Sound isn't just background, it's crucial to survival. Join sound designer Diego Sambataro at developer Stormind Games for a deep dive into how sound affects gameplay, like how different materials create different sounds, the sound detection system, and more in the upcoming horror game, A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead. A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead will be available on PC (via Steam), PS5 (PlayStation 5), and Xbox Series X/S on October 17, 2024.
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00:00Hi, my name is Diego Sambataro and I am the sound designer at Stormwind Games.
00:15In a world where any sound that you make could be your last, the design around how sound
00:20creates gameplay is critical to what makes A Quiet Place The Road Ahead fun.
00:26Every action in The Road Ahead demands precision, as even the slightest movement can create
00:32sound.
00:33The world that we built mirrors our real world, where different materials not only create
00:39different types of noise, but that sound occurs at different loudness.
00:47If you are walking on sand, sound is diffusing to the ground and results in quiet footsteps.
00:55Walking on compacted dirt may be a little bit louder, and rusty metal, well, you are
01:01going to want to move slowly to keep volume levels low.
01:06And not everything is just ground, as additional elements are layered on top.
01:11Leaves, water, glass and other materials may be scattered across surfaces, each having
01:19their own loudness, which might attract the attention of the creatures.
01:25If you thought the simple act of walking around was hard in this apocalypse, every formerly
01:30mundane movement is now a danger to your life.
01:35Want to open a door or drawer?
01:37You'd better do it carefully and quietly.
01:41Throughout your survival story, you'll face a variety of objects that you'll need to interact
01:46with in order to progress.
01:49Each one has the potential to create life-ending sounds, so it will take intense focus to make
01:55it through alive.
01:58The sound detection system that we built takes into account the loudness of any noise the
02:03player makes, as well as the duration of the noise.
02:08If you build up a combination of loud or lengthy noises that exceed a defined threshold, the
02:13creatures will have heard enough to find your location, even from far away, and that's game over.
02:21There are a few difficulty levels that will change how much noise you are allowed to make,
02:28and the creatures have a few tricks of their own to break the rules and hunt you faster.
02:33After all, it wouldn't be a quiet place if survival was easy.