In this post, we will highlight the general concept and methods chosen for sound design in Much Dungeon. As with many games, the two main audio components for sound design include in-game audio sound effects and game music. In later sound design posts, these concepts will be addressed independently to cover the idea process, audio inception, techniques used for obtaining committable/final audio for the game, and even how our engine handles and wires various audio. For you specific audio enthusiasts and sound designers, this will eventually involve specific sound capture and recording techniques. For you audio gear heads, we’ll be sure to make specific mention of all instruments and DAW components in play.
Sound Effects
Much Dungeon (and Much Software’s plan for future releases) uses only in-house created SFX in the game. No sound effects from commercial or public domain libraries are in use except for areas where non-existing audio is needed for testing in the game. Some specific instrument related samples do come from 3rd party samplers, but this is pretty standard when it comes to audio synths and samplers. A list of audio effect sources up to this date include:
Captured/sampled from exact or like source
Captured/sampled sound from unlike source is manipulated to mimic in game audio effect
Recorded or sampled instrument tone or melody. With this, the idea is for the audio effect to be similar/same in key and tempo as the underlying music, but this does not hold true for all audio triggered in the game
Game Music and Soundtrack
From the beginning, we didn’t want the music (and overall audio design) to be a by product of game play, but rather more of a defining and equal role amongst the other unique gameplay elements. The idea is to have more of a soundtrack and live music feel such as with larger game releases on major platforms. Our approach will provide a bit of contrast to the audio direction of some other pixel based games where a lo-fi approach is used, paying homage to much earlier released games that were, at the time, limited by audio quality. The chance at a more immersive audio experience for a pixel based mobile release is something we are excited about.
The music tracks will follow two paths in the game with all music loops being clips of possible larger pieces that make up an eventual full game soundtrack. Each biome/level within the game will have a unique theme song that tries to capture the feel of the environment and match other ambient and/or audio triggers that are playing. These tracks will be of a more traditional nature, using more programmed orchestrated pieces along with acoustic guitars to not over power general game play. For the many boss characters in Much Dungeon, each will also have a dedicated theme song that will range between different sub-genres of metal, as we feel it will add the intensity we are seeking for boss events by way of Hack n’ Thrash. Also, we’re all just fans of the music genre… Instrumentation wise, these tracks will have little to no programmed instruments (outside of drums for this first release), and be mostly guitar driven for easier recreation in future live scenarios.
Love Always,
Much Software
