Early beginnings

Welcome to the first dev log for Polly Dreams! It’s been an exciting first week of development, and I’ve made some solid progress laying the foundation for this experimental project. Let’s dive into what’s been accomplished so far and where I’m headed next!

What’s Been Done So Far

Scenes and Systems

• Menu Scene: The project starts with a simple, clean menu to set the tone.
• Build Scene: This is where the magic happens — a playground for creating and experimenting with music systems.

Core Features Implemented

• Basic Orbit System: Notes orbit around a center, with settings to control speed, spacing, and more.
• Star Volume with Real Astronomical Data: Using the Yale Bright Star Catalog and inspired by Firnox’s tutorial, I’ve added a star field to the scenes. It brings a touch of cosmic beauty to the visual design.
• Sequencing Manager: Manages sets of musical systems (or "note managers"), allowing multiple systems to interact and work together.
• Notes Manager: Handles the logic and controls for individual musical systems.

Audio and Effects

• Sine Wave Generation: Implemented simple wave shapes — sine, saw, and square — for audio playback.
• Base Audio Mixer: Includes a compressor and some early experimentation with reverb and echo.
• Post-Processing Layers: Added custom shaders for the star field and basic post-processing to enhance the visual fidelity.

Saving Systems

• Implemented basic saving and loading functionality. Right now, it supports saving one musical system at a time, but this will expand in the future.

The Build Scene

The Build Scene allows you to combine musical systems to generate endless music. Each system includes the following settings: 

•  🎵 Root Note: Select the starting note for the scale. 
•  🎼 Scale Selector: Choose from several scales to structure your composition. 
•  🔊 Volume: Control the overall volume of the system. 
•  🎶 Number of Notes: Determine how many notes to spawn in the orbit. 
•  🎚️ Base Octaves: Define the octave range (e.g., 1, 2, 3). 
•  📐 Center Offset: Adjust the starting distance of notes from the center. 
•  🔄 Center Q Offset: Set the distance between notes in the orbit. 
•  ⏳ Seconds Per Cycle: Define how long it takes for a note to complete one orbit. 
•  ⚡ Speed Cycle Offset: Control how much slower each note moves compared to the previous one. 
•  🌌 Orbit Offset: (Still in experimentation) Adds variation to the orbits.

Note: Naming is still a bit rough — I’m iterating on these settings as I go. My goal is to make these controls highly visual and intuitive in the future, with PC and controller support.

Right now, you can combine systems and let them play endlessly, creating evolving, generative compositions. It’s simple but effective — and it achieves my first objective of endless music-ish.

Next Steps

Here’s what’s on my to-do list:

1. Audio Improvements:
   • Enhance audio quality while keeping CPU load low.
   • Expand waveforms with more precise controls over sine waves and other shapes.
   • Implement a basic oscillator for more dynamic sound generation.
2. Notes and Sequencing:
   • Add variety to note generation, including randomization and manual control for each note.
   • Implement ascending/descending scale patterns.
   • Improve sequencing for more structured compositions across time.
3. Visualizer Editor:
   • Create a panel to control visual effects, orbital shapes, animations, and more.
   • Allow users to customize the visual experience in detail.
4. Save/Load Systems: Expand saving functionality to support multiple systems.
5. Arpeggiator: Begin building a simple arpeggiator to experiment with.
6. Player Structure: Lay the groundwork for a system where users can build and share their compositions.

Looking Ahead

Here’s where I’d like to take Polly Dreams in the future:

• Listen Mode: A platform to explore other players’ creations with social features like likes and follows.
• Mini Games: Tiny retro-style games that incorporate generative elements. Imagine the music you’re creating influencing the gameplay and vice versa — music meets interactivity in a unique way.

Final Thoughts

Polly Dreams is still in its infancy, but it’s already shaping into something special. I’m excited to keep experimenting and refining this project. If you’ve tried it out, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Your feedback will help shape the future of Polly Dreams.

Thanks for joining me on this journey!