Hey DJs,
Every time I bring up Future Vibe Check I think how cool it would be to make a factory of different theme songs. Future Vibe Check was featured in Tiny Teams which is a showcase exhibiting tons of games being developed by small teams.
I talked to Unwise, the developer behind Future Vibe Check, about developing his first title in this short podcast!
Something I have learned over the few months of working with him is that he is very knowledgeable in music theory and has the skills to blend that in with game development. Unwise this month wanted to talk about melodies in Future Vibe Check.
Unwise here. Let’s talk about melodies and how we approach them in Future Vibe Check. This builds on top of our previous post on chord progressions which you can find HERE.1. Understanding Melody: The Core Concept
In music theory, melody refers to a sequence of pitches arranged in a linear fashion, forming a recognizable line that conveys emotion and narrative. Unlike harmony, which involves simultaneous notes (as in chords), or rhythm, which governs timing, melody emphasizes the succession of individual tones over time. It serves as the "voice" of a composition, often the most memorable aspect, guiding the listener through tension and resolution.
Melodies derive their character from intervals (the distance between pitches), contour (the shape of the line, such as ascending or descending), and rhythm. In human perception, effective melodies balance repetition for familiarity with variation for interest, adhering to principles like Gestalt psychology, where the brain seeks patterns and closure.
2. Melody in Future Vibe Check: Procedural Generation and Gameplay Integration
In Future Vibe Check, melody generation is handled by a dedicated system within our procedural music engine, ensuring that melodies align with the game's harmonic foundation (chord progressions) and rhythmic structure (dynamic measures). This is achieved by intelligently selecting pitches based on player-influenced parameters and what has been crafted in the automation loop.
First, we select a chord tone to maintain harmonic coherence. This method randomly selects a chord degree (e.g., root, third, fifth, or seventh) from a predefined seventh chord structure and an octave from available ranges. We then map this to actual pitches by offsetting from the current key, mode, and scale, ensuring the melody fits the progression generated at measure boundaries (as detailed in our chord progressions log).
We then incorporate redundancy avoidance: if a note would repeat redundantly from the previous step, there's a probability (tunable) to shift it, preventing monotony.
Next, we determine an appropriate melodic motion, or how the pitch feels in relation to the previous one in the melody. Should the pitch support a conjunct (connected to the previous pitch), disjunct (leaps to introduce a bit of energy), ascending (build anticipation), descending (provide resolution), or undulating (create balance) motion.
Finally, as a melody is being generated, there is a craftable parameter to have a repeating melody where the melodic structure and “motion” is stored and can be repeated based on its timing within a progression. This means that melodies can “fit” the player’s composition in an emergent fashion but can be repeated for consistency, to mirror real composition.
We have a lot of exciting plans in melodic generation in the future including things like leitmotifs (reusable theme structures…think Imperial March from Star Wars) too!
In our next entries, we will discuss a bit more about our evolving conveyor belt model, MIDI support, and the road to BETA!
Much Love,
Unwise