An email from David McSherry caught my eye in November. The email was from Animation Student Amelia George. Amelia required a sound designer to create a soundtrack, record sound effects and record dialogue. Initially, I was very interested in the project, so I contacted Amelia, who was happy to work with me.
The Project
This was the email I received from Amelia:
“MANOR – a playable video game level. A first-person perspective dark, Gothic horror genre. Set in the grounds of a Georgian country estate that has fallen to ruin, the player must search the gardens for a key to enter the manor house, within a set time limit.
Sound Requirements:
Sound Effects – ambient drones, wind, birds, footsteps, outdoor/nature sounds, incidental sounds such as items hitting the ground, metal gate rattling and keys jingling.
Dialogue: the main character will have some lines during the opening scene as well as a selection of lines that occur after picking up objects/triggering events. Character is a young Victorian woman, English (RP accent).
Soundtrack Music: a couple of short samples for the cutscenes, these would be classical sounding with either piano or a string quartet. Also some short samples to be played during gameplay which would be some eerie drones and drawn-out strings sounds. I can give some further direction with this as I do have knowledge in music composition, but this is just a rough overview.
The story of the game, the setting and mood are qualities that I am fascinated in. Growing up, I played similar games to Manor, such as the Broken Sword series. As I hope to become involved in sound design and composition for visual media, in particular games and animation, after university, this seemed to me the perfect opportunity to develop and experiment with my ideas.