Sound Design
Sound will play a crucial role in defining the space, creating depth and immersing the player. It will work closely alongside the visuals in order to create a simulation environment that the player can recognize.
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Its purpose will be to enhance the player's experience and make the game more immersive. Using sounds to guide the player and lead their emotional journey will be critical to establish a consistent tone for the game. The sounds within the game, should allow the player to close their eyes and visualise the surrounding environment from all the different noises.
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Sound Placement
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Within each room, there will be many different sounds present. For example:
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- Player footsteps on different materials
- Water running
- Creaking metal and pipes
- Splash (falling heavy metal into water)
- Sizzling (if water is radioactive)
- Intense sizzle (when metal falls into radioactive water)
- Sirens
- Walkie talkies
- Lights flashing
- Mechanical movements (electronic and heavy kinetic sounds - like lifts and cranes)
- Electricity (static from wires and consoles)
- Barrels hitting walls + metal and heavy plastic collision sounds (when ground tilts)
- Fire crackling
- smoke?
- explosions?
- steam?
- helicopter?
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Interaction sounds:
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- Button pressing (click)
- Picking up and placing objects (collision)
- Jumping
- Walking
- Climbing
- Opening door/vent
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Extra sounds:
- Player grunts?
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Without fully designing, it is tricky to create an extensive list that includes all the sounds required to make this simulation experience as believable as possible. During development in semester 2, it is likely I might discover additional sounds that I need to implement into the game. These will be added to the list if they are discovered.
Audio Track and Music
Currently, sound is only intended to serve as a guide and an asset that assists immersion within the project. I have not looked into creating a music track for the game, as I feel it could take away from the narrative. If I am to create a melancholy track that aims to create a depressing mood, the pacing of the game will not match (this would therefore be an inappropriate combination). A fast pace with slow sad music would feel off. However, if I am to make a fast beat to match the parkour movements within the game, it would give the game a very casual tone, which would be inappropriate and inconsiderate in the setting. I don't want to make my game just for players to have a fun experience, as making light of a devastating event can be seen as very insensitive. My aims are to also educate, promote reflection in several topics and self development.
Surround Sound
Implementing surround sound within my project will assist in creating a world that feels 3-dimensional. Having sound register with the user from multiple directions will create the illusion of them being within a 3d space and therefore make the experience more immersive. Surround sound is achieved by using multiple audio channels that surround the listener. Majority of headphones are able to play surround sound outputs , providing directionality. Higher end models are able to produce Spatial Audio and Stimulated sound. Ideally, I would implement Spatial audio within my game, however it is too complex - I lack resources to create high enough quality sounds and publishing it will mean that only a very small percentage of players will be able to actually experience the game audio as it was designed. Therefore, surround sound standards will be what is used to create audio within this project.