Summary
In this lesson, students will begin developing the audio elements of their STEM VGC entry. This includes creating sound effects and music for their characters and scenes. Audio design may continue to be developed over subsequent weeks.
Curriculum codes
Media Arts: AC9AMA8D01 AC9AMA10D01 AC9AMA8C02 AC9AMA10C02
Music: AC9AMU8D01
Digital Technologies: AC9TDI8P11
General capabilities
Critical Thinking: Generating
Literacy: Speaking and listening
Digital Literacy: Creating and exchanging
Learning intention
In this lesson, you will begin developing the audio elements of your STEM VGC entry. This includes creating sound effects and music for your characters and scenes. Audio design may continue to be developed over subsequent weeks.
Prerequisites
Lessons 1 to 5
What you need
- Devices, at least one per team, including headphones for each team member
- Pencils and paper for notetaking when brainstorming
- One copy per team of the Audio asset list worksheet
- Access to the team storyboards created in lesson 3
- Objects and instruments to make sounds
- Each team’s Game Design Document (GDD) for recording the audio assets
Before the lesson
- Teams will require both device access and free desk space. At least one device per team is required.
- Watch a video tutorial or research how to add audio in your chosen free, open-source platform (we recommend this video tutorial or this online manual in Godot).
- Identify 6 digital sound effects to use during the ‘Inspiration phase’ of the introduction. You can make your own with objects or instruments, or you could try these 6 sound effects that we recommend from the Mixkit website (or find your own online):
- Game over: ‘Player losing or failing’ sound effect.
- Level completed: ‘Game level completed’ sound effect
- Player punch: ‘Martial arts fast punch’ sound effect
- Finding object: ‘Winning a coin, video game’ sound effect
- Player jumping: ‘Player jumping in a video game’ sound effect
- Player power-up: ‘Video game health recharge’ sound effect
- Identify 6 soundtracks to use during the ‘Inspiration phase’ of the introduction. Try these 6 soundtracks or use the internet to find your own:
- Epic adventure: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/magical-journey-epic-classical-music
- Fun adventure: https://www.bensound.com/royal...
- Action: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/riot-epic-danger-tension
- Suspense/scary: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/dreadful-whispers-dark-ambient
- Spooky fun: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/goosebumps-halloween-spooky
- Sad: https://app.soundstripe.com/songs/15167
- Locate quiet places for recording sounds; for example, a hallway or quiet room.
- Consider whether you will allow students to use other applications for creating their audio assets; for example, Garage Band and Audacity. If so, ensure you are familiar with these applications.
Activities
Introduction (20 mins)
- Tell teams that they will begin creating the audio elements of their games.
- Explain that audio game elements are one of the ‘game assets’ that each team creates for their game, along with visual assets.
- Tell teams they will have to think about two types of audio assets: sound effects and soundtracks. Write these on the board for reference.
Teacher tip: Sound effects are sounds that occur when something happens in the game, while soundtracks are background sounds, like music, that occur throughout the game. - Ask teams for examples of well-known video game sound effects or soundtracks. If they need help, some common examples are:
- Sonic the Hedgehog: ring sound effect
- Super Mario Bros.: jump sound effect
- Legend of Zelda: Secret Sound Effect
- Street Fighter: Hadouken Sound Effect
- Pacman: waka waka sound effect
Teacher tip: Alternatively, these examples could be turned into a game where you play each sound effect and see if students can guess the game each sound effect comes from.
- Discuss what these sounds add to the experience of playing the games.
- Do the sound effects add anything to the game?
- What kind of feeling does the music add to the game?
- Explain to teams that they will follow a known design-thinking routine, Tim Brown’s 3 phases of design thinking, to create the audio design of their game assets: 1. inspiration, 2. ideation and 3. implementation.
Phase 1 – Inspiration
- Set teams up with pencils and paper for notetaking.
- Play your 6 different sound effects to the class.
- For each sound effect, ask teams to write down what a character in a game might be doing to make the sound.
- Discuss the results as a class, focusing on the sound effects that gave similar responses and the sound effects that prompted different responses.
- Play your 6 different soundtracks to the class.
- Ask teams to write down what kind of scene that might be related to the soundtrack. For example, dark and stormy weather, a chase sequence, a funny event, a sad moment in the story, an adventure sequence. Or ask teams to write down what mood the soundtrack made students feel.
- Discuss the results as a class, focusing on soundtracks that gave similar responses and the soundtracks that prompted different responses.
Phase 2 – Brainstorming
- Ask each team to write a list of ideas for the audio design of their game on the Audio asset list worksheet. They need to write their ideas for both sound effects and soundtracks.
Teacher tip: Advise teams that they can write the sounds down using onomatopoeia – words that mirror the sounds they describe, such as ‘cuckoo’ and ‘sizzle’.
- Remind teams that this brainstorming session doesn’t have to result in completed designs, but they need to generate some ideas that will guide them in the implementation phase.
Main Activity (35 mins)
Phase 3 – Implementation
- Tell each team they will now take their design brainstorms to their devices and begin to add some sound assets to their games.
- Explain that there are many things to think about when designing sound for a video game, but that, today, teams will need to think about three central design elements: Frequency, Character and Mood. Discuss the meaning of each design term and show these on the screen/whiteboard for reference.
- Frequency: How many times should each sound effect be heard? Will it be more effective if players don’t hear it very often? For soundtracks, should there be music all the time or only sometimes, say, for certain situations?
- Character: For sound effects, choose sounds that express the characters of your game. For example, if a main character is silly, think about some silly sound effects.
- Mood: This is especially important for background soundtracks. Think about the overall mood that the soundtrack creates. For instance, if a game is tense and stressful, consider tense or unusual music.
- Tell teams that once their audio assets have been created (and edited into their games), they need to write down a description of these assets in the GDD.
Teacher tip: Whether the asset will be used as a sound effect or an ongoing soundtrack, the process is the same. You may like to show these steps on the board or print them out for future reference.
Reflection/Sharing Tasks (5 mins)
- Ask each team to show the rest of the class one sound asset from their game.
- As a class, discuss any problems teams had with creating sound assets. Ask teams to share successful strategies.
Additional resources
A TED talk from Tim Brown about Design Thinking can be found here:
https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_...
Royalty free sound effects and soundtracks can be found here:
SOUND EFFECTS
https://mixkit.co/free-sound-e...
https://www.zapsplat.com/sound...
https://opengameart.org/conten...
https://elements.envato.com/so...
https://www.soundsnap.com/tags...
https://uppbeat.io/browse/sfx/...
SOUNDTRACKS