Author: djcohen@andrew.cmu.edu

Hey! I had this cool idea that I am still working out but this is a super early rough draft. This is for the sound design assignment. I plan on working on it more.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0CRVe4BR6hVblkzMVpJQ2lYT1k/view?usp=sharing

~Daniel Cohen

Hey Everyone. Since I never got to show you my personal research project in class I would like to show you all now! I decided that I really wanted to make a game involving sound somehow. Where the main mechanic was sound. My first idea I had was creating pong where the slider was controlled by pitch because it made the player make really funny noises. That was too difficult and there was too much I didn’t know so I decided to turn to something easier and something I knew more about. I made a game using Unity where it is a 2D side-scroller where you collect lightning bolts to get points by jumping over gaping holes in the map. (the points are on the top left corner.)

How you play is to scream into the mic of your computer to jump. That is all. The game runs on its own and picks up items so long as you go through them. I wrote the music for this game as well, which I hope you can hear (be careful not to put it too loud because the mic might pick up some sound.) Below is a link to the game which is on drive. There is a Mac and PC build so choose which ever one that corresponds to your computer to build. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0CRVe4BR6hVN0ZZSTZCRlJQcDA

Please enjoy and know that this game is still buggy but it is still playable. Tell me what you all think!

PS. The game starts off really quickly so get ready to scream in the beginning. Also there is no restart screen/menu so if you get stuck on the side of the floor or fall to your death in the game then you must force shut the app and open it again. I am sorry for that inconvenience. I hope you still enjoy the game though. Thanks!!

The documentation for this project is below.

Documentation:

https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/topics/scripting/lets-make-game-infinite-runner

http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/394158/real-time-microphone-line-input-fft-analysis.html

http://wiki.unity3d.com/index.php/Mic_Input

When Golan gave his lecture, he showed us a multitude of different experimental methods to produce and experience audio as well as visuals.

The entire lecture was captivating in the sense that it gave us a means of understanding what has been done, what can be done, and where to go from there. How can we expand on experimental methods of producing and experiencing. One specific video that Golan shared with us caught my attention and that was William Wegman – Stomach Song – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bOym_kkvaE

It caught my attention because I believe in creating experiences that expand on a guests understanding of what it is to be a human being in order to expand our experience as human beings?

The average person in this video can see there is a face made up on the stomach. We grow to humanize it, and personify it. During the video we forget that it’s not a face, but rather a stomach. That stomach doesn’t have feelings, nor does it have desires. But, this doesn’t matter to us at the time because in order to suspend our disbelief and serve the narrative we unconsciously understand that we have to think of this as a face in order to gain anything from what I am watching.

Life is full of defeating moments that are hard for us to bear. But, humans are survivors, through thousands of years of evolution we have learned to endure and that is how we have made it this far. But, perhaps the next step in human evolution isn’t continuing to fight back from these defeating moments but rather to surrender to them. To find a balance and say “It’s okay for me to feel right now. It’s okay for this to be happening right now.”

Finding a harmony between fighting and surrendering in our experiences as we fill them with reliability and experimental aspects. Giving to the listener and urging the listener give back to us.

Perhaps, this is the next step in the evolution of understanding how to expand our experiences as human beings and I think we can do this through music.

I feel comfortable saying that most people listen to music because music makes them feel something. If a piece of music makes me feel nothing then I, personally, will be less inclined to listen to it, unless I am listening to it for the purpose of study. Using this approach of creating experiences that we might not understand but can learn to surrender to and appreciate is one method that will change how we experience listening and perhaps, life in general.