Script Designer

Scripts enable the sound designer or composer to exert more immediate control over the playback of components in an application.

If scripts are not used, many details of playback have to be left to the application developers. This is particularly true in interactive applications such as games, where the application specifies which sounds are played in response to different events. As a result, regular communication between the sound designers and the developers is necessary. Follow-up and adjustment are often required to ensure the proper execution of instructions from the sound design team, with the possibility of significant delays as the code must be changed and the application recompiled.

Using scripts, the compiled application no longer implements every detail of playback directly; instead, it calls into script routines written and maintained by the sound designers. For example, instead of specifying a segment and groove level for each scene in a game, an application can set a variable to notify the script of what scene is being played, and then call on the script to handle the details of playback. The sound designer can change the routine at any time and audition the results immediately, without needing to ask for a new build of the application.

Scripts can also be used within segments, eliminating the need for the application to call routines directly. For example, calls in the Script Track of a segment could periodically check the value of a variable set by the application, and then set the tempo of the performance in response.

An application can load and run multiple scripts at the same time. The names of variables and routines can be the same in different scripts; the application will keep them separate. One script can load another script and call into it.

Note Examples of scripts are included in the Sample Files provided with DirectMusic Producer.