The Game Music Handbook

Writing music for games is an art that requires conceptual forethought, specialized technical skill, and a deep understanding of how players interact with games and game audio. The Game Music Handbook embarks on a journey through numerous soundscapes throughout video game history, exploring a series of concepts and techniques that are key to being a successful game music composer. This book organizes key game music scoring concepts into an applicable methodology, describing them with memorable distinctions that leave readers with a clear picture of how to apply them to creating music and sound. Any music composer or musician who wishes to begin a career in game composition can pick up this text and quickly gain a solid understanding of the core techniques for composing video game music, as well as the conceptual differences that separate it from any other compositional field. Some of these topics include designing emotional arcs for nonlinear timelines, the relationship between music and sound design, discussion of the player’s interaction with audio, and more. There is also much to be gained by advanced readers or game audio professionals, who will find detailed discussion of game state and its effect on player interaction, a composer-centric lesson on programming, how to work with version control, information on visual programming languages, emergent audio, music for virtual reality (VR), procedural audio, and other indispensable knowledge about advanced reactive music concepts. The text often explores the effect that music has on a player’s interaction with a game. It discusses the practical application of this interaction through the examination of various techniques employed in games throughout video game history to enhance immersion, emphasize emotion, and create compelling interactive experiences.

Exploring Correlations Between Properties Using Artificial Neural Networks

The traditional aim of materials science is to establish the causal relationships between composition, processing, structure, and properties with the intention that, eventually, these relationships will make it possible to design materials to meet specifications. This paper explores another approach. If properties are related to structure at different scales, there may be relationships between properties that can be discerned and used to make predictions so that knowledge of some properties in a compositional field can be used to predict others. We use the physical properties of the elements as a dataset because it is expected to be both extensive and reliable and we explore this method by showing how it can be applied to predict the polarizability of the elements from other properties.

Katophorite from the Jade Mine Tract, Myanmar: mineral description of a rare (grandfathered) endmember of the amphibole supergroup

Katophorite has the ideal formula ANaB(NaCa)C(Mg4Al)T(Si7Al)O22W(OH)2 (Hawthorne et al., 2012). No published analyses of amphiboles fall in the katophorite compositional field, except that of Harlow and Olds (1987) for an amphibole from near Hpakan in the Jade Mine Tract, Myanmar. This amphibole was approved by the International Mineralogical Association Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification (vote 2013-140) as katophorite, and is reported here. Holotype katophorite is monoclinic, space group C2/m, a = 9.8573(8), b = 17.9617(15), c = 5.2833(4) Å, β = 104.707(2)°, V = 904.78(13) Å3, Z = 2. The calculated density is 3.091 g cm–3. In plane-polarized light, katophorite is pleochroic, X = pale blue (medium), Y = light blue-green (strongest), Z = colourless; X ∧ a = 30.6° (β obtuse), Y || b, Z ∧ c = 15.8 (β acute). It is biaxial negative, α = 1.638, β = 1.642, γ = 1.644, all ± 0.002; 2Vobs = 73(1)°, 2Vcalc = 70°. The eight strongest lines in the powder X-ray diffraction pattern are [d in Å (I)(hkl)]: 2.700 (100)(151), 3.129 (69)(310), 2.536 (65)(202), 3.378 (61)(131), 8.421 (55)(110), 2.583 (46)(061), 2.942 (43)(221) and 2.334 (41)(351). Electron-microprobe analysis of the refined crystal gave SiO251.74, Al2O37.38, TiO2 0.14, FeO 1.55, Fe2O3 2.82, MgO 18.09, CaO 8.17, Na2O 6.02, K2O 0.24, F 0.06, H2Ocalc. 1.80, Li2Ocalc. 0.09, sum 100.55 wt.% (Li2O and H2O based on the results of single-crystal structure refinement). The formula unit, calculated on the basis of 24 (O,OH,F) with (OH + F + O) = 2 is: A(Na0.85K0.04)Σ=0.89B(Ca1.22Na0.78)Σ=2.00C(Mg3.76Al0.43Fe0.303+Cr0.273+Fe0.182+Li0.05Ti0.014+)Σ=5.00T(Si7.21Al0.79)Σ=8.00O22W[(OH)1.67O0.30F0.03)]Σ=2.00.

Thermal Properties of Cu-Hf-Ti Metallic Glass Compositions

ABSTRACTThe glass transition temperature Tg, crystallization temperature Tx, solidus temperature Tm, and liquidus temperature Tl, of a number of ternary Cu-Hf-Ti glassy alloys in the composition range of 51< Cu <67, 5 < Hf < 40 and 5 < Ti <40 (at.%) are reported and discussed. It is found that increasing the Ti:Hf ratio results in a rapid decreasing of Tg and Tx. This behavior is related to the fact that the melting point and cohesive energy for Ti are substantially lower than for Hf. The solidus temperature Tm, remains relatively constant on a wide range of compositions. The liquidus temperatures data suggest a ternary eutectic within the compositional field encompassed by the Cu55Hf20Ti25, Cu59Hf21Ti20, Cu60Hf20Ti20 and Cu55Hf21Ti24 alloys, with a liquidus temperature, Tl, of ∼1170 K; this is supported by the DTA traces, which show a single melting peak. Based on the DTA analysis, the experimentally calculated liquidus projection for the ternary Cu-Hf-Ti alloy system is also reported.

Mineral chemistry (biotite, muscovite, garnet, and plagioclase) in the Kathmandu and Gosainkund regions, central Nepal Himalaya

The greenschist- to granulite-facies rocks in the Kathmandu and Gosainkund regions are divided into three tectonic units on the basis of structure, lithology, and metamorphism. The Gosainkund Crystalline Nappe (GCN) corresponds to the southward extension of the Higher Himalayan Crystallines (HHC), which thrusts over the Kathmandu Crystalline Nappe (KCN) along the Main Central Thrust (MCT). The GCN and KCN thrust over the Lesser Himalaya (LH) along the MCT and the Mahabharat Thrust (MT), respectively. Systematic traverses with the microprobe of four minerals (i.e. biotite, muscovite, garnet, and plagioclase) from all the three units were carried out to study their chemical variations. Most of the biotite compositions from all units belong to the annite compositional field. There is an inverse relationship between the Ti and the Mg number (Mg2+/ (Mg2++Fe2+) and the latter increases from the top to bottom section of the KCN. The LH biotites resemble the bottom composition of the KCN whereas the GCN biotite compositions are quite scattered. However, the Ti-Mg number trend does not seem to be related directly to the grade of metamorphism. The muscovites from the KCN are rich in FeO while the muscovites from other two units are rich in Al2O3. In the KCN, the almandine and pyrope contents in garnet decrease from bottom to top section, while the grossular and spessartine contents in garnet increase. This trend is consistent with the prograde metamorphic evolution observed in the field. The composition of garnets from the bottom to the top section of the GCN does not show any systematic variation, but in the upper section, where sillimanite appears, the almandine con tent decreases and the spessartine content slightly increases. This variation in composition suggests a polyphase metamorphic evolution. The albite content of plagioclase decreases from the lower to upper section in the KCN while there is not any systematic variation in the GCN. The P-T conditions record the good preservation of inverse metamorphism in the LH below the MCT. The comparison of P-T results between the KCN and the GCN suggests that exhumation of the KCN was followed by the exhumation of the GCN.

Smectite in weathered hyaloclastite of the Shakotan Peninsula, Hokkaido, Japan: significance of clay mineralogy in engineering geology

The occurrence and chemical composition of smectite in hyaloclastite from the Toyohama rock fall site of 10 February 1996 and the Oshoro Bay area were examined by using optical microscope, X-ray diffractometer, electron probe microanalyser and analytical transmission electron microscope. Frequently, smectite occurs as fillings and linings of pores in various forms, and sporadically as the replacement of volcanic glass in hyaloclastite. The analytical results show that smectite is of dioctahedral and Fe-rich type. Its compositional field varies extensively between montmorillonite and nontronite. Moreover, interlayer cations of smectite vary intensively in relation with the type of weathering in hyaloclastite. Na-smectite occurs characteristically in discoloured hyaloclastite affected by superficial weathering, whereas Ca- and K-smectite occurs dominantly in the hyaloclastite collected from the inner part of the rock mass. These features of smectite in hyaloclastite can be attributed to its formational and weathering environments. Mineralogical characterisation of hyaloclastite provides detailed information on engineering properties of this type of rock mass and rock materials.

Gonnardite and disordered natrolite-group minerals: their distinction and relations with mesolite, natrolite and thomsonite

This paper presents a literature survey of compositions of the fibrous zeolites mesolite, natrolite, thomsonite and their derivatives such as pseudomesolite, high-Na mesolite, tetranatrolite, paranatrolite, ranite, and gonnardite, and evaluates them in the light of new electron probe analyses and X-ray powder data for gonnardites and associated minerals from Aci Castello, Gignat, Hills Port, Kladno, and Lamo. The analyses are plotted on the basis of bivalent vs. trivalent cations per 80 oxygen cell and a new chemical classification is tentatively proposed. It is concluded that ranite is definitely not synonymous with gonnardite and until species status is confirmed it is useful to retain this term as a Ca- and Al-rich disordered variety of natrolite. It is further concluded that natrolite and tetranatrolite contain up to 2 Ca, ranite 2–4 Ca, gonnardite 4–6 Ca and thomsonite 6–8 Ca atoms with corresponding limits on the Al atoms. Compositions are governed by NaSi = CaAl and to some extent by Na2 = Ca type replacements and the Al-content generally varies sympathetically with Ca-content. The plot reveals that most high-Na mesolites are ranites, a number of gonnardites are ranites and one or two are tetranatrolites. The compositional field of gonnardite crosses that of mesolite (and pseudomesolite), but these minerals can be easily distinguished optically and by their powder patterns. The unit cell volumes increase in the order tetranatrolite, ranite, gonnardite and paranatrolite, therefore if the 1040 (or 1460) line can be identified in the powder patterns one can distinguish between these minerals. New infrared spectra of gonnardite, ranite and tetranatrolite are compared with each other and with published spectra, and differences are noted. DSC results for gonnardite and ranite are compared and appear to be diagnostic.

Compositional variation in the pyroxenes and amphiboles of the Kangerdlugssuaq intrusion, East Greenland: further evidence for the crustal contamination of syenite magma

Pyroxenes and amphiboles from the under-saturated to over-saturated syenites of the Kangerdlugssuaq intrusion have been examined to see what light they throw on the two contrasting petrogenetic models for the intrusion. Pyroxene crystals are strongly zoned outwards from augitic to more acmitic compositions, with the most calcic cores present in the foyaite, contrary to the expected pattern if the foyaite is the most evolved rock type as previously postulated. Amphiboles, which are absent in the foyaites, show an exceptionally wide compositional field varying from actinolite through richterite and katophorite to arfvedsonite. Many are manganoan and potassian varieties. However, there is no consistent variation throughout the intrusion as previous work has suggested. These results are not favourable to the idea of a crystal fractionation model for the intrusion and we suggest that the foyaite is closest to the original magma which has hybridized with the enclosing gneisses and basalts to produce the over-saturated rocks. Such a model is consistent with the existing isotopic data.