.: creature sound design

The Assignment: Select a creature designed for a video game that was targeted to children 6-10 and for parents to play along as well. My 'job' was to be told what kind of sounds I was to create for the creature when it does certain things. The only things provided for this project was a picture of the creature, a description of the game, and the list of sounds needed.

The Creature:

The Game Description: The player plays this creature from infancy to adulthood and guides it through the world as it grows up. This creature lives in some kind of 'underwater-like' world that is not like an ocean, but more of a clear gel-like liquid substance. So for it to get around, the creature does a mixture between swimming and crawling. In order for the creature to grow from baby to adult, the player must pick up the proper items and skills. Sounds need to convey the changes in skills and size as the character grows "older". The game ends when the creature has managed to achieve adulthood and has learned all its skills. The game look is very "organic" and sounds should not seem computerized or highly synthesized, but to make one think that the creatures are "real".

The Execution:

Infant Swimming/Crawling - I took the sound of a hand slapping water and pitch shifted it high to give it more of a youthful feel. I also sped it up to emulate the quick pace a baby's steps are when it is first learning to walk.

Adolescent Swimming/Crawling - Taking the same sounds I did for the infant, I pitch shifted it down and slowed it to emulate the longer steps someone older would take, having known how to walk for a while.

Adult Swimming/Crawling - I pitched shifted this even lower and made it even slower than the Adolescent, to emulate that the creature was now of old age as an adult.

Learning a New Skill - I imaged that when the creature learns something, a sort of light bulb appeared above its head and it got real happy. So the sounds I placed was a whistling for the bulb to appear and a baby's giggle of delight.

Eating - I found a sound of someone wiggling the side of their cheek, emulating the sound of a fish flopping around on the floor. However, to me, it sounds like something eating and attached a burp for comic effect that children would like.

Headbutting Bubble Wall - One of the skills the creature had to learn was breaking bubbles with its head to get through bubbled walls. For this I took a water popping sound and followed it with a bubbling water sound that I lowered the pitch of. Then I added a baby giggle to make it sound like the creature was having fun. This sound was created in surround with various channels (center channel is displayed above).

Baby's Positive Response - As a baby, the creature was to give a positive response when the player did something right. The sounds I used here was a purring of kitten mixed with the giggles of a baby and bubbling water to give the effect of being underwater.

Adult's Negative Response - As an adult, the creature was to give a negative response when the player did something it didn't like. The sound used was the cry of an angry baby, in a way that I've never heard before. The sound fit in so perfectly with the other sounds in the set as it came that I did not edit it.

Eaten by Shark - As a baby, the creature can be eaten by enemies. My sounds were to start with the wail of a baby (again, in a way I've never heard before) and be faded out as a roar came in. The shark was described as being some kind of punk rock squid, so I took the sounds of a lion and pitched it down then added reverb.

Attacking Enemies - As an adult, the creature can fight enemies with a water laser from its forehead. How I picture the creature to be firing was like a ring of energy came from its forehead as a laser shot forward. So I took the pinging sound of a sonar and paired it up with the bubble of water that was pitched shifted low.