Implementation and evaluation of a background music reactive game

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses further work on the authors' "background music reactive games" concept, where background music is used to modify video game parameters and thus actions on the screen. Each song selected by the player makes the game look different and behave variedly. The concept is explored by modifying an open-source game called Briquolo, which is based on the well-known arcade game Breakout. Several audio signal features such as magnitude, energy, centroid, and spectral flux are calculated from the background music MP3 file and mapped to relevant game parameters. In order to verify how well the features work in practice, a user study with 20 participants was arranged. The results suggest strongly that people appreciate the concept of background music reactive games. The selected analysis algorithms and mapping worked nicely, and 90% of participants felt that the music truly affected the game. In addition, 90% of participants also felt that the modified version was more entertaining than the original.

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INDEX TERMS

Keywords:
AudioAsteroids, Briquolo, MP3, background music reactive games, breakout, games, music, music signal analysis, musically controlled games