#21 – DISTORTED LANDS

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Earlier, we showed you how we design characters as well as how we create visuals for the game’s biomes. And today we’ll show you how we bring these images to life through creating custom sound effects.





Since 2015, all of our sound effects are created by Anna, who goes by the stage name of “A.Fruit”. She has created over 300 custom sound effects for our previous game Gremlins, Inc. as well as wrote all the songs for the game’s soundtrack (here on Spotify and here on Steam), and since 2017 she’s in charge of both sound effects and music for Spire of Sorcery.

Even though Anna is an independent musician and DJ, playing sets around the world, she fits our studio really well because, like us, she gives a lot of attention to details, and she shares the ambition of bringing our game designer’s vision to life.



When creating a new creature or a biome, we start with the brief written by our game designer. Such brief serves as the basis for our concept artists, who then create the first black and white sketches. Once we settle on the black and white sketch that we like, they proceed to preparing the first color sketch. And once we have the color sketch approved by everyone in the team, two things happen:

• our artist, Rita, starts working on the final art, which may take a few more versions due to tweaks and improvements in colors and composition;
  
• our sound designer, Anna, already starts working on the custom sound effect.
  

Normally, we don’t wait for the final art to be finished before starting with the sound effect – because “the feeling” of new creature or new biome is already present in the color sketch.



Let’s take a look at one of the biomes from the game: The Distorted Lands.

This is what the brief says:

“These lands are the result of the Cataclysm, which in places tore the fabric of the world. The landscape is distorted, the vegetation is extremely unusual. The ground is crisscrossed with multiple ravines, some of which emit light.

There are plots of land that float above the ground, ranging from small (stones) to huge (whole islands). Some of these floating objects are connected to the ground with stalagmites. Occasionally, there are electrical discharges in the air, between two or more floating pieces.

Most trees and bushes are covered with thorns, with little or no leaves. Some of the vegetation produces its own light, which may have a pulsing rhythm. The flora and fauna of this biome has little or no connection to the regular world of Rund.”

And this is what the first black and white sketch looked like:



Following that, we settled on the color sketch that everyone liked, which then went to Anna as the basis for her work designing the sound effects:






Here’s the very first version of how this biome sounded like:

https://youtu.be/nKirMgnFtd4

We made the following comments:

• we hear a lot of sounds from Fluters, but they are not the only creatures who inhabit this biome; we need more animal/event sounds in the background;
  
• we need sounds of electrical discharges;
  
• we need more wind;
  
• perhaps some rustling sounds from dry branches rubbing against each other?
  

A few days later, a revised version arrived:

https://youtu.be/-aMz4YTcLtE

It seemed like we went a bit away in the wrong direction:

• the location is now too peaceful, while this is the most dangerous biome in Rund!
  
• birds now appear in the background, however ordinary birds don’t survive in the Distorted Lands;
  
• we still need the sounds of electrical discharges and currents;
  
• we miss the sounds of larger creatures that inhabit this biome.
  

Then the third version arrived:

https://youtu.be/iTdoK-qzZlc

This version made everyone happy: the electrical currents were included, the vibrations of the ravines were included, and there was finally enough activity of insects and small animals in the background. The only thing that was missing: the sounds of larger animals.

The next revision became the final sound of the Distorted Lands:

https://youtu.be/QnuhFIGbQFY

It took us less than a month to get here!




Once we’ve dealt with the Distorted Lands, we wanted to check on how some of the animals and creatures of this biome will integrate there – sound-wise.

Meet Fluter:

“Fluters are a new type of animals that evolved in the eco-system of the Distorted Lands. Most likely, they used to be small animals or birds, that found a way of surviving in the new environment.

The main food source of fluters is all kinds of large flowers that are quite common in their habitat. They are also able to directly consume magic energy whenever they come across a thick flow: some travellers mention seeing whole swarms of fluters in the range of thousands, whenever a burst of magic energy is released in the Distorted Lands.

Fluters emit sounds similar to high flute notes, hence their name. Their wings are a valuable ingredient used for a number of magic potions and remedies. It is rather expensive since to obtain those, one needs to enter the dangerous and unpredictable region of the Distorted Lands.”

Here’s the first version of Fluter that Anna sent over:

https://youtu.be/fi19SwhSyeA

We liked the emotion, but we felt that the flapping wings sound too much like it’s a bird, whereas Fluters are closer to hummingbirds. We also wanted to play with the sound of the “flute” a little.

https://youtu.be/hlrTlzDbfiw

The next delivery has exactly the “flute” that we wanted. As to the flapping wings, it was now too much like it’s an insect. So we asked Anna to make a small step back.

https://youtu.be/XQ6uNhVAh3M

The third version ticked all the boxes! Everyone was happy.

And here’s how the Fluter sounds against its biome, the Distorted Lands:

https://youtu.be/mFq6tKyzKPw

With this, we end this week's dev blog, and as always, thank you for your interest in the game! Please join us on Discord if you would like to participate in the weekly Q&A sessions with our game designer, as well as to see work-in-progress materials that we regularly share there!

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