Audio

              Adding audio to a game can bring out different feelings and experiences in players. To keep with the theme of our game, audio will be made with the intention to be cohesive with the experience we wish to convey. To ensure that the quality of the audio is what we want for our game, we enlisted the help of a group of students from Berklee College of Music. Berklee is a well-respected music institution located in Boston, Massachusetts with talented people in all areas of music.

Berklee College Of Music Logo

              Over the course of a few weeks of meeting with the Berklee team, we conveyed to them our hopes and goals for audio in the game so they can make audio that fits. Berklee felt that the use of an external program called Wwise, would be beneficial to use to achieve our goal of having the various music and sound effects flow together. Wwise is an Autokinetic program that is built for game production so that designers, composers, and programmers have a central space to work with audio. Wwise allows for the development of game audio, music, and motion to work alongside visuals to ensure sounds are heard when you want them.

Wwise Logo

              With Berklee creating our audio assets and Wwise being used to implement most of them into the game we can ensure the quality of our game audio both fits with the game, as well as sounds great. As we receive the assets from Berklee, I will be implementing them with a mix of Wwise and Unreal Engine’s blueprint system. We intend to have a wide array of sounds and music always happening to the player. It is a focus for me to ensure that it doesn’t become too much for the player, while balancing the sounds so you hear what is important at the time.

              It is important for the audio to reflect the chaotic but still feel light and bouncy. As you roll around the map, collecting crumbs you will encounter certain objects that have their own special music. These “Hero” objects as we call them are meant to grab the players focus as they play. It is important that they are not only visually interesting but feel special in terms of their music and sound effects. Hero objects all have special music and sound effects that will be heard over others using layering. I intend through layering to make the audio feel more dynamic as you explore the map.

              Audio can be make or break for a game, especially a game such as ours. It is our hope that with the help of Berklee we can enhance the overall experience as you roll around our game.

Ian