Name of Your Project

Implementing AI into Rhythm-Based Video Games

What research topic/question your project is going to address?

The project is going to attempt to address a common issue with rhythm games – particularly for mobile devices – where, upon finishing a song, the game goes into an ‘Endless Mode’. Currently, ‘Endless Mode’s tend to be the same song repeated, generally increasing in tempo as time goes on, which makes the game more repetitive and boring the better you are/longer you can last.

What technology will be used in your project?

I would use Unity, as well as Melodrive, primarily. Further technology, including alternative music-based AIs, may be explored as needed. A laptop or desktop computer to code on, as well as a mobile device, would be used for testing.

What software and hardware will be needed for your project?

The Unity game engine, Melodrive, a laptop or desktop, and a mobile device.

How are you planning to implement?

I would implement this project by first creating a simple rhythm-based game (one example of such would be the popular Piano Tiles), in Unity, creating a system by which the game can generate a level based on any song uploaded by the user. Once that framework has been created, I would use Melodrive’s Unity API (or create an API using another music-based AI if necessary) to generate infinite new music for a truly ‘Endless’ experience that will never bore the user with repeated music.

How is your project different from others? What’s new in your project?

My project is different from others due to the two fields it delves into – video game design, and AI. The project would be new from its conception; from what I can tell, there are currently no games or apps on the mobile market that can offer a non-repetitive ‘Endless Mode’ upon completion of a song/level. Similar technology could be used in any other video game, as well, instead of a repeating song serving as the background music.

What’s the difficulties of your project? What problems you might encounter during your project?

The first difficulty I’ll have with this project is coding the initial game – while manually creating parameters for set songs (i.e. when to make objects for the player to tap, where to place them, and so forth) is easy, albeit time-consuming, making a program to dynamically create the level based on any input sound clip will be considerably more difficult. Additionally, depending on the limitations of Melodrive’s Unity API, it may be a challenge to create infinite music during the play session. If that is the case, I’ll have to jury rig it to do so, or alternatively create an all-new API using one of the other various music-based AIs.