Using this Toolkit, our team also developed a video game exploring the experience of growing up with neurodivergence.

PROJECT OUTCOMES

• Stakeholder research – 26 interviews with Australian games professionals, including composers, sound designers, voice artists, developers, programmers, and consumers. Findings to be translated into an industry report.

• Deeply Reactive Music in a Game – Demonstrating the capabilities of our MetaMIDI Toolkit, using Unreal Engine’s ‘MetaSounds’ real-time synthesis technologies, this narrative game has multiple levels and plays like an interactive 5-track album.

• Open source Toolkit – The MetaMIDI Toolkit has been released as open source (under the MIT license), and so it can be used and extended further in your own projects.

• Video Documentary – Including background, interviews, and ‘behind-the-scenes’ footage of the project’s development.

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TEAM

Dr Sam Whiting is a leading researcher in cultural policy and creative industries specifically the intersection between technology, markets, and creativity. Dr Whiting’s previous research experience has included work with the SA Music Development Office, the National Live Music Office, the City of Melbourne, Monash University, RMIT University and the University of Tasmania.

Dr Susannah Emery has extensive scholarly and creative practice expertise in video game design and narrative, and will be able to bring a great understanding of prior game design / interactive narrative research into the project. Dr Emery has won and been a finalist for several international awards for her game design and teaching in this area.

John Oestmann is a video game and electronic music composer (including Rooftop Renegade, nominated Best Sound at GDEX conference), and APRA AMCOS SongHubs mentor. Passionate about Open Source and Free Culture, John also publishes his personal compositions into Public Domain, and creates the Freeware Creator Magazine.

George Martin is a video game developer and PhD candidate whose research is focused on the design and development of video games in Virtual Reality for entertainment. They have experience in the Adelaide independent video game development community, previously co-founding Melonhead Games and acting as the primary programmer/technical artist on Rooftop Renegade which was a finalist for the Excellence in Emerging Games award in the Australian Game Developer Awards in 2023.

Joshua McLean is a game artist, tech artist and musician. He has worked across game development, defence and teaching. His creative practice spans 3D animation, traditional sculpture, board game design, and music production. He has a strong interest in the design of gameplay systems and how mechanics shape player experience.

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FUNDING

This project has been assisted by APRA AMCOS and the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body.

This project has also been financially supported by the University of South Australia.

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