Salford City College Eccles Sixth Form Centre BTEC Extended Diploma in GAMES DESIGN Unit 73: Sound For Computer Games

Game Title Watch Dogs

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

Watch Dogs is set in Chicago, in a time where he world is connected by technology, meaning hackers are at their prime and take advantage of the connection that is shared by anyone with an electrical device, hackers hack into any piece of technology and are able to siphon peoples bank accounts out of thin air and hack things like traffic lights and garage doors. This cut scene shows off the technological side of which the game is based around and gives you a brief look at the main character and his story. As the game is based around hacking and technology, the game features sounds revolving around these areas throughout. The game features all manner of sound effects and has various musical tracks throughout.

The soundtrack and various sounds featured in this cut scene definitely help to represent the setting of the game. They help to set the mood of a fast paced game that features a lot of action, the music that you here in the cut scene would have most likely been created using virtual instruments that would have been structured into a soundtrack using sound editing software on a computer.

Mood

The mood of the game alters a lot, the sounds featured in the game as visible in this cut scene, change with the pace of the game and the mood. Music speeds up in more action oriented scenes and becomes more frantic and often gloomy depending on the mood of the game. This cut scene highlights a fast pace game which puts you on edge, the sounds featured within the game help to do this greatly as they correspond well with the mood of the game and help to alter how the viewer of this cut scene of the player of the game feels.

As the mood of the game often alters, the soundtrack corresponds well to the changing in the mood and helps to set the scene, the pace of the soundtrack changes as the mood become faster and slower paced or whether the mood is dark or upbeat. This would have been done by taking the soundtrack and editing it to correspond with the cut scenes in the game so that the pace or mood the soundtrack changes, so that it is relevant to what is happening in the game. This would have been done using sound editing software on a computer.

Game genre

The game genre is action and it is very visible from viewing this cut scene that it is an action orientated game. The character is set tasks throughout the game which include car chases, taking own of different types of enemies and high risk hacking missions. The sounds featured in the game such as gun shots, fast paced music, screeching cars and explosions help set the scene perfectly and very specifically fit the action genre.

The sound track and sounds featured in this game help to represent an action game very well, they alter when the element of action is more obvious and help o alter the mood of the game greatly by using explosions, gun shots and fast paced music. The sounds that help make this game fit the action genre such as gun shots would have been pre-recorded in real life before being imported into sound editing software and then being imported into the game itself.

Narrative

The narrative featured in this cut scene is of several of the characters featured in the game conversing with one another, the voice actors help to give the game a sense of action and help to give the viewer and idea of what the game is like.

The narrative of the game helps to set the scene and the voice actors, which are obviously very talented at what they do help to set the feel of the game. The narrative would have been created by first recording the raw recordings of the voice actors reading through the script before being edited to a professional level and then being imported into the game.