=>cc[5]*1.2).modulateScale(o0, 0.5).pixelate(300,300).out(o2) render() //end shape([40,50,60].smooth(1),0.5,0.5).modulateRepeat(noise(1)).mult(osc(1,0.1,5).diff(gradient(2)).modulateScale(osc(5),0.5),0.9).posterize(3).scale(0.5).kaleid(()=>cc[6]*10).out(o3) hush()
Tidal Code:
once_upon_a_time = do {
d1 $ s "soskick" >| note "f(3,8,3)" #gain 0.8 #legato 2;
d3 $ s "jazz:8" >| note (arp "diverge" (scale "maj" ("[2,5,7,1]") + "<c4 c5>")) #gain 1.2 #legato 1 #vowel "o i u" #speed 0.5;
d2 $ slow 2 $ stack [ s "supervibe" >| note "d'm7 g'7m c? [f c]" #room 0.5 #velocity 0.6,
struct "t t t? [t t]" $ ccv (segment 128 (range 100 20 isaw)) # ccn "0" # s "midi"];
}
-- d1 $ s "bd"
adventure = do {
once_upon_a_time;
d2 $ almostNever (fast 2) $ stack [s "supervibe" >| note "d'm7 g'7m c? [f c]" #room 0.5 #velocity 0.3, struct "t t? t [t t]" $ ccv (segment 128 (range 100 20 isaw)) # ccn "0" # s "midi"];
d5 $ juxBy 0.2 (#vowel "a") $ almostNever (fast 2)$ stack [
s "blip:8" >| note "d'm7 g'7m? c [f c]" #room 0.3 ,
struct "t t t? [t t]" $ ccv (segment 128 (range 128 20 isaw)) # ccn "1" # s "midi"];
d4 $ someCyclesBy 0.4 (rev) $ stack[note "<c(5,8) d(3,8)? e(3,8,2) f(5,8,2)>" |< s "supergong", struct "<t(5,8) t(3,8)? t(3,8,2) t(5,8,2)>" $ ccv "64" # ccn "2" # s "midi"];
d6 $ s "bd(5,8,2)" #room 0.2;
d8 $ s "sd:8*4";
}
uh_oh = do {
d10 $ ccv "0" # ccn "3" # s "midi";
d1 $ stack[ s "sine" >| note "d'm7 g'7m c [f c] d g c'maj d'm7",struct "t t t [t t] t t t" $ ccv (segment 128 (range 128 20 isaw)) # ccn "5" # s "midi"] ;
d2 $ someCycles (rev) $ fast 2 $ s "supervibe" >| note (arp "diverge" (scale "minor" ("[1, 4, 1, 4]") + "<c5 d5 g5>")) #room 1 #legato 2 #pF "modamp" 2 #velocity 0.1;
d4 $ s "bass(3,8)" #room 1;
d5 $ s "sd*4";
d6 $ s "808bd(5,8,2)" #room 0.5;
d7 $ someCyclesBy 0.4 (fast 2) $ s "blip:8*8" #room 0.4;
d8 $ someCyclesBy 0.4 (# ccv "127") $ struct "t*8" $ccv "10" #ccn "4" #s "midi";
}
uh_oh
end_credits
d7 $ silence
end_credits = do {
d10 $ ccv "0" # ccn "8" # s "midi";
d9 $ s "super808" >| note "<c'sus2 d'9sus4> [g'sus3 f'dom9]? g'sus ~" #vowel "a i o" #gain 1.5;
d10 $ s "hh*4" #room 0.5;
d11 $ scramble 8 $ fast 2 $ stack [ s "piano:25" >| note (arp "diverge" (scale "ritusen" ("[2,4,1,7]") + "<c4 c5>")) # room 0.4 #legato 1 #vowel "o i u", struct "[t t t t]" $ ccv (segment 128 (range 128 20 isaw)) # ccn "6" # s "midi"];
}
hush
//////
all id
once_upon_a_time
--
do
hush
d2 $ stack [s "supervibe" >| note "d'm7 g'7m c? [f c]" #room 0.5,struct "t t t? [t t]" $ ccv (segment 128 (range 128 20 sine)) # ccn "0" # s "midi"]
--
adventure
do
d8 $ s "sd*8"
d6 $ s "808bd(5,8,2)" #room 0.5
d7 $ someCyclesBy 0.8 (fast 2) $ s "blip:8*8" #room 0.4
d2 $ almostAlways (fast 2) $ stack [s "supervibe" >| note "d'm7 g'7m c? [f c]" #room 0.5 #velocity 0.4, struct "t t t? [t t]" $ ccv (segment 128 (range 100 20 isaw)) # ccn "0" # s "midi",struct "t t t? [t t]" $ ccv "0 127" # ccn "3" # s "midi" ]
d11 $ ccv "127" # ccn "8" # s "midi"
xfade 2 $ fast 2 $s "sine" >| note "d'm7 g'7m c [f c]"
d7 $ silence
uh_oh
--
all degrade
hush
do
d12 $ ccv "127" # ccn "9" # s "midi"
end_credits
all id
all degrade
hush