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with a special focus on the influence of sound and
music. We have discussed the results of experi-
ments that have made use of both subjective and
objective assessments of game sound and music.
After these pilot studies, and our discussion of
emotional theories and experiential constructs,
we have to conclude that the detailed explora-
tion of game sound and music at this stage of our
knowledge is still difficult to conduct because
there are few comparable research results avail-
able and there is not yet a perfect measurement
methodology. The multi-method combination of
subjective and objective quantitative measures
is a good starting point from which to create and
refine more specific methodologies for examining
the impact of sound and music in games.
measurements and results obtained remain valid
and thus more readily informative for the design
suggestions above. We also see a lot of potential
in cross-correlation of subjective and objective
measures in terms of attentional activation, such
as the exploration of brain wave (that is EEG) data
to find out more about the cognitive underpinnings
of gameplay experience, by this means potentially
separating experiential constructs from an affec-
tive emotional attribution and aligning them to
an attentive cognitive attribution. Experiments
might be designed to answer the question
does
attention guide immersion or vice versa?
Others
might investigate sound and affect in game genres
other than FPS.
Potential of these New
technologies for sound Design
Important Questions and
Future challenges
Why go to all this experimental trouble? After
all, most digital games seem to function well
enough with current sound design paradigms.
The answer lies in two technologies both having
great potential for the future of sound design. The
first is procedural audio and as other chapters here
deal with the subject in great depth (Farnell, 2011;
Mullan, 2011), we limit ourselves to highlighting
the importance of the ability to stipulate affective-
emotional parameters for the real-time synthesis
of sound. It is generally accepted that a sudden,
loud sound in a particular context (perhaps there
is a preceding silence and darkness wrapped up
in a horror genre context) is especially arousing.
However, what is less understood is the role, for
example, of timbre on affect and emotion and, in
the context of digital games and virtual environ-
ments, immersion. Would it be effective to design
an affective real-time sound synthesis sub-engine
as part of the game engine where the controllable
parameters are not amplitude and frequency but
high-level factors such as fear, happiness, arousal,
or relaxation? Perhaps these parameters could be
governed by the player in the game set-up menu
who might opt, for instance, for a more or less
The important questions regarding game design
that aims to facilitate flow, fun, or immersive
experiences are: should tasks be provided by
the game (i.e., created by the designer), should
they be encouraged by the game environment, or
should finding the task be part of the gameplay?
The latter is rather unlikely, since finding only
one task at a time sequentially might frustrate
players and choosing a pleasant task according to
individual mood, emotional, or cognitive disposi-
tion will probably provide more fun. Thus, instead
of saying players need to face tasks that can be
completed, it might be better design advice to
provide several game tasks at the same time and
design for an environment that encourages playful
interaction. An environment that facilitates flow,
fun, or immersion would provide opportunities for
the player to alternate between playing for its own
sake (i.e., setting up their own tasks) and finding
closure by completing a given task.
Some of the future challenges here will in-
clude finding good experimental designs that
clearly distinguish audio stimuli, while still being
embedded in a gaming context, in order that the
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