Wait... what?

It's that time again? Already? I thought I had a summer holiday or something, but apparently not. Here I am, once again, sitting in Whitespace and ready to rock. Only this time, it's bigger, it's badder and it's... well. It's 4th year.

Ah.

Good news though. I actually want to do this for a change. Why? Because it's all my work, not some buggering great load of work given to me by someone else to fill in the gaps and connect the dots. Nah, this time it's all me. Well, most of it.

Although there are 5 modules this year, there is only one target - the Dissertation and Honours Artefact. I love that; artefact. I feel like a digital archaeologist. Anyway, at the end of this year, I’ll have a big ol’ document full of information and awesomesauce, as well as my physical object (which isn’t really physical, it’s digital, but it’s… well you get it in the form of my soundtrack or sound library or whatever. Still some tweaks to do on that.

Narrowed my question down to two phrases now;

[i]to determine how traditional narrative devices in film sound can enhance gameplay.[/i]

[i]to determine ways in which film sound design techniques can enhance/help in the creation of ‘cinematic’ games.[/i]

Bits and pieces of these questions are both nice, but I don’t like the language I’ve used. It’s supposed to be technical and academic, but it just seems stuffy. So, here goes; I’m going to re-write it now and run with it until someone comes along and changes it for me.

[i]The aim of this project is to determine ways in which film sound design techniques can be used to enhance the game sound process.[/i]

Urgh. Still not really happy with that, but hell, I’ll throw it at a lecturer next week and get it set it stone by next Wednesday.

The practical application of this, the evidence, will be in the form of a game score and sound library which I will be producing for 3 game prototypes. I’m working with a couple of Master’s students on this, so it’ll be great fun, a massive learning curve, not to mention a real incentive to work hard for a change. I find it so much easier when I’m working to someone else’s deadlines and schedule.

The first game, due for Christmas, is going to be a point-and-click game, such as Monkey Island, Professor Layton etc. and will be in the form of steampunk. I cannot express to you how excited I am at the prospect of writing music to fit a steampunk world. Not to mention all the sound effects, the steam pistons, explosions and backfire’s. It’ll be great. Hard, but great. So enough of this chat. It’s time to research!

Next update on Monday, along with a music review of the new Muse album, ‘The Resistance.’

M_x