[-empyre-] Digital Game Sound

[Anne Marie Schleiner]

HI George

The utter darkness combined with 3d audio seems to work well for horror 
genre games, I just took a quick look at your to audio games you posted 
for the moment but as a tangent I wonder if it could be interesting to 
have just occasional visual halluciantions pop up out of the darkness.  
The first game I have seen where you close your eyes and have 
hallucinations btw is Bientot L'Ete by Tale of Tales... 
http://indiegames.com/2013/03/road_to_the_igf_tale_of_tales_.html

I also wonder if someone designed a freeware sound game engine like the 
games you posted with only sound if this could be a could become a forum 
for players to try out interactive storytelling via games?

One interesting set of games in terms of  sound for their synethesia 
effect that you probably already know are Rez and Child of Eden designed 
by Tetzuya Mizuguchi-Child of Eden especially: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EfjJeRzQ5M

Yes sound is the underdog of games--or at least falls of the radar as a 
forgotten afterthought, as it is of media art in general--part of our 
general cultural bias to see rather than hear these days--some kind of 
ludic audio politics or power position could be developed  relation to 
sound?

Cheers,
Anne-Marie

On 25/3/2013 10:44 PM, George Karalis wrote:
> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
> Hello all,
>
> I've enjoyed following this month's discussions, and appreciate the
> opportunity to make a guest appearance. I am fresher to this field
> than the rest of you (a newb, indeed), but I hope this may provide a
> fresh perspective as well. At Cornell I have been oscillating between
> the theoretical issues of gaming, such as those addressed here this
> month, and the nuts and bolts of game design and programming.
>
> I would first like to raise a discussion around the role of sound in
> digital games.
>
> User studies show that sound provides extra information to players and
> makes them feel more immersed in the game environment. Yet, research
> into game sound does not extend too far beyond that. Sound in games
> (like that in film) has remained adjunct to visuals. Even so-called
> music games like Guitar Hero hinge on visual feedback and merely
> employ a musical setting. Likewise, game sound technology and
> development tools are rudimentary compared to those for graphics.
>
> I have taken a relatively practical approach to this issue with my
> current game project Square Waves (square-waves.com), attempting to
> develop from the ground up a game that foremost considers sound. This
> research quickly led me into "audio games," sound-only games developed
> primarily for blind and visually-impaired audiences. (Hence, I refer
> to digital games broadly, as opposed to using the more common yet
> exclusive term "video game.")
>
> Audio games, despite their history and persistence, have remained
> tucked away--practically unknown outside of their small niche. They
> have traditionally been low/no-budget productions from solo developers
> and hobbyists, though recently a few indie operations have released
> titles with higher production value geared toward larger audiences. A
> couple of examples to check out are Papa Sangre (www.papasangre.com)
> and BlindSide (www.blindsidegame.com).
>
> To tie these concepts in with previous discussions, we may consider
> the relation of audio games to countergaming. To what extent can
> removing (or displacing) graphics in digital games defuse the "armed
> vision" and other militaristic associations that have been noted
> earlier this month? Could audio games change players' perceptual
> perspectives to deepen not only their experience with the game world
> but also with physical reality?
>
> I'll stop with this broad sketch, as I am not sure in which direction
> the discussion will go. I am very interested to hear your thoughts
> throughout this week.
>
> Best,
>
> George
>
> --
> George Karalis
> Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences
> College Scholar Class of 2013
> gsk52 at cornell.edu
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