Transitions via Parameter Non-Linearly?

FMOD Studio
1

In our game, which can be thought of as an interactive novel, the player via dialogue choice may trigger different musical events. We’re “scoring” these scenes by shifting to different musical tracks depending on the branch.

Rather than just trigger each event, I thought it would be helpful for the developer to have a “key” where 0 = silence, 1 = theme 1, 2 = theme 2, etc. I would give them the “key,” and then they could trigger the track they want in the scene via parameter.

I’d love to retain some control over automation, crossfades between tracks, and maybe to trigger transitions like cymbal swells and whooshes. These work fine if the parameter is triggered in order from 0 to 2, but not so well if the convo drops from 0 to 4 (in which case, we hear ALL transitions from 0-3).

Any way that I can implement something like this in Fmod Studio alone, or does it require scripting?

2

Yes, there are several different ways you could set this up in FMOD Studio. Have you looked at the music events in the “examples.fspro” project that comes with FMOD Studio? They contain numerous examples of how you can create music that responds to parameters.

The “Music/Level 03” event, in particular, contains an example of a parameter-driven event where playback can transition back and forth between different sections of music, with each transition having unique crossfade curves and interstitial stingers. It achieves this by using “transition timelines,” a feature that allows you to define what happens during the period of transition when the timeline playback position’s location is changed by logic markers.