FMOD Approach: The Banner Saga

Michael Theiler of Kpow Audio wrote a guest post on designing sound back in 2012, about his approach to the construction of ambience. He wrote about his experience of designing ambience for LA Noire, as well as for The Banner Saga. I really liked his approach to the ambience on the Banner Saga, and this has been a foundation for my own approach to the construction of ambience in Taphobos.

Essentially, the team created what is called a ‘procedural ambience’, not to be confused with procedural audio (synthesis). Procedural sound design is the process by which elements are broken down as far as possible, multiple variations of each sound are recorded, and then chosen at random in the gameplay. In the case of the Banner Saga, Kpow audio used a selection of different relevant sounds to play around a specific area that correspond with the visual. This can be seen and heard clearly in the video below, where randomly triggered shouts, anvils, seagulls, wind and other relevant sounds make up a complex and believable ambience.

 

This is the same approach I used in Taphobos – the sound design of the ambience is procedural, broken down into many tiny elements that are triggered randomly by FMOD. The sound of a church is fairly mundane – and lifeless – so I had to take some artistic licence to create an interesting ambience for the space. I’ve selected a number of sources that I think are relevant and interesting in the space, recorded a number of variations of them and mixed them into the main bed of ambience in the church level. This is made up of metal knocks and bangs, bowed cymbals, wooden creaks, wind, and other recordings. I go into detail about this process and how it is implemented in FMOD in my posts about the FMOD session.

(LO4)


 

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