Comparing two Sound Design Styles: Between Determinism Emergence and Interactivity

Comparing two Sound Design Styles: Between Determinism Emergence and Interactivity

(Short paper)

Keywords: Emergence, Interactivity, Narration, Sound Installations, Video Games

In the design process of sound installations, the composer designs his sound for a real or a virtual space according to the listener’s walking path. One way to design this walk is to allow the listener to interact with the system via Non-Player Characters1 . For a given piece, the creator affords the interactor a certain amount of freedom; and the system, according to its level of self-sufficiency, a certain amount of autonomy. We assume that these choices are directly related to design styles: the ”scripting style” and the ”emergent style”. In the scripting style, the designer takes the point of view of the interactor, who becomes the narrator. In the emergent style, the designer takes the point of view of Non-Player Characters. We have designed two versions, composed in each style, of the same interactive sound installation The Listening Walker. This paper is mainly devoted to a comparative analysis of the sound design styles experienced, and to the presentation of the two artistic and development experiences.