Music educator

[mswcpt]

Hi there Everyone!

I am a music teacher and master of Music graduate (composition of interactive audio) from the University Of Natal here in South Africa. I am currently pursuing a PHD in music and technology. I have come across your game development software because I am researching the tools needed to create virtual environments in which school kids (ages 16-18) can use to design and compose interactive audio for. Now there are many high-end game development kits on the market which require a degree in programming languages to use and for that Sandbox is ideal!

What I mean by this (adaptive audio) is the ability to get a game to become more like film but a film that changes based on user input. Films have great music and sound design, so we need something that can adapt to user input in a gamestate and enhance the user experience by creating a fully interactive environment.

I have been told that Sandbox uses SDL and to this end I need some help please :

How is SDL programmed? Does it have a user-friendly interface or must I learn another programming language?

How do you edit, create gui triggers etc?
Where are the tools within the game edit mode to change the sound/music parameters so that they will be saved in the gamestate once complete?

Basically I need a complete tutorial on how to program SDL and upload music/sound files and render in a completed world so that I can get started on this. Please let me know ASAP. I really appreciate any help with this.

We are hoping to find a solution to this, so that we can create 3rd person environments such as those possible from the Sandbox software, but to use it to teach kids how to compose audio for non-linear media such as puzzle solving/adventure games.

Best wishes,

Miles

[tyche]

Miles,

You have placed identical posts in three locations in the forums. This could constitute spam. In addition, your IP number has been flagged as belonging to a spammer. The only thing keeping me from putting you on moderation at this time (or banning you completely) is that you actually asked an intelligent question. However, you're not going to like the answer.

Your best bet for learning how to program SDL is to go to their site, http://www.libsdl.org/ , and check their tutorials and/or ask questions there.

As for creating music to support games, that can be done without resorting to low-level programming (one or two members of the Sandbox forum do that).

Please do not spam the forums again.

Craig A. Eddy (Tyche)
Forum Moderator

[mswcpt]

Hi Craig -

It was not my intention to "spam the forums" - in fact I was attempting to illicit a response from as many forum subjects as possible in order that my question may be viewed by as many people as possible and therefore answered. I have been in contact with Mike personally via email over the last few weeks and he actually suggested that I write to the forums to try and get some more input.

Please advise how it is possible that my IP is flagged as a spammer?? I do not understand this at all - I am on a private ISP network in South Africa belonging to one of the foremost bandwidth providers on a national level...

Sorry for the trouble.

[mswcpt]

PS - Actually - there are as you say people in here creating music for their games - that much is evident from Gold Coins etc - so there must be someone who can provide input on how they do this in the Sandbox program - I have looked everywhere but seem to be missing it somehow. Thanks.

[Mike]

Posting in as many places to illicit a response is called spamming haha, please don't do that anymore. With SDL Tyche is right, trying to get help here for that isn't the best idea since we focus more on Sandbox itself. If you want to add a music track to a game, you simply go to the maps .cfg and add a line such as:
music music/songname This is assuming that you have a packages/music folder and that the song is in the music folder. Generally the song should be in .ogg format though Hirato has said mp3 works though I haven't tried it. Also if you are interested in sounds check out the Halloween House map I put together and then look at how I did it in the .cfgs. Basically it uses sound entities created by typing /newent sound and setting a number that is referenced in the .cfg. Take care.
-mike

EDIT:
This is posted from the wiki
"sound" N radius [size]

Will play map-specific sound N so long as the player is within the radius. However, only up to the max uses allowed for N (specified in the mapsound command) will play, even if the player is within the radius of more N sounds than the max. By default (size 0), the sound is a point source. Its volume is maximal at the entity's location, and tapers off to 0 at the radius. If size is specified, the volume is maximal within the specified size, and only starts tapering once outside this distance. Radius is always defined as distance from the entity's location, so a size greater than or equal to the radius will just make a sound that is always max volume within the radius, and off outside.

EDIT #2:
Have you seen this yet? Some scripting tutorials in there that involve the GUI and also other useful tutorials:
http://sandboxgamemaker.com/wiki/index. ... rials_List

[mswcpt]

Thanks alot Mike and noted the rules - I was perhaps over eager!
Will be in touch.

M

[cork279]

Hi!
So do you compose music?
If yes, awesome, you could show us some (if you do, and would like to, of course)

[mswcpt]

Hey Cork -

Yes I do compose - its pretty serious stuff being from the university mould - contemporary classical, orchestral, western art music etc I can show u some scores I guess - maybe send u a few recordings - PM me.

M

[mswcpt]

@ Mike -

You say:

"Also if you are interested in sounds check out the Halloween House map I put together and then look at how I did it in the .cfgs. Basically it uses sound entities created by typing /newent sound and setting a number that is referenced in the .cfg."

But how do I do all of this? I have tried to find the cfg files, etc but can't seem to locate it.

I will learn all of this eventually - I am not a computer programmer but a musician

Thanks for your help.

Miles

[Mike]

Check in the packages/base folder. You can open them with a .txt editor. Take care.
-mike