Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games

Game Title The Last of Us https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r-zvVMZeP4

Provide detailed descriptions from chosen examples that establish… Clearly state what production technique(s) you think have been used to create specific soundtrack elements

Setting

There isn’t much annotations on where the real place is, except the fact they talk about arcade game, which is busted and we don’t hear other people around. The imaginary surroundings are on a Shadow Temple, which is a battle area, or ‘building for tournaments of the immortals’ as said by Riley at 35:01. The place is also quite tropical because of the drum beats and other instruments playing in the background.

The native instrument music was played with the use of actual intruments.

Mood

At first the background is completely quiet with an exception of very quiet noises the electricity makes (bzzz), this adds to seriousness, and when we hear sights and Ellie saying she wanted to play, this quietness makes it feel sorry for her. It stays quiet until Riley tells Ellie to keep her eyes shut (34:55). After that the music starts with an impact and is fast, telling the imagination works. There are more beats giving this tension to be ready before the fight. As the battle starts the melody speeds up, the atmosphere is quite aggressive and we can hear additional sounds to emphasis the characters’ moves. At 36:00 the entire music as well as Riley’s voice go into a background (but are more louder) and become quite bass sounding as well as when spoken through the megaphone, giving the new, deep sensation and to signify the action denses.

The sounds added to underline when characters hit (not actual hit sounds but the sounds alongside them) were either made with Foley artistry or VST plugins. The first background sounds of electricity and wind were probably field recorded.

Game genre

(The Last of Us genre – Action-Adventure, Survival, Horror) The ‘game in a game’ genre is probably a fighting, adventure. The imaginary game is an adventure game, because Riley tells the character ‘stands on the edge of the Shadow Temple’. And to signify it’s a fighting game we hear characters’ voices when introduced (35:04-35:14) and they sound just like the calls fighting characters would do.

Imaginary characters’ calls were probably studio recorded as well, whereas punches and kicks could have been done with use of Foley artistry.

Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre

BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games

Another main factors telling it’s a fighting game is ‘Round One. Fight’ at 35:23, as well as Riley’s comments of what the opponent is doing.

Narrative

Ellie wants to play an arcade game (we can know it’s arcade game, because after that moment Riley tells her about buttons to press) but the machine doesn’t work (34:13). The rest of the narrative is told by Riley’s monologue (at 34:41); she tells Ellie to imagine everything she says, and introduces her to player’s character (Angel Knives) as well as the opponent (Blackfang). Riley then describes all the opponent does and what Ellie should do to win.

All the narration was recorded in a studio with use of voice actors. There also was some panning used to show that Riley is off scene.