For a while I have been thinking about creating a sound-based horror game in which you play as a blind character who must use the sound of the environment they’re in to navigate to their survival. Below I’ll place the notes I made during the lectures and the pre-planning – planning – development process
25/09/23
>Game (blind game/art installation depending on execution) – If there’s no physical game then sound assets & uses for the concept is a valid option, but with the caveat that quantity will be more heavily scrutinised
>Could make in partnership with a games student (Maybe ask Luke once idea is more fleshed out)
>Can work in groups of 2-3, let Luke know within first week to set up the division of labour
>No minimum/maximum quantity or length but must be ambitious & developed into portfolio material
>Research may contain analysis of academic texts
>Present learning outcomes: type of knowledge – quantify – key skills – coverage (check lecture PowerPoint for context)
28/09/23
>Blind – could be good as a multiplayer game where another player has to guide you (co-op)
>Will likely need to be single player for project to cut down on dev time
Possible settings
- Forest – Readily available for recording ambience – snapping twigs would be good indication of danger – environment’s a bit samey
- Cave – Offers good opportunity to explore environment with lots of reverb, could prove difficult to deal with and might be too disorienting
- Building of some sort?:
- Hospital – maybe too much machinery and surfaces too similar, might make navigation too hard
- Mansion – much more opportunity to explore different surfaces for walking on, if older with wooden floors/ceilings then reverb and movement can be interesting to explore in terms of sound design.
>Older buildings provide opportunity for rooms with creaky floors with holes in them, allowing for greater variation in sound design and fun challenges, considerations for how to convey these through sound
29/09/23
>How to convey elevation? (might be worth doing more research on before attempting)
>LPF on audio coming from different floors, reverb for distance (wet/dry mix getting dryer with proximity), HPF when at staircaise with more reverb to emphasise room size
