Topography and SFX

A useful aspect of game development is to always produce the suitable background music to suit the mood of the game based on the location, situation and timing. Besides that, additional sound effects like background noise also has to be regulated to ensure it is not out of place. For this instance, it exactly what I'm trying to learn to produce. Sound plays an essential part in a narrative, as does subtitles. Take silent movies for example; those old black and white films that require strong use of body language and subtitles to express the narrative.

So this time around, I'm basically learning to mix/pair the right kind of musical score to suit each area
as well as the sound effects to go with it. It was not as hard as expected. Simply find a good free-to-use score, mix around with Adobe Audition and/or Premier Pro and save it as ogg file. Otherwise, I can select from a list of default music they provided in game.

Sound effects are trickier, although everything has been made slightly easier to understand thanks to
classes earlier in our first year with Andy. Here, I learn to pick SFX based on situations, mood, necessity and timing. Playing around with with voices for characters was also fun, but brief since inclusion of voices just seemed to ruin the atmosphere somehow.

Throughout all of this, I have to keep a constant reminder that the topography or the layout of the map also plays a crucial role in the music selected. If it's a snowy area that my character wanders into, it should have a pleasant, calm tinkling music that gives a sort of cheer or some form of comfort that suits a snowy weather. If there's a storm, finding a softer underlying music to represent the calm before the storm while mixing in harsh wind sound effects is also another way of projecting a realistic setting for the user.