Mgla – Anita Luo and Beatrice Zhang
Download final Unity Package here!
Playthrough:
Map:
1. PROPOSAL
Through the sensory experience of Proteus, we are instructed to construct a virtual course that must be navigated using only sound through the use of a combination of icons (earcons), beacons, and soundscapes to allow a player to locate waypoints. Through this activity, we explore how sounds, as carriers of information, help an individual navigate through a physical or virtual space.
The scenario to be constructed in Unity:
You’re a delivery driver sent to the planet Mgla carrying a mysterious package. The planet is covered in a layer of fog so dense that you can barely read the address on the box.
The inept drop-ship operator set you 5 ticks (~1km) away from your destination, so you’ll have to walk the rest of the way. To make matters worse, your locator earpiece only has a range of 1 tick (200m), so you need to navigate to landmarks along the way instead of going directly to the goal.
Visibility is nonexistent, but there is a rich soundscape and plenty of distinct sounds that you can use to figure out where you are. Undeterred by the fog, and with your locator earpiece and the ambient sounds to guide you, you embark to deliver the package.
In this activity, we are prompted to set at least 4 waypoints between the start and end of the mission on the planet Mgla. To guide the player to these waypoints, we will implement the 3 layers in the auditory scene including the soundscape (as seen in Week 4’s activity), auditory landmarks (guiding beacons), and auditory signals (icons and earcons). Inspired by Proteus, we also want to see how groups of sounds in one area can change the mood of the space for the player to make sense of where they are and at what waypoint they are.
2. BRAINSTORMING
Proteus had area-specific sounds which made sense of the space for the player. Unfortunately, we are not afforded the use of visual representations for the player to connect the sounds to the environment. However, we believe with timing/delay, loudness, and timbre, the player can collect audio information to understand where they are within a virtual space.
We aim to combine the scenario and space so that there is a narrative for the player to follow. This includes the delivery driver calling for assistance and the person on the other side of the call explaining the mysterious but thrilling wonders of the planet Mgla. As the person on call leaves, the delivery driver is left with their own devices to figure out where they are. Mgla is characterized by abrupt topography (land features being closely situated) which render the journey open to surprises and unique easter eggs around the corner! At the end of the journey the player realizes that although the distance of the destination was 5 ticks, they had made a big U-turn—making their displacement a tick away from their starting point!
Through this sketch, we also noted the list of sounds we plan to use:
- car engine
- phone ring
- phone hang up
- footstep sound
- sprinting sound
- wind
- water droplets
- crickets
- birds
- water ripples
- fire cracking
- forest wind
- cars
- doorbell
- speaking?
- earcons such as error sound
3. INSPIRATION & CONCEPTUAL INTEGRATION
Concept #1: The “auditory scene”
According to the theory, a well-organized auditory scene consists of 3 layers – the soundscape that brings the overall spacial station structure to life audibly, the auditory landmarks serving as guiding beacons and enriching the soundscape, and the auditory signals that support navigation and provide information. We applied these three layers to constructing our auditory scenes: we intend to assign the three layers for each waypoint.
Concept #2: Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley is a virtual farming game that features diverse living settings and scenes from different parts of the worldview. The audio effect varies according to the waypoints, through which the player is guided to complete the tasks assigned at various sites. The footsteps and every tiny sound effect triggered feel real thanks to the well-modified reverb effects, inspiring us to continue applying the appropriate sound editing techniques.
We are also inspired by the game Proteus in terms of how it constructs area sounds characteristic of some specific scenes. In the instruction video on YouTube about creating an ambient zone, the author makes an entity of the forest by circling the audio around the rim of the forest. Our forest scene is inspired by this, and we want to further conceptualize the scene by adding reverb effects and multiple layers of sounds.
4. PROCESS
1) Audio Preparation
Because this activity focuses on audio wayfinding and playtesting, we utilized copyright-free sound effects from https://pixabay.com/ to save time on the recording stage. We were time-efficient in finding the audio we needed because of effective planning beforehand so we had a premade list of sounds.
Folder with all downloaded audio!
2) Set Up
a) We first set up a low-visibility scene using this template scene which consists of a white skybox with white Fog.
b) We then added footstep and, this time, sprinting sounds by adding footstep and sprinting audio sources. The same tutorial was used as the last assignment. The footstep audio tempo is increased to create the sprinting audio through the use of Audacity. Thus, when the “shift” key is pressed the sprinting sound is enabled. Due to time constraints, we decided to test different types of surfaces and the use of velocity for footstep sounds (feedback from the professor) in the next assignment. Because there is minimum visibility, we believe that there is not a strong need to tackle this aspect for this specific assignment. Jumping is also not a major feature of the overall experience for the wayfinding activity so we also did not address the jumping limitations of the script.
Lookback: During playtesting in class, I realized that my classmate used the arrow keys instead of WASD. Thus, the player moved but without the footstep sounds. I did not consider this possibility. Thus, I think for future projects, it is important to have different people try playtesting to notice these possible challenges. As a solution, I would attempt to use velocity as the professor has suggested in future projects. This will be an effective solution to avoid similar situations in the future.
3) Virtual Space Design
a) We first used 3D primitive shapes to create the 6 main landscapes which include the car, cave, lake, campfire, forest, and house. We followed our sketch during the brainstorming phase which helped us organize the landscapes at an appropriate distance.
Cave:
Lake:
Trees:
Birds eye view:
Challenge: Although this project mainly focused on sound for navigation, playtesting multiple times informed me that little object obstruction could increase the chances for the player to get lost. Thus, we added more trees around the “obstacle.” To ensure that the player does not skip a waypoint, we also added box colliders to avoid the player moving across the lake directly.
4) Audio Design
a) Car
We used cubes to create the basic shape of a car. We then added the car engine audio as a game object with a 3D spatial blend so that the player knows that they are moving away from the car as they enter the cave. The outside area also has sounds of crickets to communicate the information that it is nighttime and the delivery driver is outside in an open area. The cave’s wind and water droplets audio will act as a guiding beacon for the player to move towards the new area.
Challenge: Through playtesting in class, we found that the player was unsure about whether to approach the cave or the car due to a conflict in dominance. To inform the player that they should follow guiding beacons of sound and that they have a mission as a delivery driver, we used the suggestions from the class. We initially wanted to create different scenes so that the first scene acted as the instructions communicating the scenario that the player was in. However, due to time, we were unable to execute this well. Our second idea was to have a call voiceover where the character, the player, asks for help to navigate on the planet Mgla. However, due to time constraints, we were also unable to do this. With feedback from both the professor and classmates, we used ElevenLabs’ text-to-speech function to illustrate the scene. Unfortunately, we ran into a problem with access so we used the audio we were able to generate to create a phone call in Audacity. We also incorporate phone call and phone beeping sound effects from PixaBay to complete this step.
b) Cave (1st Waypoint)
The cave has a rich soundscape of wind, water droplets, cave ambiance, and reverb zones. As the player moves towards the other end of the cave, the sounds of water ripples from the lake are evident which draws the player. This signifies a new setting and mood of tranquility that juxtaposes the ominous one from the cave. When the player moves out of the cave, a trigger of a success earcon is played to signal to the player that they are on the right path and passed the first waypoint.
Challenge: Unfortunately, we ran into a problem with putting the trigger scripts offered in class into the project. We tried to fix the problem by going through the script. However, we did not understand what the error message meant.
When editing the script, there were also no evident errors found.
After meeting with the professor, we found that we had two scripts in our assets which resulted in this challenge. After understanding the issue and how to solve this, we added all the audio triggers that we had planned to embed in this space.
c) Lake (2nd Waypoint)
As the player passes the first waypoint trigger, the audio game object of nature by the lake such as frogs becomes active. This audio comes from the corner of the lake which draws the player to move to the second waypoint as a new audio landmark.
Once the player moves out of the cave, there is no more reverb zone which changes the timbre of the footsteps—creating a different feeling of space for the player. The soundscape of the lake is ornamented by the subtle ripples of the lake water and the night ambiance.
When the player reaches the source of the audio beacon, the sound stops and the completion earcon plays to signal the second waypoint has been reached.
As the player turns around the corner of the lake, an owl sound will guide the player to the next waypoint. Animation is used to simulate a moving owl.
d) Campfire (3rd Waypoint)
The crackles of the campfire act as the auditory landmark of the new waypoint which is enhanced by soundscapes of crickets and night ambience. A reward audio cue will indicate that the player has reached the 3rd waypoint. Simultaneously, a new sound of owls will be heard in the direction of the forest.
e) Forest (4th Waypoint)
Birds will be a guiding beacon to the next area which is the forest. We added forest reverb in this zone. This created a closed but intimate space for the viewers to experience another type of mood and setting. The distance sound of cars draws the player to the last waypoint: the final destination. During the trip to the road, we wanted it to bring about a sense of melancholy to the players as they experience the presence of tension between nature and urbanization. The sensory experience is heightened by the echoes of the footsteps in the reverb which also mimics the sound of blood pumping in the ears.
f) Final Destination (5th Waypoint)
To signal the end of the journey, we wanted to use the sound of the doorbell which is triggered when the player stands in front of the door of the house.
We also added the sound of the character calling out to the owner of the package. The reply will come from an unfamiliar and strange voice which concludes the peculiarity of the planet Mgla.
5) Triggers
We would like to explore more of these features in the future!
5. AUDIENCE RECEPTION & 6. CONCLUSIONS
During the user-testing session held in class, the player initially encountered an issue where they got stuck in the wall of the cave. This unexpected glitch halted their progress for a moment, but with our guidance and instructions, they were able to navigate out of the wall and continue the gameplay. Once they moved forward, the playthrough was largely smooth, although there were still some technical challenges, particularly with the proper triggering of waypoints. These issues caused minor delays but did not significantly detract from the overall experience.
Feedback from both the audience and the instructor was constructive. They appreciated the design and concept of the game, and overall impressions were positive, though they highlighted the importance of refining the waypoint triggers to ensure a more seamless experience. Additionally, we were given valuable insights on how to improve the game’s functionality. Specifically, after the class, we were informed by the instructor that having two scripts with identical content could lead to serious errors during the compilation process. This could cause conflicts and prevent the game from running as intended.
To address this, we were advised to streamline our script organization by either combining overlapping scripts or ensuring that each script serves a distinct purpose. This will help us avoid any potential conflicts and ensure that the game compiles and runs smoothly. Moving forward, we plan to restructure the scripting to prevent these errors, while continuing to refine the game based on user feedback.
7. APPENDIX
8. REFERENCES
None.