Welcome back to the second of the sound design related posts for Much Dungeon. As mentioned in post 5, all sound effects are created in-house from unique sources. Not too much magic in this mix, but our chosen path to take for having completely original IP within our game.
Ideation
This first phase may just be the most difficult when compared to all of the following, as those have well defined tools available for making the intangible, tangible. Thinking up what sounds to use in the game fall to many categories including but not limited to the player, many npcs, items (as with a sound trigger for item pickup) and the many events that the player will face while advancing. All of these fall further into two categories of 1) What should this sound like? 2) From what source should I obtain the sample? With the first, some things are much more apparent than others. Fire generally sounds like combustion of various materials, but a brand new character from the minds of our game designers requires some thought, discussion and overall agreeance. With the second, it must be understood that sounds can come from both like and unlike sources, with the latter very likely requiring more work and manipulation in the editing/production phase. Above all, and to any small game company using in house audio, clearly defining each and every point of audio in the game before getting started is best practice. This includes general audio that can be triggered throughout the entire game, as well as any event or level specific audio.
Creation/Capture
For all sounds from source, both a Tascam DR-22WL and Tascam DR-40 were used to capture. The main focus here is capturing clean, usable and noise free audio. There was little thought put into audio format, and we are using MP3 over WAV due to the obvious decreased storage requirements with little to no perceivable change in quality.
Sources range from literally anything in view. Some are the same as what is in the game such as player footsteps are collected from boot on stone, grass/leaves, water, etc. Other sources provided mere inspiration such as a garage door becoming a bomb explosion. The possibilities are endless for this. Many other “sources” come strictly from live or virtual instruments, in which creation happens in the production phase.
*Quick tip: As with any audio input signal, there is no set and forget for all capture. Testing each source first and adjusting/riding the input signal level will assure a distortion free capture for best use when imported into a DAW. Along with this is capturing audio without any outside source bleeds. The hum of your home AC unit isn’t really apparent until after you’ve captured a few hundred sounds, so be mindful of such, and the grunt work that is sound capture will reap more reward.*
In the end, Much Dungeon will contain over one hundred individual audio files for SFX alone, not including music tracks. The 8 to 10 biome designs we are currently working with all will contain specific audio, giving the player a different experience at every turn.
Editing/Production
Much Software’s audio team currently uses Pro Tools Version 9 (yes… we are a bit behind…), as it works well with the version of Propellerhead’s Reason audio software and external instrument controllers also being used. There is a single, dedicated Pro Tools “Samples/FX” session that takes all captured sounds as import or contains tracks for both live and virtual instrument SFX tracking. There is another dedicated session within reason aptly named the “OrcSynth” (orc for orchestral) that was defined initially with all chosen virtual instruments for the game (orchestral, ethnic, percussive, synths, etc.). Various effects and plug-ins (Avid, Waves) are used to get a desired sound, samples are trimmed and faded as needed and then mixed down as a stereo track for testing within the game.
In many cases, various samples and/or instruments are combined to produce a SFX outcome, even if the combination makes no inherent sense. Not every sound is a single source, but the player may never pick up on this. It’s just one of many methods used for producing unique sounds to enhance overall gameplay.
Testing/Final
The actual testing of various audio within the game is not quite a defined process, as anyone at anytime may notice a sound that doesn’t fit aesthetically or may be too long or short for a particular game moment. In fact, this happens often, as each bit of audio is imported into our game engine for use in the game before it is stamped as completed or final. Sometimes, they just work. Other times, the sample is re-worked and edited to fit or wiped completely in favor of another idea, which can take us all the way back to the start.
Thanks for reading.
Love Always,
Much Software
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