Recording, editing, coding and first playtest - week 7, 8, 9 and 10

About time for a new update.

So I've been spending some time recording sounds, this time with family members to help me create some of them. I got quite a few recordings, so it was necessary to organize and name the files according to what was being recorded. I've been recording various types of effects, including fire, stuff hitting wood and more footsteps. Recording the more abstract sounds turned out to be a laugh, since I got the bright idea of using my mouth to create some of them. Listening to myself babbling and gurgling away, it turned out to be somewhat of a challenge to stop giggling.

I’ve also been learning bits and pieces about Unity, reading through a tutorial in a book I’m using.

When it comes to coding, I’ve been trying to code footsteps sounds into the game. That is taking some time. There are several reasons for that, but one of them is that I haven’t been taught how to do such things. Another reason is that in my book, there is nothing about making footsteps. I’ve been making some progress, but haven’t found a solution yet.

On a high note – we had our first playtest of Revenge last week. It was a lot of fun. We got some really good feedback and we are looking forward to implement changes to the game based on that. At the time of the playtest, I only had one single sound ingame (the river sound), so I got little feedback on the sound. Last week I also edited my fire sound, trying to make it sound “big”. When listening through my fire effect recordings, I wished I had made some different sounds as well, since some of them were maybe a little bit off. But I tried to make the best of it, and eventually decided that’s good enough. The fire sound is now ingame and loopable. Have a listen at a sample below. Editing on two of the more spooky sounds in the game have also started.

The life of a sound recording artist extraordinaire! - week 4, 5 and 6

These last three weeks there have been several things school related that needed my attention.  And unfortunately, not all of them had to do about Revenge. But I have been able to do some  work. I've finished my list of sounds, so now I got a better idea of how much I need to record and  edit. This list will of course be added to as necessary. When it comes to coding, I'm still learning to use Unity and Javascript, so I have written no code in the game yet. But the beauty about Unity is that you can still build a gameworld and walk around in it without having to manually implement code. So we do have a game prototype that contains models and terrain. Go ahead and take a peek in the gallery on our team's website.

The majority of work I've been doing since last update is picking up audio equipment, charging batteries for recorder (takes at least 12 hours per charge - ridiculous), a fair amount of walking to recording sites (no car), learning to use equipment and eventually recording some actual sounds. This have taken some time, and not always with luck on my side, having to deal with faulty equipment and getting a flat tire on my bicycle. But in the end I got some recordings that I could use. Hurray! Specificly, I have recorded sounds for a river and the sound of footsteps.

After spending some time getting to know Adobe Audition (sound editing program), I managed to create a loop of the river sound that has now been put in the prototype. Not completely satisfied with the sound, so I might edit it some more. But at least I have something in the game now!

Lastly, I've written an update on what the entire team have been doing on the site. Do take a look.

Sound preparations and marketing baby steps - week 3

This week I’ve continued my sound list, as well as thinking about some ways in which I can record the sounds. I have discovered that some sounds will be more difficult to record than others. For inspiration, I’ve been playing some games, adjusting the sound mix in the game, so I could hear ambient sound effects more clearly.

My job this week also, was to write a synopsis of the game for our website. At the point I was writing it, we didn't have names for our characters. I decided to use nicknames when writing it, and at our next team meeting we came up with some proper names. Eventually we decided to use Fred, Joseph and Julia. You can read the finished synopsis on our website.

The foundations - week 1 and 2

In the last two weeks we have been busy thinking up with the concept for the game. We have had different versions of the story thrown back and forth. Basically, we had to come up with everything from story to the way the game plays, enemies, game scenarios, camera perspective, game atmosphere, sound and use of interface. In short - there has been a lot of discussion on the team.

Outside of group discussions, I'm trying to learn how to use Unity. I haven't been able to do much coding yet, as the tutorial I've been using didn't include much. I have also been making a Gantt-diagram and a document where I write down what parts of the game I will be working on, and the estimated time for doing it. A part of my job as well is taking care of the sounds in the game. So I'm trying to get an overview over which sound effects we need and how many.

A brief introduction

Hello!

I'm Thor Kobberrød Husby and this blog is dedicated to a Unity game. I'm currently learning how to program at a Norwegian university. The game is being developed as a project at the university. Here I will post about my contributions to the game.

We are six people working on the game, which as of yet has no official title. But we have been using two different working titles, "Framed" and "Revenge". I think I'm going to use Revenge here on the blog. For now.. anyway.