Amnesiacs from a Sound Design Prospective
Working as the sound designer for a horror game called Amnesiacs, the earliest game to influence Amnesiacs sound design was Limbo. Once our team decided that we wanted to make Amnesiacs a horror game. I started looking for other horror games with good soundtracks for reference. Damon Packwood (instructor) suggested I listen to the soundtrack of a horror game called Limbo. Listening to the soundtrack for Limbo helped me get a sense of what a horror game should sound like. I admired how Limbo was able to create a sound of suspense, mystery, and eeriness. Limbo's soundtrack created a good balance of what I wanted for Amnesiacs. The reason being, I thought having too much eeriness or suspense would force a player to think the game was solely about horror which is not true. Amnesiacs is about mystery, discovery, horror and much more. I did not want the sound for are game to scream horror game but rather be similar to Limbo by incorporating a sense of our full game experience. I think I did a good job too, the opening title screen music for Amnesiacs has elements of mystery, discovery, suspense and horror which overall allows players to hear and feel more than straight horror. I think the title screen music was my favorite aspect of working on Amnesiacs. Using references like Limbo helped me know what type of musical feel our team wanted for our game.
Although Limbo was a great influence for Amnesiacs, it was not the only thing that inspired my sound decisions. The horror movie Insidious helped me best capture the horror element needed for sound. The best way I can describe the soundtrack for Insidious is “Nightmare Scary”. It's honestly one of the creepiest soundtracks I have ever heard. The Insidious soundtracks literally screams terror/creepiness. Some of things you hear in their music are high pitched screeches, creepy horns, dark piano chords, voices etc. If you ever wanted to prank a friend in order severely frighten that person. Hide some Bluetooth speakers in their room and wait until him or her falls asleep. Then play any track from Insidious gradually rising in volume. Due note, that experience may scar them for life.
Getting back to Amnesiacs, are in game sound doesn't have a very horrific feel. When you hear our in game ambiance for part 1, it sounds like you're in a room with a subtle breeze effect. Our team wanted the in game sound to seem mysterious, while using visuals and text to portray suspense and horror. Thinking back on our play test reviews, players were more engaged with the text and visuals. The in game ambiance was subtle enough to not take anything away from the gameplay. In fact, I think the in game ambiance may have been a bit too subtle. I really don't think you notice the ambiance much unless you're wearing headphones. I think players would prefer a more noticeable in game ambiance, so increasing volume is something I would consider changing. Although my team thought the in game sound was fine the way it was. Furthermore, i enjoyed the working experience in addition to learning more about my strengths/challenges. I now have a better understand of my process for completing my work, which will be useful for future projects. In conclusion, inspiration and time management were the biggest contributing factors that influenced my sound design for Amnesiacs.
