Scenario

As a Games Sound Designer, your job would involve creating/editing/collecting sound effects and also organising the music in a game. 

You have been asked to create and collate all of the audio (except character voices) to a 1.5 – 2 minute sequence of gameplay to reflect a specific genre. This includes all sound effects, ambient audio and music.

You may choose any game, however you will need to think carefully about how you would plan the audio for the game, rather than just re-create the audio that is ‘supposed’ to be there.

Research

Metal: Hellsinger

Metal: Hellsinger is a first person shooter rhythm game where you time your attacks with the beat to deal more damage to the demons and devils as you fight through hell. I couldn’t find anything on how the sound effects were made so I don’t know if foley was used but from watching this walkthrough I assume that some of the sound effects were live recordings and some were foley. I don’t believe that any of the sounds were computer generated. All the music in Metal: Hellsinger fits into one of the subgenres of metal be that groove metal, progressive metalcore or power metal. The composer for all the music in Metal: Hellsinger is Two Feathers. Each song in the sound track has a guest vocalist from different popular metal bands such as Mikael Stanne from Dark Tranquillity, Serj Tankian from System of a Down and Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil.

What I have taken from looking at Metal: Hellsinger is sound effects need to be quieter than the music. As rhythm games are all about timing your inputs with the music of the game this makes sense that you would want the music to be the primary audio in the game which is the opposite to usual in video games. You still want to be able to hear the sound effects so that you have an auditory cue to let the player know that their input has been followed through on. Another thing is that for the beginning of the game on the tutorial level you want the beat of the music to be really obvious so that the player can get used to the controls of the game. Another thing is that you want the music in the game to all fit in the genre so that it joins the entire game together.

Pistol Whip

Pistol Whip is a virtual reality shooter rhythm game where you time your attacks to the beat of the music to get a higher score as you fight through fever dream scenes. Most of the sound effects fit into the theme of gun sound effects. The only sound effects I could hear that weren’t related to specifically the gun was the sounds made when losing or gaining armour, the sound effect for pistol whipping someone and explosions. I couldn’t find anything on how the sound effects were made so I don’t know if foley was used but from watching this walkthrough I assume that some of the sound effects were live recordings, some were foley and some were computer generated. Most of the music in Pistol Whips soundtrack is in the genre of electronic dance music (EDM) with a couple of the song being other genres such as rock. The Pistol Whip soundtrack has multiple different composers. Each song is made by a different artist and isn’t made specifically for Pistol Whip. 

What I have taken from looking at Pistol Whip is that different scenes/locations can have different music if it fits with the theme of the area. This is unlike to Metal: Hellsinger where all the music is metal. Another thing is the sound effects need to be quieter than the music. As rhythm games are all about timing your inputs with the music of the game this makes sense that you would want the music to be the primary audio in the game which is the opposite to usual in video games. You still want to be able to hear the sound effects so that you have an auditory cue to let the player know that their input has been followed through on.

Celeste

Celeste is a 2D platformer in which you play as a character called Madeline as she battles with her inner demons while she climbs Celeste Mountain. I found some information about how the dialog was done in Celeste. The dialog isn’t voice actors giving the characters voice but synth tones to mimic human speech patterns. They then made different version for each emotion. I couldn’t find anything else on how the sound effects were made so I don’t know if foley was used but from watching this walkthrough I assume that all of the sound effects were computer generated as they are all have a synth style to them. All the music in the Celeste soundtrack is synth music that was made by Lena Raine using a synth software called Massive by Native Instruments and some piano some of which was played by Lena herself live. 

What I have taken from looking into Celeste is that each action needs a unique sound so that you can distinguish the sound effects from each other. You want to give the player a audio cue to let them know what is happening so they don’t have to purely rely on their eyes. Also I got some tips and tricks on how to make synth/electronic music reading through a post Lena made about how the music in Celeste was made.

Proposal

I am going to create audio for a 1-2 minute gameplay sequence of HiFi RUSH to reflect the genre of a rhythm-based game. To research the game I have played through HiFi RUSH once and have listened to the soundtrack many times to get the feeling of HiFi RUSH. I will be making pre production documents to help the production stage:

• I will create a production plan so that I have a step by step plan of what I need to do so that the work can be done quickly and efficiently. 
• I will create a risk assessment document so that I am aware of the dangers that are around me while I am recording my audio so that I can perform the correct safety procedures I will need to keep me and the equipment safe.
• I will create a spotting document so that I know what sound effects I need to make and how long the sound effects need to last. 
• I will create a sfx list so I know which sound I need to create using foley and how I plan to make them and which sounds I need to find on the internet. 
• I will create a music list so I know what music I will be using and who made it as well as where and why I will be using it. 
• I will create a copyright analysis so I know who owns the copyright of the music I use.

I will be recording my audio at home using a zoom recorder to record the sounds onto and using a various microphones to capture the sound. I am planning to use mostly foley sound effects but will use some non foley sound effects. For the music I am planning on getting already existing music and looking into the copyright that they are held under and working out who I need to talk to to get permission to use it. The music will need to fit into the genre of the rest of the music. The music in HiFi RUSH is mostly indie/rock/alternative, minus a couple songs that for specific boss battles, so I will try to match this genre when getting music. I will test my work throughout the production stage by listening to the sound effect or music I have created while watching the gameplay sequence to see if it fits into the theme of the game.

Spotting Document

SFX List

Description of Sound Effect	Is it Foley or Non Foley?	How are you going to edit the sound effect?	Where is it going to be used in your production?	Owner of sfx?
Menu option selection	Foley – Guitar		When menu buttons are pressed	Me
Landing on sofa	Foley – Hitting 2 pillows together	Give it some reverb	00:00:10:40 and 00:00:29:29	Me
Footstep – carpet, concrete and metal grill	Foley – Walking on various surfaces	Give it some reverb and denoise to focus on low frequencies	When the character is walking	Me
Landing on ground – concrete and metal grill	Foley – Jumping on various surfaces	Give it some reverb and denoise to focus on low frequencies	When the character lands after a jump or fall	Me
Hitting button	Foley – Guitar		00:00:44:33	Me
Door opening	Foley – Guitar		00:00:46:15	Me
Landing on pad	Foley – Jumping on and guitar	Give it some reverb	00:00:50:13 and 00:00:51:55	Me
Platform sfx	Foley – BBC Sound Effects library	Give it some reverb, denoise and pitch shifter	00:00:53:04 and 00:00:54:50	BBC
Picking up cogs	Foley – Dropping nuts and bolts on top of each other	Give it some reverb	When the character picks up cogs	Me
Hitting crates	Foley – Guitar and dropping bits of wood and BBC Sound Effects Library	Give it some reverb	When crates are broken	Me and BBC
Picking up health	Non Foley	Give it some reverb and pitch shifter	When the character picks up health	Lucasfilm

Production Plan

Date	Time	Location	Description	Equipment
13/01/2024	4pm-5pm	Home	Recording footsteps & landing on	AT-875R, mic stand, xlr lead and zoom recorder
14/01/2024	2pm-4pm	Home	Recording breaking crates, picking up cogs and guitar stuff	AT-875R, mic stand, xlr lead, zoom recorder, guitar, ¼ inch, amp and PC

Risk Assessment

Date	Location	Description	Equipment	Identify risk	How likely is the risk? 1-5	Safety measures
13-14/01/2024	Home	Recording footsteps & landing on – Recording breaking crates, picking up cogs and guitar stuff	AT-875R, mic stand, xlr lead, zoom recorder, guitar, ¼ inch, amp and PC	Tripping on lead	3	Safety securing leads

Music List

What is the name of the piece of music?	Who is the composer/artist?	Where is it being used in your production and for what purpose?
Accidents Will Happen	Silent Partner	Background music for the level gameplay
I Only Want You	Eagles of Death Metal	Menu screen music

Copyright Analysis

For Accidents Will Happen by Silent Partner and I Only Want You by Eagles of Death Metal I would have to contact the artists to ask for permission to use it. I can’t find any information about cost but that would be something I would ask when asking for permission to use the songs. For the health picking up sound effect I used the Star Wars blaster sfx which I then reversed, pitch shifted and then applied some reverb. According to Lucasfilm the sfx is under copyright so I would have to talk to them to see if I need to get permission from them to use it and if it would cost. For other sfx I used BBC Sound Effect library in which I would just have to credit them within the credits of the game.

All guitar playing for sfx (menu press, button hit and landing on floating platforms) was performed by my friend and I have permission from him to use them.

Original Clip

Redesigned Clip