In this section of my blog you can read about my personal experience with the project and my opinion of the finished product.
My role as sound designer and composer involves a number of things:
Sound Designer:
- Create sound effects, atmospheres, sonic textures and ambiences that will create naturalistic and abstract worlds for the game’s story
- Record Dialogue, edit and mix together in post production
Composer:
- Record, edit and mix relevant music for each sequence
- Have an understanding of musical history
I believe that throughout this project I have lived up to the role of a sound designer and composer. I have used my knowledge and technical skills to create realistic sound effects, record good quality dialogue, and compose a musical score for the game that compliments the style and adds a quality to the game.
Aims:
- Develop the sound of the game to give the player a thrilling experience
- Discover and research into the game’s target audience
- Research into how music can add to the experience of playing a game
- Research different foley and sound effect recording techniques.
Objectives:
- Record dialogue to a high quality and insert into cutscene
- Record three music tracks to a high quality and insert into cutscene
- Record sound effects to a high quality as per Amelia George’s instructions
My main aim in this project was to design the sound for a game that not only complimented the style and story of the game, but also gives the player a thrilling and chilling experience. I believe that I accomplished my aims in this project. I have gained a huge amount of knowledge from completing this project. The music and composers that I researched into while composing have opened my eyes to new concepts and different ways of approaching composition. The knowledge I gained from the book A Complete Guide to Game Audio has given me some essential advice on recording techniques, and creative processes. I have completed all of my objectives to a high standard. I planned to complete all of them by the end of April, which I managed to do minus a few extra dialogue lines that needed recording. Planning the project at the start was essential. Without planning I would have been all over the place, and although I left plenty of time for any complications, I managed to get all my work done on time.
Week 1 – 20/01/14
- Crate Blog and speak to Amelia regarding sound requirements
My blog was created this week and after a chat with Amelia, I had all the information I needed to make a start on the project.
Week 2 – 27/01/14
- Listen to Amelia’s examples of the music for the intro sequence
I listened through Amelia’s examples, which gave me some great inspiration for the compositions, but I also looked into some other games and composers from the Victorian era in order to widen my knowledge.
Week 3 – 03/02/14
- Discuss the project with David McSherry in tutorial
I discussed the project with David in my tutorial who was happy with my plan. I was very excited about this project, as designing sound is more of a hobby than work, so I was eager to get stuck in from the start.
Week 4 – 10/02/14
- Research composers in Georgian era.
I found some great composers such as Johann Strauss and Claude Debussy. These composers gave me some great inspiration and lead me to compose my music pieces for the game with a similar style to theirs.
Week 5 – 17/02/14
- Record Dialogue with Ashley Lewis on Thursday 20th February
- Edit and mix dialogue together
This week I recorded the dialogue and sent some examples over to Amelia. Amelia said that there was some more dialogue to record so I set up another session with Ashley Lewis. Ashley was very busy around this period, so I had to organise the recording closer to the hand in date.
Week 6 – 24/02/14
- Research music in games
- Look at composers in Georgian era and put together a plan for the opening and closing sequences
I looked at the example games Amelia had sent me and started to get some good ideas for the compositions. I made a plan of what instruments I would be using and how long each composition needed to be. I also met up with Amelia to discuss the project and ask a few questions.
Week 7 – 3/03/14
- Record music for opening and both ending sequences.
- Edit and mix music.
This week I recorded the music and sent examples over to Amelia. After a few changes of tempo she was very happy with the compositions.
Week 8 – 10/03/14
- Research into game sound effects and foley
- Record sound effects, edit and mix.
I read through A Complete Guide to Game Audio for some inspiration and techniques for recording sound effects. I looked at different foley techniques and started to record some of my own sounds from around the house. I also popped into the library to get some sound effects that I wouldn’t be able to record, such as the horse and cart and horse neighing.
Week9 – 17/03/14
- Complete final mixes and send to Amelia for integration into the game.
As Ashley was still unavailable to record the dialogue, I couldn’t finish off my final mixes, although I did make a few minor changes to the compositions after a chat with David McSherry. This week I
Week 10, 11 and 12
- Weeks 10, 11 and 12 are left free for any adjustments or changes that need to be made.
As I had my dissertation and R&D case study to complete, I hadn’t done much for this project as it was almost complete and I had plenty of time to spare. I finally managed to arrange another dialogue recording session with Ashley on the 5th May, a few days before the hand in. The recording took less than an hour and not much longer to edit and mix, and my project was complete.
Overall I have thoroughly enjoyed this project. If i were to do stuff like this for the rest of my life I would be a happy man. Because of my passion for sound designing and my interest in game and animation audio, I was always researching and completing little sections of this project. I believe that the plan I made for the project at the beginning was essential for me to keep up my progress week by week. Without my plan I would have faced problems with recording and the timing of the project. The only issue I had with this project was the re-recording of the dialogue, as Ashley was unavailable a lot of the time. Looking back, I should have had a backup voice actor ready to record if anything went wrong.
I have learnt a lot throughout this project that will help me in my future career. Through the research I have done, I have a better understanding of the game industry and how it works. I have achieved what I wanted to achieve in this project, and have faced no big problems. I learnt in my last project just how important planning and timekeeping is, and it really paid off in this project. I am really looking forward to seeing the complete game, and having a play through myself.