Project and Portfolio II - "Graveyard"
Project and Portfolio II is a course at Full Sail University, and "Graveyard" is a video game demo walk-through. As you follow the character, notice the different sounds that surround the player. This project was designed to strengthen students' ability to develop assets for a game and utilize skills needed to create a virtual reality. "Graveyard" is a complete immersion single-player game, in which these types of single-player games are super popular and provide a direct escape from the real-world.
I was using ProTools as the Main DAW for editing and processing the audio sources with Audiokinetic Wwise software for programming the interactive media and video. In ProTools, I created and mixed sounds using an array of plug-ins such as Channel strip EQ, Time Compression Expansion, Pitch Shift, and many more. Each audio asset had its unique set of challenges; whether I was using a pre-designed audio asset or a foley asset for this assignment, it was an enjoyable and new adventure in the audio arts designing sound for video games.
About the Game
The eerie graveyard is full of souls to capture and release. Your character is to search through the gravesite for the energy sources to collect and free the trapped souls locked away in an Orb. Whispers of the souls will be heard to guide the player. The coffin contains whispers, which will activate as the player gets closer. The player will need to collect all of the hidden energy sources throughout the graveyard to free the souls. Once all the energy of lost souls is retrieved, the player must then return to the Orb to release them.
Thank you for watching.
I have highlighted of few of the audio assets for you to listen to individually.
Audio Assets & Design Choices
The Orb Loop represents the glass orb where the lost souls are imprisoned. I used a pre-designed clip used with EQ and Pitch shift to a lower frequency.
The Temple Torch was made by layering the sounds of a crackling fire, sizzling bacon, and bubble wrap. I used compression and pitch shift on the bubble wrap to give the audio a SiFi sound. I used Clip gain on all tracks to keep it from clipping when combining the three tracks before printing them to a new audio track.
Footsteps and Clothing
This asset represents the physical walking movement of the character. In designing this asset, the essential factors to note are; the character's backpack and belt-buckle, boots, and surface type. To create this, I layered in 2 kinds of foley steps. One is on the sand, the other on gravel. I am using clip gain and light compression to control the impact level. For clothing, I used a foley sound of a backpack dropped on sandy ground and a Pre-designed rustle of clothing, boosting the gain structure to balance with the footstep.
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Disembodied Vocal Whispers
The disembodied whispers guide the player throughout the graveyard. The combination of a small room crowed whisper and a foley single whisper, using a virtual mix rack EQ to give an eerie and creepy mix.
Firepit
Seen throughout the game is the firepit lighting the pathways. Using the same technics as the Temple Torch, I layered sounds of a crackling fire, sizzling bacon, and bubble wrap, but I used some EQ with clip Gain to keep more of a realistic sound.
Energy Loop and Pickup Capture
Once the player is guided to the coffin by the lost souls, the energy source is activated. These are the keys that unlock the souls. For the Energy loop, I used two pre-designed assets, a Synth and energy audio with a channel strip EQ.
The Pickup capture is a foley asset of combining a wine glass tink and breaking off a small piece of glass. Also, with a channel strip EQ and clip gain.
Vocal Phrases (Lost Souls)
By combining and layering five different pre-recorded vocal phrases, I used Reverse Reverb to process the mix after printing to a single audio track. This gave an overall creepy and eerie effect to the phrases. As the video below will show how this process was achieved.
Vocal Phrases Process Using Reverse Reverb
Most of the time, when someone thinks of reverb, one thinks of the echo at the tail end of the audio. It is one of the most widely used effects for vocals or instruments. Its counterpart is Reverse Reverb or also known as Reverse Regeneration. The video below will demonstrate taking five separate vocal tracks, printing them to one audio track, then reverse the audio. Like any reverb effect, placing it at the end of the audio, when reversed back, will create a ghostly swell, eerie, and creepy to the beginning of the vocal phrase.