L3 Game Design - Sound Exercise

L3 Extended Diploma in Games Design

Unit 73: Sound for Computer Games

P1

Game Music	Atmosphere	Mood	Link	Description
Until Dawn ‘The Shadow of the Mountain’ Soundtrack	-Tense -Sorrow	- Miserable -Spooky	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVybbRoY744	This music is played at the start of the game probably to give the player some tension between the game, and also to give them an overall feel of what is to be expected. If this was the intention, I think that the developer has done well because it makes everybody. Since the game is a horror, the spooky feel that is given was probably intended by the developer/composer because horror games are supposed to be tense and scary.
The Last of Us Soundtrack	-Desolate	-Loneliness -Companionship	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y97u-U0nvJM	This music is played during most missions and cut scenes of the game to most likely give make the player feel tense and immersed when playing the game.  Some people in the comments section described the music as being emotional. This is what the composer and game developer may have wanted because the game is about surviving in a zombie apocalypse which would definitely make people feel lonely and make the world seem desolate.
Uncharted 4 Soundtrack – ‘Cut to the Chase’	-Intense -Loud	-Extant -Intense	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M30Zt1FepW8	This music is used in the game where the player enters combat. The main intention of this music is probably  to make the player feel excited, but also to give an intense feeling. Having played the game, I this is exactly how I feel and makes me become more immersed in the gameplay.
Tomb Raider 2013 Main Theme Soundtrack	-Adventurous	-Uplifting -Heroic	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIqvSNDIlTs	Since I have not played this game, I do not know where this Soundtrack is played. However, having listened to it I can guess that it would probably used on the title screen of the game to give the player a feel of the game. The reason it sounds heroic is because of the instruments used in to orchestra.

Why is music and sound FX so important within games development?

Music and sound is really important in the game industry, just as much as film and TV, this is because music and sounds give the player information that wouldn’t be possible without any sound FX or music. Music is used to set a mode and atmosphere of a game. For eg: if a game featured slow music,  the mood and atmosphere would probably be sad, which would let the player know the mood so that they are automatically more immersed in the game.

Sound FX are really important in games because it adds more immersion to the game. This is because they can inform the player what is happening. This could be the sound of footsteps, gunfire, a power-up etc.

In my opinion, if the game is played with the sound turned down it eliminates any immersion because I do not know what is happening nor do have any feedback within the game. As well as this, without subtitles I cannot hear any dialogue so will lose track of the story.

Key terms

Waveform - This is a curve showing the curve of a wave at a given time. This means that if you opened up some music in a audio program like Audacity you would see loads of curves of the sound waves due to so many sounds in the music. 

DEFINITION: a curve showing the shape of a wave at a given time

Below is a image from the internent showing the curves in a wave

Image from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/wave

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Amplitude-  This is the maximum height limit of a wave. In sound, waves with higher amplitudes make more changes to the atmospheric pressure for eg: vibrations and loud sounds. 


DEFINITION: the maximum extent of a vibration or oscillation, measured from the position of equilibrium.

Frequency  - the rate per second of a vibration constituting a wave, either in a material (as in sound waves), or in an electromagnetic field (as in radio waves and light).

Pitch - the quality of a sound governed by the rate of vibrations producing it; the degree of highness or lowness of a tone.

Hertz - the SI unit of frequency, equal to one cycle per second. It is one of the units used to measure sound. For eg: 60 Hz

Decibel Level (dB)  - The decibel ( dB) is used to measure sound level, but it is also widely used in electronics, signals and communication. The dB is a logarithmic way of describing a ratio. The ratio may be power, sound pressure, voltage or intensity or several other things.

Reference: http://www.animations.physics.unsw.edu.au/jw/dB.htm

Since all sounds produce various amounts of Decibels I have found a image from the internet demonstrating different types of sounds and how many decibels they make. 

IMAGE REFERENCE: https://sites.google.com/a/njuhsd.com/waves3/decibel

Sound Generator - A sound generator is a device that produces a sound. This could be a mobile phone, laptop, TV, doorbell etc. However, a speaker is essential in each of these for sound to be produced. All speakers have a maximum and minimum volume. This means the maximum volume on a stereo speaker would be much louder than a speaker fitted into a mobile phone due to different hardware fitted in each device.

What is foley?

The dictionary definition of Foley is: relating to or concerned with the addition of recorded sound effects after the shooting of a film.

This basically means that sound effects are recorded either in a professional studio or normal environment. In games, the sound of gunfire would probably have been recorded in a shooting range and then enhanced to be used in a game. However, this gunfire sound could be mimicked to just recording a firework bang if real fire arms are inaccessible.

Below is a video of how Foley works:

In the video above, you can see how Foley works. For eg: when the characters went through the door, you could see the people in the studio slamming a door within a structure. This would then be added into the movie where the event had taken place. 

Timbre

Timbre is what makes an instrument sound different to another. This means that even if the same type of instrument is being played at the same notes, both will sound different. For eg: a bass guitar playing the same notes a an acoustic guitar will have a distinctive sound even if played together. This is because each guitar will emit different frequencies. 

Information gathered from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLoM9bBr8lc