Hey everyone and thank you for reading this article. First of all, I would like to say we’re sorry for last month’s absence of Monthly Briefing. We were and still are busy with finishing the playable demo for publishers.
At this moment we are trying to get all the bugs fixed and also polish some of the game mechanics, visuals, and sounds. If everything goes well we hope to finish the demo very very soon and hopefully achieve our goal of finding a publisher that would fund the rest of the development
For this Monthly Briefing, I have another special guest here – our sound designer and composer – Shaun Bellamy. He will tell you more about the process of sound design and composing a song for our game.
Music and sound within the medium of video games has always been unique because, unlike in film, they are not simply static events. They are dynamic events that are directly influenced by the pace of the player and the actions they choose to take while immersed in the world. In Akolyta, we want the player to engage with the world at their own pace while giving them a real sense of sonic growth. Instead of a static soundscape or a soundtrack that simply loops when an event is an occurring, our goal instead is to have the sound and music evolve as the player experiences the story.
On aspect of this is an evolving musical soundtrack, where the player dictates the pace the music changes as they investigate crime scenes, hunt down criminals, or as they run for their life. One example of this occurs early in the game. While playing as the detective Marshall B. Prime, you encounter a corpse that has been left in one of the bathrooms in the abandoned Gorenville Theater. Upon discovering the corpse, the player can immediately begin to examine the crime scene and unravel the mysteries of the unidentified body. As you find more clues, the music expands and grows to mirror Marshall’s increased understanding during the investigation. Only when all the clues are found will the music reach its climax, giving the player full control over their sonic experience. You can hear the full musical track for this section below.
As we produce the demo for Akolyta, we are continuing to expand this concept of an evolving sonic landscape. It is our goal to create a visceral sense of immersion that will allow you to fully experience the many facets of this game. For myself, music and sound allow me to tell a story that cannot be described in words but is intimately felt. Like the sound of a piano drifting through an abandoned theater, sometimes the most pure and innocent things can be the most terrifying.
I hope you enjoyed reading this episode of Monthly Briefing. Stay tuned to our social media, to our Discord and we will post another update next month!
Shaun Bellamy
Sound Designer, Composer
Jan Bostl
CEO, Creative Director, Designer, Environment Artist