After visiting EGX Rezzed last weekend at the Birmingham NEC, Founder/Sound Designer Sam Hughes recounts his audio highlights from the experience…
As I always say with these events, it is impossible to critically listen in these environments and fully analyse the audio in-depth. Most of the games at EGX Rezzed will be audio reviewed by The Sound Architect at a later date once we receive them.
The event as a whole is technically the London Eurogamer but on a slightly smaller scale as it is definitely more indie focused without a shed load of AAA titles covering the floor.
Let’s discuss the audio highlights from the event.
10 Second Ninja – Game Design Dan
After audio reviewing 10 Second Ninja previously, I of course wanted to have another chat with developer GameDesignDan! Highly recommended and I won’t ramble on too much about this one as the full audio review and interview with Composer/Sound Designer, Tim Rurkowski can be read here: Look Out Robot Hitler, It’s 10 Second Ninja!
Follow Dan and Tim on Twitter:
Dan – @GameDesignDan
Tim – @TRurkowski
Tiny Keep – Design by Phi Dinh, Sound Design by Jey Kazi, Music by Will Bedford
Tiny Keep was one of the games I was dying to get a look at (and more importantly listen to!) even before I arrived at EGX Rezzed.
The irony being that I didn’t actually get to play the game myself. This was due to the fact that most of the time I was having a geeky game audio conversation with sound designer for the project, Jey Kazi. You can listen to his below:
You can keep up to date with Phi, Jey and Will on twitter:
Phi – @Phi6
Jey – @jeykaziaudio
Will – @WBedford
Maia
An interesting Dungeon-Keeper-esque based game where you are building a colony around people on a foreign planet. The impassive constant progress of the autonomous world is reflected in the sparse and uncaring sound design and music. We discussed the approach with composer/sound designer of the project, Nick Dymond:
“I really wanted to capture how uncaring and impassive the environment was, for example the music doesn’t even change when one of the colony dies. This is to show how insignificant they are to the planet and the progress of the world.”
We look forward to reviewing Maia fully soon…….
You can follow Maia and Nick on Twitter:
Tango Fiesta
Tango Fiesta was a fun 3rd person top down shooter with LOTS of shooting. Spilt Milk Studios explained that the level on display was based loosely on the Predator movie, with their approach focused on 80’s action movies. The game stems from a Game Jam that the guys all jammed at previously and will have further levels based on other awesome 80’s action movies.
I spoke to composer/sound designer of the project Gavin Harrison, who has also composed for that were also on display at EGX Rezzed.
Feel free to listen below:
Follow Spilt Milk Studios and Gavin on Twitter:
Razer Headphones
This was the first event where I noticed Razer headphones everywhere, as well as other Razer merchandise along with their Gamer Bus. I was intrigued by this and after listening through some of their headphones I’ve decided that I need to test them in a more stable listening environment. Razer should be sending a pair this way shortly so stay tuned…..
Twitter:
Alien: Isolation – Creative Assembly/SEGA
Wow. Just. Wow. I loved the audio in Alien: Isolation. The low drones combined with really crisp minimalistic sound design that pays homage to the original films, really aids in providing that sense of intense fear and, yes I’m going to say it because it’s true, Isolation! The audio guys over at Creative Assembly have done a fantastic job with this one.
You really do feel all alone once you’re immersed in this world with nothing but a torch and a radar tracker to locate the “Creature”. The “Less is more” approach is very valid here. The audio pretty much matches how your brain and heart rate are reacting. As you’re sneaking around hoping not be spotted, the audio reflects how hidden you want to be and it’s almost as if the sound design is keeping quiet with and is almost whispering it’s audio to you. With an atmospheric bed of low drones that keep your heart rate steady until you’re in danger and then abrasive hits jerk you into action to either hide or in some cases, even give up because you know it’s too late.
I highly recommend this one!
Keep up to date with Alien: Isolation on Twitter:
To Wrap Up
On a side note I can’t help but mention that I entered the competition at the Replay corner where the average score across 5 games was used to decide the winner with the overall score. Although I sucked at NAM and Mario Kart I managed to get 6th on Kaboom! and Super Puzzle Fighter II, plus I can’t help but be proud that I was at the top of the leader board for Sonic 3 when I left on the Saturday!
Check out Replay!:
And as always you have to get a pic with Boggy B!
We hope you enjoyed the audio highlights from EGX Rezzed, check our Articles and Reviews page for other events and reviews. Comments or Queries? Then get in touch or leave a comment!
Enjoy!
The Sound Architect
Article by Sam Hughes
Uploaded 01/04/14