SFX design

NOTE: For this DevLog we have collaborated with OVANI Sounds who have agreed to feature this article in their newsletter after we told them how happy we were with their sounds.

The sound design of a video game requires as much care as its visuals. Often, these sound effects and ambient music tend to be perceived as background elements, as our brains prioritize visual stimuli. However, without these sounds, the experience of any game feels incomplete.

In the design of Choose Cthulhu Files, we couldn’t overlook the selection of sound effects to highlight actions, enhance gameplay details, and emphasize narrative beats essential to achieving the overarching effect we want to deliver to players.

While researching sound effects in horror and mystery audiovisual media, we came across several videos by Mark Korven, a composer renowned for scoring horror films like The Witch and The Lighthouse, series such as The Terror and The Peripheral, and video games like Until Dawn.

In these videos, Korven demonstrated how he creates sounds with what seemed like anything but a traditional musical instrument: a box outfitted with wooden and metal rulers, strings stretched over rollers reminiscent of a hurdy-gurdy, and other bizarre contraptions. Despite the unconventional appearance of this instrument, the sounds it produced created a chilling, mysterious, and almost palpably unsettling atmosphere that left us utterly captivated (if that’s an appropriate word for something that gives you goosebumps).

This instrument, called the Apprehension Engine, generates a variety of sounds: harsh dissonances, squeals, creaks, and other noises anyone would associate with terrifying situations.

While searching for similar sounds to incorporate into our game, we stumbled upon a Humble Bundle offering sound and music packs from OVANI Sounds. The bundle’s descriptions and sample tracks caught our attention, as they featured a wealth of sounds that aligned with our game’s needs. It also included plugins tailored for major game engines, including Godot, and thematic music packs specifically for horror.

After purchasing the bundle, we were impressed by the quality and variety of sounds it offered. Along with the download links, OVANI sent us an email with a discount for our next purchase. Naturally, we visited their online store to explore their other sound packs.

To our amazement, we discovered three sound packs specifically designed for the Apprehension Engine! We wasted no time adding them to our cart and completing the checkout process.

Once downloaded, we dove into the sample tracks included in each pack:

• The Wheel: Dissonant vibrations produced by a wheel rubbing against strings of various thicknesses and materials, along with drone effects laden with plate reverb to evoke unease.

• Strings and Springs: Packed with sounds of bowed strings and oscillating springs. Metallic squeals that make your skin crawl and haunting vibrations abound.

• Wood and Metal: Features solid wood thumps, creaks, metal plate squeals, and oscillating vibrations of metal sheets.

The quality did not disappoint. The packs provide an incredible array of sounds, enabling us to create a wide range of effects in our game. The combinations are virtually limitless, with complementary sounds coming together to craft truly horrifying atmospheres.

And that wraps up today’s devlog! We hope this entry has shed some light on the importance of sound effects in video game design and development.

If you’re interested in OVANI Sound’s Apprehension Engine packs, we highly recommend purchasing the bundle that combines all three packs. It’s more cost-effective than buying them individually, and the quality and versatility of the sounds make it well worth the investment.

29-11-2024: In addition, today OVANI Sounds has released a very interesting sound bundle for less than €20 for Black Friday.