Devlog 6# Sound

Sound is a game element that I have only recently started to mess around with and implement into CrimsonFire.  Sound plays a understated but very important role in fleshing out the player's interactions and can often make or break the player's immersion in the game.  Music plays yet another role in creating atmosphere and setting a tone that you want players to take away.  

With sound effects it extremely important to only create sound that adds to the experience and gets the player notice. Sound often can be used to get players attention in ways that visuals fail to do so or are less effective at doing so. This goes far beyond just adding sound effects to the actions in the game such as attacking and moving.  While it is important to add sound to these interactions and they can add to the atmosphere of the game in addition to helping the player feel what is happening they aren't how sound can be used to it's full potential. Sound also be used to indicate changes of game state and how world changes or interacts with the player.  One good example is changing who's turn it is, while visuals are used they don't really grab player's attention without being obnoxious a sound effect can be used which players will start to associate with and will know when their turn has begun or ended. 

Music is another element that is a bit tricky to work with as I do not posses the skills needed to create my own music. Instead I have used Purple planet   (http://www.purple-planet.com/) to find royalty free music for my game. Similar to sound music should be used to indicate the state of world which for CrimisonFire means there are three states, enemy present, in combat and area secured.  For in combat I looked at a theme that was active but not overly so to communicate the frenzy of combat but I also wanted a theme that give an impression of the bandits nature.  For area secured I wanted a theme that was slower, more reflective and ponderous of what was next to come.  For enemy's present I wanted a theme that was tense but also communicated a sense of exploration.