This was a speed test for sound design for a cinematic. My test was to create 30-seconds of audio for an existing cinematic, using “the general” audio library and whatever foley I could squeeze in. Oh, and the time limit was one hour, start to finish. Here’s what I came up with, music and all:
While there’s many spots that stand out as not having a sound associated with an action, there are many lessons learned from a test like this.
- Speed and “Good Enough” can be a benefit to development. If you can get a baseline for an animatic in front of artists and designers, they often will animate around your sound effects. You’ll start a back-and-forth dialogue that will help shape the story.
- Rushing is bad, at least for shipping content. While audio is typically the final piece in a game, especially for cinematics, a muddy mix during the first minute of gameplay makes for a horrible, and often unforgivable, first impression. Convince your directors to get this stuff to you as early as possible…and crunch if you need to.