Creating Coherent Worlds: My Presentation

My presentation will be about how Sound plays a vital role within creating coherent worlds in Video games. How sound is used to portray every other asset, such as characters, environments, narrative, lighting and other dynamic features, sound has it's ways of conveying personality to all those elements. Without sound, the story and overall concept would lack authenticity and believability. Without sound, there is no expression or emotion for the chain events that happen, it is the most important way to influence an emotion onto it's audience. With that, I want to look at how sound is used to create atmosphere between the narrative and environment. More specifically, How sound is used and how it is not.

Building atmosphere with explosive and subtly silenced sounds.

Sound is very clever within video games and can easily make an atmosphere with very little or a lot. Some video games use loud explosive soundtracks that demonstrate a rush against time or a heroic battle, every instrument is used to express the emotions towards the action and still include essences of the theme. For example, Red dead redemption big combats include loud and intense sounds, which encourages the character to act brave or strong, but with that adding emotion for the player, it also hosts all the traditional elements of a western type genre, such as using traditional instruments, like guitars, violins, bells and harmonicas. So the sound is creating a relative atmosphere that is engaging, emotional and authenticity to the genre.

On the other hand, sometimes less is more within sound and video games. Using very quiet or minimalistic sounds can also paint a very dynamic atmosphere within a game. The inclusions of subtle silences also adds to that atmosphere and begins creating an emotion for the player. This method is used in a variety of genres, but is most commonly seen within horror. Games of that theme use sound cleverly to keep their player's on their toes, not guiding them through the action with sounds, but leaving them to specaulate what could be hidden in those silences. Quiet and simplistic music is often used to mask danger, instead of hyping it with increased volume or inclusion of more sounds, the mood stays the same, suprising the player as they go. Making the game unpredictable and scary, matching perfectly to that of it's genre.

It is with both types of using sound that are subconsciously accepted within video games. You don't normally sit and wonder about the particular ambient sounds that are playing, because you're busy engaging with the story. However, it is subconsciously that the player listens to all those sounds and it is actually with that, that makes the story engaging. Without explosive music, the player wouldn't feel brave or excited to fight a foe, without subtle sounds and silences, the player would feel more incontrol of what to expect.

Sound acts as a mental guide through the story, inviting the player to experience different emotions within the game, without them even realizing it. It is with that, that sound makes a coherent world within video games. Adding authenticity and personality to the game that relates to it's subject, adds believability making the whole experience enjoyable.