Week 28 Feedback
I recently read an article by Timothy Sanders and Paul Cairns on time perception, immersion, and music in video games. This article is about the misperception of time passing due to the immersion brought about by music in video games. The article defines what immersion is and what time perception is, and what kind of music can bring about such an experience. It is very similar to what I talk about in my thesis and is useful for my dissertation. This article is also useful for the Dolly Girl project I am currently working on, even though I am not producing the music for this project.
“People who play video games often report the sense of immersion in the game with a particular feature of immersion being a loss of the sense of time passing……. Additionally, music was able to influence immersion by both increasing it or decreasing it depending on the choice of music.” (T. Sanders & P. Cairns, 2010).
The right choice of music will increase immersion, so what is the right choice of music? The music has the same style as the visual. The same statement applies to sound effects. Whether it’s a game or a film, the better the audio-visual match of work, the more immersive the work will be. So whenever the art style of the game changed, I made sure to make changes to the existing sound effects.
“ Sound is both heard and felt through its vibrations and resonance.” ( A. DeRoss, 2020).
Sound can be felt, and sound can have a physical and psychological impact on humans. The sound of rain and waves lapping on the beach can be relaxing, while spooky and scary sounds can be creepy. In the realm of games, this is known as Juicy Design. Brown (2013) describes the Juicy Design as a ‘Visceral Feeling’ that provides a sense of satisfaction. And most game designers use the word Juicy to describe the sensory sensation and stimulation that gives to the player.
An area that is inherently linked to the idea of juicy design is the element of feedback in games, i.e. the information that the player receives about their input, and changes in game state. Feedback can be audio, visual, haptic, or a combination thereof; feedback elements are important to improve player experience (Fullerton, 2014).
Rewarding the player for completing a level with musical rising tones (e.g. Super Mario Bros) or particle-feeling sound effects (e.g. Peggle) or unique sound effects that delight the player (e.g. Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ show off sound effect) gives the player a strong sense of success. The definition of the term Juicy focuses on positive feedback, however, Swink (2009) argues that negative feedback also needs to be considered and argues that at the heart of Juicy is the immediacy and richness of the feedback. Therefore, one of the key attributes of a successful game is that feedback on player actions is prioritised and focused on.
The sound of a rising tone or high frequency can actually be pleasurable for the player, so when the object’s link sounds clash with the collision sounds, I consider modifying the collision sound and adjusting its EQ. Since the link sound is the feedback from the player manipulating the object to connect to another object, the collision sound is the feedback from the object hitting the wall of its own accord, and is not relevant to the player.