Approaching Sound Design

From The Official Visionaire Studio: Adventure Game Engine Wiki
Revision as of 13:35, 5 May 2013 by AFRLme (talk)

Sound design is often ignored when it comes to creating adventure games. but it should always be considered as it can help set the correct mood/ambiance/atmosphere for your game.

The first thing to consider is what perspective the sound should be heard from: your playable character or via the camera. If the sounds are heard via the character then character sounds such as footsteps & character sounds/speech should always be centered & roughly at 100% volume*; all other sounds in a scene should get quieter/louder based on characters position from the sound sources originating position & the balance should be controlled over the entire width (x-axis) of the scene.

* give or take a little bit, to add a more dynamic feel to the sound.

You should also take into consideration the current floor type; is the character walking on stones, grass, in mud, concrete etc? all of these things will affect the footstep sound & even possibly the characters walking speed. Is the character walking inside of a cave or a valley? if so then sounds should have some reverb on them & or possibly a touch of echo. Is the character walking behind something? if so then the sounds should be somewhat quieter & appear muffled, which could be achieved by applying a filter cutoff to the sounds in question. Don't forget to add fx to speech & action sound files too for use in certain types of areas as it greatly improves the overall feel & quality of your game & makes it more polished & professional overall.