Sound and Electronic Games

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Sound and Electronic Games

• Kurt Squire
• Indiana University, MIT, Joystick101.org

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(No Transcript)
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Gaming Greats
Introduction

• Asteroids
• Pac Man
• Frogger
• Super Mario Bros. I 3
• Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time
• Tony Hawk 2
• Half Life
• Thief
• Deus Ex
• The Sims

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Audio The Overlooked Sibling
Introduction

• Auditory and visual perception channels work
  together closely
• Studies show that sound affects perceptions of
  visual quality and peoples interpretations of
  events
• Auditory channels work together with visual
  channels of perception
• Suggests that audio and visuals should be
  developed together, or complementary
• Audio is not integrated in many game designs
• Audio is 25 of experience
• Yet is usually 1-2 of most game budgets
• Sound designers are frequently brought in as an
  afterthought

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Issues
Introduction

• How does sound help create emotional involvement?
• How can sound be made interactive?
• How can sound become integral to the gameplay?
• In what ways might players be supported in being
  creative with sound?
• How can sound further the medium artistically?
• What concepts might be taken from music in order
  to inform the practice of game design?

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Old Dogs With Good Tricks
Background

• Music establishes mood, pacing and rhythm
• ( ) ( )
• Sound conveys information
• Sound creating mood
• The joy of coming home ( )
• Disappointing loss ( )
• Sound was among the most identifiable aspects of
  the game
• Highlight importance of sound in the design
  process
• Helps separate sound quality from sound design

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Enhancing Emotion Through Sound
Themes Emotion

• Sound provides feedback for players actions (
  )
• Size and characteristics of space
• What is this space?
• 3 Dimensionality of space through effects (i.e.
  stereo reverb)
• Establishing setting through sound dialogue
  half-life.avi
• Music Effects The emotional life of the game

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Making Sound Interactive
Themes Interactivity

• Making interactive scores is a challenge
• How do you score a game (implies linearity),
• Making interactive game scores is the challenge
• How to make a score that responds to players
  actions?
• Zelda case
• zelda_no_sound.mov
• zelda.mov

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Infusing Sound in the Gameplay
Themes Gameplay

• Imbuing objects with meaning
• What is a box ? What is its significance in the
  game?
• Through sound, it gains whole new meaning(s)
• An ordinary object can become a toolto
  manipulate creatively. thief4.avi
• Consistency, not realism within the game world
• Critical for creating and sustaining immersion
  (Poole, 2000)
• Gamers want fantasy
• Exaggeration can be an effective tool

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Supporting Players Creativity
Themes Creativity

• Enabling players to make an impact on the game
  world through sound
• Revealing an identity
• Sound referring to events time intervals ( )
• Locating objects (or people) in space (racing,
  3D)
• Allowing users to respond to music
• Players input responses along with music (dance
  games)
• Create music and sound in game
• Loom, Zelda Ocarina of Time
• Opening up the engine Allowing players to create
  and modify sounds
• The Sims, Baldurs Gate 2, mod packs

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Sound and Music in Games Aesthetics
Themes Aesthetics

• Game music interacting to players actions
• Game music not only reacts to players, but offers
  a reflective mirror or perhaps commentary (Black
  White)
• Using juxtaposition to suggest commentary on
  players behavior
• Music can be complementary rather than redundant
• Music and sound can provide a powerful subtext in
  the gaming experience.
• The Sims

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Quake
Themes Aesthetics

• Quake with typical sound
• Quake gets moody
• Quake gets funky

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Musical Concepts Gaming
Themes Music Concepts

• Silence breathing pacing
• Collaborative creativity common to bands
• Success lies in developing distinctive
  collaborative vision
• Possibly replace auteur theories of game design
• The importance of rhythm
• All things begin with the rhythm (JGR)
• Using music to enhance this rhythm, or play off
  of it.
• Designing through patterns
• Verse, Chorus, Verse
• ABAB

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Film, games, Audio

• Many directors who like to think they
  appreciate sound still have a pretty narrow idea
  of the potential for sound in storytelling.  The
  generally accepted view is that its useful  to
  have "good" sound in order to enhance the visuals
  and root the images in a kind of temporal
  reality. But that isnt collaboration, its
  slavery. 
• -- Randy Thom, on film

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Parting Thoughts

• Music is a key element in establishing mood.
• Sound can be used to give objects meaning,
  feeling, and emotion
• Visuals and audio work together to support
  immersion.
• The most successful games weave patterns of sound
  together in response to users actions as a part
  of the gameplay.
• Game designers need to enable game players to be
  creative with sound.
• Used cleverly, juxtaposition of sound music can
  make artistic statement.
• Should a game be playable without sound?
• Restoring the role of the sound engineer to
  designer

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Questions, comments, etc.

• Kurt Squire
• Ksquire_at_indiana.edu
• Joystick101.org

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Interactive Sound Design

• What people dont understand is that youre not
  making a movie, but you are attempting to
  re-create an interactive environment that
  contains visual and aural elements that combine
  to create an experience thats totally defined
  by a players actions. Think of your sound
  designs going way beyond making sounds for the
  graphics, and come up with ways that the sound
  can be a critical element of the gameplay. The
  gaming industry is way behind on this concept,
  and you will see games coming out that use sound
  as important parts of the gameplay more often.
• --Matthew Lee Johnson, Microsoft.

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Interactive Sound Design

• What people dont understand is that youre not
  making a movie, but you are attempting to
  re-create an interactive environment that
  contains visual and aural elements that combine
  to create an experience thats totally defined
  by a players actions. Think of your sound
  designs going way beyond making sounds for the
  graphics, and come up with ways that the sound
  can be a critical element of the gameplay. The
  gaming industry is way behind on this concept,
  and you will see games coming out that use sound
  as important parts of the gameplay more often.
• --Matthew Lee Johnson, Microsoft.

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Tensions

• Creating an immersive environment vs. user needs
  (peace and quiet)
• How to design for experiences, yet allow users to
  shape their own experiences
• 40 hours of game play one heck of a lot of
  music
• Unique content Vs. Repetition
• Original vs. scored soundtracks