This is Thomas, I’m a Sound Designer working on Void Crew!
There have been some questions from the community about some interesting sources for the sound. Also, some of you have asked whether the ship is alive or organic.
I think I can answer that by sharing a bit more about the sound design direction we have taken for Void Crew, with some examples!
From the beginning, one of the main ideas was that the ship should be perceived as almost a living thing. After all, the ship cannot function without the Homunculus inserted into the Central Computer Cradle. It is the heart and the brain of our ship!
Also, most of the actions in the game must be performed manually (fixing the hull breaches, trimming the engine, charging the thruster boosters, fixing the circuit breakers etc.), which makes us less vulnerable to being hacked by Hollows.
This synergy between technology and biology (widely adopted by Metem) is an important and distinctive element of our game and its identity.
In order to support and emphasize that idea, we wanted the sound to be not only sci-fi, but also in a sense primal and animalistic.
To achieve this, besides the typical sounds of machines and sci-fi technology, we often use various animal sounds in the sound creation process, and sometimes even support the sound effects with our own voice.
Let’s start with the sound for Engine Trim Points
For those of you who haven’t played our game yet - Trim Points appear all over the ship during the game and players use them to recalibrate the ship’s engines.
Simply said - those are debuffs to the propulsion system. If you accumulate too many of them, the ship’s speed will be severely reduced.
Usually I work on the sound when at least some visuals (models, animations) or gameplay prototypes are done, but in this case I started with just the gameplay design ideas provided by one of our designers.
The idea was clear enough (handles used by players to fix/calibrate the ship), so I could start working on the sound palette - the sounds I want to have at hand later, when I know a bit more about the thing that needs the sound.
At this stage I pick the interesting and fitting sounds from the sample library, record some sounds myself, create some sounds from scratch using synthesizers or experiment a bit with the sound processing (effects) that I want to use later. It doesn’t mean I never do those things later in the process - I often do, but it helps to have something prepared in advance.
When the models and animations were ready, I could proceed - I knew how long the animation would be, so I could pick and edit the sounds that worked and felt best for the particular valves and levers.
It is also very important to define exactly how a player can interact with the object. This determines how I need to structure the sound, so it can be implemented properly and so it feels best during the interaction. Here are some questions that needed to be answered for the Engine Trim Points:
- Will the whole animation play when the button is clicked? (in our case - no)
- Will the animation play only when the button is pressed? (yes!)
- What happens when you release the button during animation? (animation reverses)
- What happens when you click the button again during the reverse? (the animation continues from the point when the button was clicked)
- Does the animation have some kind of auto-completion point? (yes, it auto-completes)
With those, I decided to split the sound to 2 stages:
[olist][*]Interaction (the sound that plays when player starts to interact with the lever)
- Supports communicating to the player, that the interaction takes place
[*]Interaction Complete (finishing part of the sound)
- Communicates to the player that the interaction is successful and finished
- Also stops the Interaction sound, if the player resumed the interaction/animation after releasing the button during the animation
However, if the interaction is not interrupted, you most probably won’t be even aware there were 2 separate sounds (stages) playing.
Also, I usually design the sounds to the whole animation, but knowing that separation will be needed helps to group the sounds appropriately.
And here’s how the whole thing sounded for all the Engine Trim variants:
[previewyoutube=-ffHcTZERUM;full][/previewyoutube]
If you've used the Engine Trim Points in the game, you may notice that the sounds are a bit different from what we have in the game.
That, in the video above, was the first version, which was just mechanical. It was ok, but we felt it was missing something. It was a bit too raw and it didn’t bring as much connection between the player and the interaction, as we wanted it to.
We needed it to sound like there’s something more happening inside of what we’re repairing/calibrating.
For the next iteration, I added some animal sounds, so it could feel deeper, richer, more satisfying and more…alive! Unusual sources include sounds of tigers, toads, camels and various growls.
[previewyoutube=5dQWbuMXQCg;full][/previewyoutube]
Circuit Breakers
Another similar example, my personal favorite, is the sound of fixing the Circuit Breaker.
When modules in the ship draw too much power, the ship’s power core can get overloaded. Circuit Breakers act as a safeguard against critical overload, but if all are used up, the next overload will shut down the ship, and eject the Homunculus from the Central Computer Cradle.
It also combines sounds coming from both worlds (mechanical and animalistic).
[previewyoutube=BUyfLrnqhDE;full][/previewyoutube]
Recuser Beamcaster
Now a weapon example, also a little spoiler of what’s coming in the upcoming update!
As we develop the game, we want to continue to add upgrade paths to our modules. Soon you will be able to upgrade your Recuser Beamcaster to MK2 and MK3!
For that, we added some extra animalistic sound layers in higher MKs for that weapon.
Weird sources include the sounds of leopards, lions, walruses and… me!
I did some recordings of me growling into the microphone. Then that recording got cleaned up, slowed/pitched down, I added some effects and glued it together with other animal layers.
[previewyoutube=JCir_LPI5OM;full][/previewyoutube]
Elevators: Before & After
Let’s finish off with a quick comparison of before and after, for our Elevators (the air tubes in the Destroyer and in the Hub)!
Previously, the sound was just airy. We felt there is more potential there, and it could sound more like some kind of alien, mystic and primal technology, maybe like travelling through the ship’s throat :)!
I found an atmospheric-ambience-windy sound in my library, that, when sped up, sounded like some eerie breathing. The file name suggests that some elements of this sound may come from baboon recordings. I adjusted the sound with a few simple effects to emphasize its depth and breathiness, added another airy sound recording to it and the result was much more interesting and primal than the first version.
[previewyoutube=vqafCM9wo8I;full][/previewyoutube]
And... that's all for today!
My aim with this Space Log was to offer you a glimpse into the artistic decisions and design directions shaping our game. I hope it will allow you to not only recognize and understand some nuances in the sound, but also gain a slightly different perspective on your ship and your interactions with it.
Thanks for reading, and also, thanks for being awesome with all the feedback, opinions, bug reports and all the other great community input.
See you around in the game (let’s listen to the ship’s purring together!).
And as always,
Metem Preserve You!
// Thomas (Sound Designer) and Hutlihut Games Crew
