Project: Video Game Composition
Video games are highly interactive and immersive. Many elements contribute to making a player lose themselves in the game: the story, characters, environment, gameplay mechanics, and audio all factor into the overall experience. In this project, you will act as the sound designer and composer for a video game to help achieve this objective.
Terms
Asset: Any building block of a game. Assets can be graphics, animations, sounds, environments, or other elements.
Action Asset: A short, one-shot sound that is played once after it has been triggered.
Timeline Asset: A longer sound that is often played on a loop after it has been triggered. Examples of timeline assets are ambient sounds and background music.
Check out the code to the Mario game on Scratch →
1 | Reference
Play your favorite game and write down the different audio assets that you hear. Is there background music? Are there ambient sounds of the environment? What are the action sounds like?
2 | Prepare
Choose which video game scene you would like to work with. Watch the gameplay video and identify the ambient sounds, background music, and action sounds you need to bring it to life.
3 | Action Assets Pt. 1
Record the audio for the action assets in your scene. Here are the links to the templates.
Roaming The Countryside →
Cave Of Wonders →
Boss Battle →
4 | Action Assets Pt. 2
Open the recorded audio in the sampler and set the loop points to isolate the sound you want.
5 | Action Assets Pt. 3
Add in effects or change the pitch of your action sounds to make them more realistic.
6 | Ambience
Find loops in Soundtrap’s Freesounds library to create ambient sounds of your scene’s environment.
7 | Music Pt. 1
Find the tempo of your music by watching the scene and getting it’s pulse. Choose a palette of chord, bass, drum, and melody sounds to make the mood of your scene.
8 | Music Pt. 2
Write the music for your scene. The construction of your music will change depending on what mood you are trying to achieve. Use percussion sounds to add energy and try thinking like a film composer.
9 | Download The Files
Download the files of the actions sounds, ambient sounds, and the music by clicking on file and selecting Download Mix.
10 | Fill In Sections
Upload the audio files for each asset by clicking on the corresponding button and selecting the files from your download folder. Watch the scene and adjust the volumes to create different moods. Go back and edit the assets to improve on them.