The Power of Audio

Music makes a difference

A game is never really complete without audio, luckily I went in with creating this game with the full confidence of what kind of audio would best suit my game. The audio in Thomas was Alone is exactly the kind of audio that I feel would suit my game, the music within that game is emotive, moving and atmospheric, which is exactly the kind of effect I am hoping for in my game.

Doing some extensive research on Thomas was Alone, I discovered that the music was not just simply played level after level, although they had programmed a complex music system which combined certain sounds so every track is played differently on different levels with combining various stored sounds by random.

For more information on TWA development, visit his development blog that shows his progress throughout development:
http://thomaswasalone.wordpress.com/

Here is an example of the music composed for the game Thomas was Alone:


If you listen to the track above, you will hear a lot of synthesizers and bells as well as bit trip music which combines into a harmonious experience which suits the game adequately due to it's retro feel. I think that without the music that was implemented in Thomas was Alone along with the narration of Danny Wallace, the game would not have been half as established and well credited due to the immense capturing qualities they bring to a game.

Critique

My only gripe with the audio from Thomas was Alone is that they all start off slow and then take a long time before the rise of tempo arrives, and I think it works perfectly for a long game such as Thomas was Alone which roughly takes about 3 hours to complete, although my game is a simple prototype so for the music to rise in tempo a minute earlier or so would be great. 

Creative Application

One motto in life is that when you find something you are passionate about, you have to pursue it. When I properly listened to the music from Thomas was Alone during my case study play, I knew that the music wasn't ordinary, there was something special about it. The 'something' that was special, was that it was emotive and had such a rich depth to it. 

I thought that it was worth trying to achieve the same effect and I had a few options, I could start learning fruity loops again and create the sounds by myself, or I could find someone with adequate skills to try and produce something creatively similar.

So I managed to get a fellow Abertay 4th year student named Ronan Quigley who studies sound production to give me a hand, and in turn I would make him his business card, and seeing the graphic design is something I enjoy, I agreed.

I directed to him exactly what kind of sound I wanted and showed him three tracks form Thomas was Alone, as well as telling him about the wanted Tempo rise and he understood it straight away and within days he produced a few sounds which fit perfectly into the game and hold an emotional presence as I was hoping for. 

Here are the following sounds: 

Destony Level 1 Snippet

Destony Level 1 (Full Version)

Destony Level 2

*All sounds produced  by Ronan Quigley (University of Abertay Dundee)

Listening to the songs that were specifically created for the game I created bring a strange, but happy/proud feeling. After putting them into the game and testing it out, I really felt that all the hard work started to pay off and that the game was coming together.

Destony level 1 is quite upbeat and adventurous  after 40 seconds, the temp increases as the more synthesizing sounds come in and liven up the song. Destony Level 2 is soft with a harmonious piano and a wispy background them. Both sounds are very well made and further experimenting with them in Unity will be intriguing.

The sound of the snippet version is slightly louder than the full version although this can be easily tweaked and changed within Unity. Also the Level 1 sound is more pronounced and alive compared to Level 2, although Thomas was Alone was very similar in the quiet levels and their jumps to the loader levels.

In full consideration of these sounds, I am very excited to have these in the game replacing the placeholder Thomas was Alone sounds. Although the project is mainly focusing on visuals and systemics, the sound is a part of the game aesthetic and has a large contribution with the final polished product.