Creating an Immersive Ambient Audio System in Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator
Learn how the sound designer for Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator crafted a dynamic ambient audio system to enhance the immersive gameplay experience. Discover the techniques used to create a believable and soothing soundtrack, dynamic music system, and realistic ambience transitions. Dive into the captivating world of Garden Life and enjoy the relaxing ambiance it offers.
Crafting an Immersive Ambient Audio System
In the world of game development, creating an immersive ambient audio system is a complex task that requires careful consideration. Benedict Sanderson, the sound designer for stillalive studios, utilized his creative vision and technical expertise to craft a dynamic audio experience in Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator.
( Credit to: Gamedeveloper )
Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator is a charming and relaxing game that allows players to create their own garden oasis. Unlike other similar games, Garden Life focuses on creativity and relaxation, providing a small play area that feels alive and immersive.
( Credit to: Gamedeveloper )
To achieve a believable and immersive audio experience, Sanderson strived to create a soundtrack that was rich and natural. He developed a semi-randomized background music system using FMOD Studio as the audio middleware. The soundtrack primarily features acoustic instruments such as guitar, piano, ukulele, and trumpet, with occasional synthetic sounds. Sanderson performed many of the musical parts himself to maintain a genuine and natural feel.
Dynamic Music System for Immersion
In Garden Life, the music system is designed to be dynamic and ever-changing. Sanderson used different musical building blocks that are pieced together randomly as the track plays. This improvisational style, inspired by his wife’s aversion to repetitive music, keeps the soundtrack fresh and engaging. Natural sounds like birds, frogs, and wind in trees also complement the music, enhancing the overall ambience of the game.
( Credit to: Gamedeveloper )
In the village square area, the music changes as players move from one location to another. Sanderson employed FMOD’s transceivers, which act like walkie-talkies, to transmit different instrument layers to specific receivers in the game world. This creates a sense of the music being both background music and part of the game world, enhancing the immersion.
Creating Realistic Ambience Transitions
To achieve a realistic soundscape, Sanderson developed a dynamic ambience transition system for moving between different areas in Garden Life. Instead of a simple fade-in and fade-out, the system blends the inside and outside ambience based on the player’s position. This creates a more authentic experience, with sounds coming from the appropriate locations in the game world.
Implementing these complex audio systems presented its fair share of challenges. Sanderson had to carefully track and update various parameters to ensure smooth transitions and realistic sound changes. Curve drawing and automation were used to achieve natural volume adjustments, and boolean parameters were utilized to trigger specific sounds based on the player’s location. Despite the challenges, Sanderson’s dedication and attention to detail resulted in a high-quality audio experience.
Conclusion: Captivating and Relaxing Experience
Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator showcases the importance of a well-crafted audio system in creating an immersive and believable game world. Benedict Sanderson’s creative vision and technical expertise brought the game’s garden oasis to life with a dynamic ambient audio system. By blending natural sounds, dynamic music, and realistic ambience transitions, Garden Life offers players a truly captivating and relaxing experience.