World of Hohokum: Sound Design to Enhance Narrative

October 11, 2014, Audio Engineering Society Convention, Los Angeles—David Collins and Dan Briczynski from Sony Consumer Entertainment America talked abut the sound design and implementation for the game “Hohokum”. The game uses graphics like “Yellow Submarine” and general game play like “Snake”

The music is a large part of the game and much of it is original music from performers from Ghostly Records. The artists and composers had to create non-linear, modular works for the game. The works had to express motion through arpeggios and different speeds, with interlocking patterns that could be integrated into the whole.

Birczynski offered that the sound design started from a proof of concept to show a sense of style. The biggest issues were to make the sounds organic or synthetic and how fast to iterate on a theme. The music has to evoke feelings, so it required a lot of experiments and collaboration. Some of the effects were from kids’ toys and noises from a Foley studio. These effects had to go over a music layer. Some effects were from a synthesizer, others from samples of various percussion instruments, and some were voices to bring emotion t the sound palette. They got over 25 total sound effects that were mixed to generate more sounds for the game. The total library for the sounds had to be qualified for the game.

Collins likens the work to that of a post house, and resulted in a total set of music that is a mix of organic and synthetic. The sounds had to complement the visuals with its abstract colors and flowing game play. Each world has a unique sound, and other effects help with navigation and accomplishments. The work was very different from “Gods of War” because it constantly changed and flowed. This was new approach to bring life to a game through sound. The work took about 18 months.

Birczynski noted that the work was in stereo, but there is no panning for the music. The effects were made to pan in a full 3-D space. The music was set for stereo pairs front and rear and layers come and go. Panning in the stereo sound field was not a primary focus as the game is 2-D vector-based. The sound is a spatial volume generator, and its interactions with the game design and music caused issues as to whether the game could adequately act as the sound trigger. The music is muted for the most part to allow the sound effects to come through for stingers when the player accomplishes a task. The sound design was very complex.

Collins added that since all of the levels are different, they needed different mixes and sources for the music and effects for each level. The 3-D sound helps to develop a full environment through layers of music and effects. The sound and music also offer navigation hints, by such techniques as changing volume with proximity to a goal or specific object. The sounds also indicated opening and closing of doors into other areas and levels.

The biggest problem is that there are few tools and technologies available to generate new sounds, and it is hard to choose from separate versus integrated assets. They had to bake in the reverb and resonances for all their Playstation platforms as there were no external surfaces in the game for these effects. Synchronizing the streams and cross feeding depends on the game state. They used some of the powerful tools from the big games for their work.

Birczynski commented that some of the reverb filters didn’t sound right, as positional and non-positional issues came up. They tried voice limiting to reduce the computational load, but it didn’t make much difference in the game play. It turned out to be better to add a list of events and hashing across the list for the sounds and music. The number of calls is the real limited in affecting game play. A little technology made cool sounds.

Collins stated that the sounds had to blend with the music, so they had to tune the sounds and make them harmonious. The SCEA mixing process schedules tools and plugins to facilitate meeting loudness standards. For the PS3 and 4 the setting is -24 LKFS ± 2 dB and the Vita is a -20 LKFS ±2 dB for 30minutes of game play. Sound normalization is per ITU-R BT 1770-2. The volume control sliders are set at maximum for these levels, so anything lower will be at a lower level. It is easy to break the user experience due to the issues of overall levels and peaks.

Birczynski added that the challenge and goal is to keep the volume levels at a point where you don’t need to change the volume with different games. Everyone should push to get better tools and technology. It helps to constrain the scope of any project, especially when generating a custom library. The use of remote workers begs for regular meetings in person to keep everyone in focus and in sync. Work within your means.

Collins noted that many games are becoming like cinema, with a few tent pole properties entering the market a year. Nevertheless, some smaller mid-level games get good responses, so the number of people and other resources is not necessarily a requirement for success.