Music Transition Designer for Unity - Devlog 2

A short video showing the current state of the Music Transition Designer package that I will be releasing soon on the asset store. This middleware-lite option provides a comprehensive state-driven background music system for developers who don't need the extensive functionality of (or license fees!) of middleware but still want smooth, musical and professional sounding transitions and memory optimisation features. In some areas, MTD actually provides more functionality than can be found in existing solutions.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

We import our audio clips and assign them as addressable for memory optimsation. We then assign metadata using our TrackData editor (BPM, time signature, entry/exit points, markers).

GameState assets hold states which can be triggered via our MtdEventTrigger component or via the API.

StateOutcomes allow us to define which music track plays on which combination of states, and to define behaviour like where the track plays to/from, whether it loops, and where it loops to.

OutcomeCategories allow us to assign a StateOutcome a category (like all exploration tracks in 4/4 could have an Exploration_4-4 category) to allow us to define Track to/from Category or Category to/from Category transition behaviour, rather than creating separate rules for every track combination.

TransitionRules defines the crossfade behaviour between specific StateOutcomes, OutcomeCategories, or Any/None. We have extensive options here to define when we transition, and the starting point of the incoming track. Highlights include transitioning On Beats of Bar or After x Full Bars/Beats/Ms, and transitioning Musical Time which allows us to stay in sync between tracks even if they have different BPMs or time sigs. We also have options like playing another audio file across the transition, delaying the next track, and allowing/preventing cancellation/interruption of a transition to prevent annoying state-spamming.

We use our SoundBank manager to populate assets required, and we then load these banks via our ProjectSettings (for persistent banks), SceneInitialiser (for scene specific banks) or via triggers or API (where we can also unload).

Other functionality includes the option to trigger game object movement/events to beat, in time with the music, great for any game where you want obstacles/platforms/enemies to move in time to the music, or even for syncing SFX to the music (like the tetraminos in Tetris Effect).

WHAT'S THE CATCH?

While powerful for what it does (triggering music from state combinations, allowing detailed transition customisation, and efficient memory optimisation), this isn't a replacement for Wwise or FMOD. If you need parallel music systems, to work with stems, or to create randomised behaviour, this isn't for you. I always advise clients to use the big boys if they can since there's no competing with them for sheer functionality.

However, MTD is made by a musician and technical audio designer, with musicians and technical audio designers in mind: options to deal with state-spamming, cancellation of transitions, and more extensive timing options than can be found in middleware, have been designed based on my own experience working in middleware and Unity - solutions that would normally have to be custom scripted are implemented here by default, achieving premium-sounding results with reduced time, stress, and cost.

While there is still some work to do on the API, and some bugs to iron out, the main UI and playback system is in a good place so it will soon be available for beta testing. If this sounds interesting for your project please get in touch at contact@joshwiniberg.co.uk - I'd love to hear from you!