Advancing performability in playable media : a simulation-based interface as a dynamic score

When designing playable media with non-game orientation, alternative play scenarios to gameplay scenarios must be accompanied by alternative mechanics to game mechanics. Problems of designing playable media with non-game orientation are stated as the problems of designing a platform for creative explorations and creative expressions. For such design problems, two requirements are articulated: 1) play state transitions must be dynamic in non-trivial ways in order to achieve a significant level of engagement, and 2) pathways for players’ experience from exploration to expression must be provided. The transformative pathway from creative exploration to creative expression is analogous to pathways for game players’ skill acquisition in gameplay. The paper first describes a concept of simulation-based interface, and then binds that concept with the concept of dynamic score. The former partially accounts for the first requirement, the latter the second requirement. The paper describes the prototype and realization of the two concepts’ binding. “Score” is here defined as a representation of cue organization through a transmodal abstraction. A simulation based interface is presented with swarm mechanics and its function as a dynamic score is demonstrated with an interactive musical composition and performance

A Priori Attunement for Two Cases of Dynamical Systems

Presented at the 20th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD2014), June 22-25, 2014, New York, NY.An application of a tuning function adopts a space metaphor in scientific methods for representing state space of non-linear dynamical systems. To achieve an interactive exploration of the systems through sounds, attunement is defined as an a priori process for conditioning a playable space for an auditory display. To demonstrate this process, two cases of dynamical systems are presented. The first case employs Chua’s circuit, in which system parameters are defined as energy introduction to the system and energy governance within the system. The second case employs a swarm simulation, defined as a set of rules to dictate social agents’ behaviors. Both cases exhibit complex dynamics and emergent properties. The paper synthesizes a comparative review of auditory display for the two cases while defining playable space with generalizable tuning functions. The scope of the discussion focuses on the relationship between playable space as a canonical architecture for auditory display workflow and its realization through attunement in applications of dynamical systems