A perceptual and affective evaluation of an affectively driven engine for video game soundtracking

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Williams, D., Mears, J., Kirke, A., Miranda, E., Daly, I., Malik, A., Weaver, J., Hwang, F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3243-3869 and Nasuto, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9414-9049 (2017) A perceptual and affective evaluation of an affectively driven engine for video game soundtracking. ACM Computers in Entertainment, 14 (3). 39.

Abstract/Summary

We report on a player evaluation of a pilot system for dynamic video game soundtrack generation. The system being evaluated generates music using an AI-based algorithmic composition technique to create score in real-time, in response to a continuously varying emotional trajectory dictated by gameplay cues. After a section of gameplay, players rated the system on a Likert scale according to emotional congruence with the narrative, and also according to their perceived immersion with the gameplay. The generated system showed a statistically meaningful and consistent improvement in ratings for emotional congruence, yet with a decrease in perceived immersion, which might be attributed to the marked difference in instrumentation between the generated music, voiced by a solo piano timbre, and the original, fully orchestrated soundtrack. Finally, players rated selected stimuli from the generated soundtrack dataset on a two-dimensional model reflecting perceived valence and arousal. These ratings were compared to the intended emotional descriptor in the meta-data accompanying specific gameplay events. Participant responses suggested strong agreement with the affective correlates, but also a significant amount of inter-participant variability. Individual calibration of the musical feature set, or further adjustment of the musical feature set are therefore suggested as useful avenues for further work.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/67217
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN) Life Sciences > School of Biological Sciences > Department of Bio-Engineering
Publisher	ACM
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Funded Project

Funders:	Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council	The sponsoring bodies who contributed funding for the creation of this item. Example: NERC Example: The Royal Society of Chemistry A pick list of funders may appear as you type in the funder's name in full or as an acronym. Select a correct match to complete the field or type in a new entry in full. For new entries, the full name is preferred.
Projects:	Brain-Computer Interface for Monitoring and Inducing Affective States Funded by: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/J003077/1 - £509,002) Local Lead (PI): Slawomir Nasuto Project Lead: Slawomir Jaroslaw Nasuto 1 March 2012 - 27 February 2017	Click Add to select your project (received at Reading) from an autocomplete list.

Deposit Details

Date Deposited:	16 Mar 2017 14:56	Date item deposited into CentAUR
Last Modified:	06 Feb 2025 08:01	Date item last modified

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