Thought Process
My approach to environmental sound design and soundscape for a game starts off by playing the game to get a feel of the game by immersing myself in the games story, direction and theme.
Being a hardcore gamer and heavy modder skilled in the art of scripting of various games and MIDI, i like to open the config files of a game to see the relationship of a games mechanics to a sound or the interaction of a sound with objects in the game. this enables me to better understand the objects and environment of the game and their relationship with sounds.
For example on several playthroughs and editing values of objects to better understand its behaviour with sound i learnt the games mechanics such as the state of an object or its velocity affects the pitch of sounds or soundscapes.
Once i have learnt and grasped the theme, concept and direction of the game including the objects and its environment i would have a good starting point in what my sound designs would be.
From looking at the initial sounds of the game and the game itself i had thought the idea of space initially but then the deep ocean came in mind. Both share the similarities of vast open spaces, abyss's and voids.
The objects in the game also resembled microrganisms that would be expected floating in the deep sea abyss so that became my vision amd target i had in mind when forming sounds for the game.
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Produce game sounds
Since my tasks was replacing sounds already designed for the game i had a reference to use when sound designing and a guide to the loudness and dynamics of the original sounds.
Listed below are the sounds i was tasked to replace with a brief description of the sounds.
Wallbounce: The wallbounce sound was intended for when an orb hits the wall. The original sound had a hollow ringing noise rather than bouncing noise.
Consume: Consume came in 3 forms of sounds. the 1st being Consumedpart which sounded like a white noise with an highpass filter sweep. This gives the sound a draining effect. The 2nd sound Consumepart is similar if not the same sound as the 1st mentioned but the difference being this has a low pass filter which gives the effect of rising or emerging. The last sound Consumeshort is same as the 1st consume sound but it has been stretched and the high pass filter sweep lasts longer.
All these sounds combined play the role of the players orb interaction with another orb. specifically the player being absorbed.
Moteaborb: Moteabsorb similar to consume came in various forms although this contains 4 forms. Again similar to Consume the sound design consisted of High and Low pass filters sweeps and stretched takes, the only difference being that 1 of the sounds (Moteabsorb1) has both a high and low pass sweeps layered onto it giving a falling and rising effect and the last sound (Moteabsorb4) cuts out midway of a High pass filter sweep ending with a reverb tail. The function of this sound is when the player interacts with another orb (specifically when absorbing another orb).
Lifeform Terminated: The Lifeform Terminated sounds function is when the player dies from being absorbed. The sound designed originally was a very harsh sound, if i was to describe it i would say like a lot of metal objects clashing, layered with heavy reverb.
Start: (Sound Not in Demo)
Attractor absorb: (Sound Not in Demo)
Sound Design Process
My workflow for this task starts off by loading my created sounds into the Akai MPC software which communicates with my Akai MPC MIDI controller which in turn enables me to have full control in manipulating a sound. I would then seperate the sounds by slicing them and assigning them each to a pad on my Akai MPC controller. I would begin improvising with my sounds by layering effects such as delay, Reverb, flangers and phasers and playing the sounds by hitting a pad on my MPC MIDI controller. i would use my MPC's Modulation strip which i am able to assign to an effect which in turn allows me to perform unique and interesting sound design techniques as shown in the video.
With my palette of sounds ready i was ready to begin the task of producing sounds and soundscapes for my game.
My Game Sounds
WallBounce
The wallbounce sound i created was a simple sound i designed in the ES1 synthesizer in Logic pro. it was single note played of my FX sound designed with a fast attack, mid length decay and sustain. The sound would work perfect for the wallbounce i required.
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CAUTION LOUD!!!!!
Lifeform Terminated
The Lifeform Terminated sound i created was 6 layers of sounds i created from my EPK kit ranging from explosion sounds to sea waves and 1 wave sound layered with a phaser fx. Combined all together in an aux track with some compression i was able to form the sound of an exploding object which suited an orb like object.
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CAUTION LOUD!!!!!
Mote Absorbs
The Mote absorb sounds i created were 3 sounds layered onto each other. whilst they were the same sound each were unique either by pitching the sounds differently. i would have one sound dominant of the 3 and this sound was dark and eerie. the sound i had in mind was similar to the consume sound but this would sound more gentle as the player is absorbing rather than being consumed. To create 4 variations i would reverse takes and use filter sweeps to make each mote absorb sound unique.
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Consumed Part/Short
The Consume sounds i created were 6 sounds layered onto each other. The sounds themselves were the same sound pitched differently but working in unison to form an eerie consumed sound. To create variations in the 3 consume sounds i required i would reverse takes and use filter sweeps to make each sound unique.
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Soundscape Production Process
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Gas Discovery
My workflow for this task i kept simple by using the power of nature for my soundscape. With my monophonic bass tone i had created in my EPK assignment i played 10 notes randomly and layered an impulse response of mild rain and an airplane flying by on the bass tone. i would adjust the amount of the impulse effect on the bass tone fully and my 1st soundscape was finsihed. i have learnt that by using sounds around me and capturing them with an impulse response i am able to let nature do the modulation and effects which can produce great results.
Loscil - SickBay
my 2nd soundscape consisted of the bass tone i had created, the horn sound and 1 effects. my thoughts for this soundcsape was to feel more intense in comparison to my 1st soundscape as i intended to use this for the harder levels in the game. my intention was to put the player on the edge rather than feel relaxed as the game progresses getting harder.
The Final 2 Soundscapes derived from my EPK assignment (Genre specific track and ambient track)
