After our first tutorial session the concept has gone through several iterations as my ADHD addled brain jumped from idea to idea exploring as many possibilities as I could before pressuring myself into committing to a doable and fun idea, which hopefully I will have reached by the end of this weeks notes.
02/10/23
>medium – VR would be ideal for immersion & aid in creating sensory deprivation -> maybe introduce aspects of affect theory in execution -> definitely worth exploring as a personal project, maybe too complex for a few month project
>in the event I explore VR further or want any examples of audio led games, Tutor Emily recommends Steve Fisher in the Alfred Tennyson building as well as possibility of using a binaural microphone from media loans for the spatial audio
>Emily also recommends listening to the Patrick Strickland adaptation of the audio drama “The Stone Tape” as well as “Berberian sound studio”
>consideration must be made as to how it can be condensed into something digestible such as a showcase or trailer
>The tutoring sessions brought questions of what the actual horror element of the game should be as my concept had mostly just been based around the player being unable to see, which wouldn’t be a horror experience for every person. – something I address slightly further into the week
>Another question Emily asked of me was “What would the learning outcomes of this be?” which was an excellent question (again addressed later in the week as it gave me a lot to think about), as well as asking for a clearer idea of what the game would be and how it would be presented.
Affect Theory concept
>I had considered using the knowledge I had acquired during our study of affect theory and applying it to this project by surrounding the player who, in this case would be wearing a VR headset, with speakers which would play variations of the sound of the environment they are in to allow a more immersive experience for moving from place to place as well as allowing them to inspect the sounds made by their surroundings by physically moving themselves closer and feeling how the sound interacts with their actual physical body, which is something that’s missing from games that are played using headphones or just speakers attached to a monitor (a practice that has long been used by cinemas and been adapted to home cinema setups for consumer use), however this would require a significantly higher amount of time and skill that I do not have, so It will be left on the backburner to perhaps be used on a side project in my own time.
>Emily questioned how this would affect the players ability to move within their environment and whether I wanted to create an environment that would be dynamic enough to account for the player positioning or whether I wanted to create an experience that depends on the player being specifically positioned/do I need full control of where they stand? – which also brings questions of what kind of room this setup would work best for
07/10/23
>I am now envisioning a text-based game in which the environments, rather than being described, are presented through sound, much like a d&d campaign (with players having the option to ask questions about their surroundings) perhaps there is a companion they can ask questions to regarding their environment and objects within. This will also allow a turn-based gameplay system which could help build tension in the altering of the surroundings of the player. This avoids the pitfalls of requiring a VR developer who knows how to create a VR game (first person perspective) with no visual elements.
>companion should be another character who fell with you, who you then must help along as they are injured and cannot walk. However they can see while you cannot
>Plot twist at the end they had been dead the whole time and it was a creature that then kills you.
>In terms of plot, the player character wakes within a cold basement of an old mansion, hearing their friends call down to them before hearing them all die
>Small visual elements – illustrations for the player character touching objects as well as kicking off the events of the game (in contact with illustration students interested in taking part) – in terms of the images for some larger objects they will be roughly in the shape of a hand to show that the main character is using their hand to determine how they believe the object looks rather than just showing the object in its entirety, also giving a clearer idea of scale comparison between the player and the object
>Simple UI layout has been put together in my notebook which I can show you during our tutorial session and I will update and adapt it as I go.
>Thinking that instead of allowing the player to type whatever they like into a text box, which would require me to then create a set of parameters preparing for typos and ways to guide the player into certain answer, they will choose from a list of option instead, maybe with the player being limited to picking a certain number of options per zone to encourage progression and multiple playthroughs (might necessitate multiple endings depending on the options chosen), as well as allowing voice acting of the companion character to take place, adding more elements to the soundscape/design.
Learning Objectives – Drafts
>Develop an awareness of common practises for conveying proximity using sound in entertainment -> build the skills required to convey position within a 3d audio space
>strengthen sound design skills to a more professional standard -> need to specify a skill and be more clear about the areas to work on -> could be developed into 2 more specific areas
>Develop sound recording understanding and applicational skills to a professional standard
>Demonstrate an understanding of 3 key methods used in professional game sound design
>Provide 3 examples of why the medium chosen was appropriate for the project I pursued (less of a learning objective and more of a personal goal)
