Marissa Lorberau
1. Beginnings
As an English Major and a
hobbyist writer, storytelling
has always been an interest.
How can music tell stories?
-> Narrative Music
2. Gathering Resources
Jorgensons dissertation and
the role of games.
-> Point of Intrusion
3. Some Experimenting...
-> Can I model some of these
findings on my friends?
4. The Decision to Focus on
Gaming:
Narrative music in film has
been done to death, but
the role of soundscapes in
interactive media is less
developed.
 Research Question: How do
we use sound to both literally
and metaphorically build
worlds?
The role of ambient sounds
vs. interactive sounds.
How does sound impact
gameplay?
What is the role of sound in
story-heavy games as
compared to more directly
interactive ones?
 The basic definition, as In gaming, soundscapes are
compiled from a variety artificially constructed but
must still satisfy the same role
of dictionary sources, is
as they would in any other
something along the lines environment while also often
of the range of dealing with fantasy
perceivable sounds that elements that dont
make up an necessarily have a natural
environment. analogue (VanOrd).
 Sensory Engaging the
senses as a way of creating
a pleasurable experience
Challenge Using sound as a
way to gratify the player for
achievements. Pavlovian
conditioning.
Imaginative Full
engagement with the
constructed world through
soundscape development
(Huiberts)
 I couldnt find anything
dealing specifically with
videogames but it is well
documented that music in
film can aid in viewer
retention of the story
(Fischoff)
I decided to do some
experimenting of my
own
 Assessment Areas
1) How long it took them to get
through the cutscenes and their
memory of the information
afterwards
2) Their response times to their
health bars getting low (usually
indicated with a sound cue and
a visual cue)
3) Their concept of time-passing
(based on a self-assessment)
Results
1) Audio-enabled players all
watched the cutscenes completely
and had better retention whereas
those with no audio tended to
skim the dialogue.
2) Audio-enabled players died in
game on average 2 times less than
those with no audio. Those with no
audio attributed their increase in
damage taken to the lack of audio
cues.
3) Audio-enabled players felt that
time passed more quickly than
those with no audio.
 Video game creation
encompasses a large range of
disciplines and sound
engineering is bound up in a lot
of them.
Sound technicians themselves
occupy a broad range of roles.
Score composers
Sound effect techs (apparently,
coconuts make a good substitute
for horse hooves)
Audio mixing
Sound programming
Writers work with sound techs
to help them narrate their plots
and set the emotion of a scene
Graphic designers and artists
work with sound techs to help
set an overall mood
Game programmers work with
sound techs to synch up actions
with sound cues
Advertisers work with sound
techs to market the games
Copyright lawyers work with
composers and sound techs to
patent scores.
 Sound is an important part
of any environment and it
informs a lot of how we
perceive the world. There
are, of course, others ways
of knowing and perceiving
but sound is a very
prominent one.
The videogame industry
has long used sound
(flashback to pong, which
was hacked to add
sound effects) as an
integral part of gameplay
and this has developed
into a rich and well-loved
(or despised) element of
the gaming fanbase.