In the Hunt Circle: Showdown, paying attention can save your life. Long gunshots, roar of the nest, cock crows, barking of mad dogs, or the barking of glass behind you: the sounds of the world are the warning of danger – and there is danger everywhere.
Because sound design has played such a big role in the development of the Crytek multiplayer hunting game, today we're talking to Sound Director Florian Füsslin and Lead Designer Dennis Schwarz about the sound design and sound separation of Hunt and the world.
What was your typical approach to sound design?
Florian: We built Hunt's sounds around three pillars: response, immersion, and emotion. These three pillars come together to create a full sound experience. The answer is an audio language that is learned from the player: What is that sound? Where does it come from? Is it dangerous? We wanted to give players a chance to make decisions based on the sounds they heard around them.
In terms of immersion, we want players to be sent to the country – so, 1895 Louisiana – and in that world it can be easily believed. So the ambience should reflect the hot, humid climate, and the equipment should have that moment of splendor, the haptic feeling, the heavy feeling of that element back then – both visually and audibly.
Though a real foundation, all sounds are designed to be larger than life to add emotion to the mix. For example, firearms need to sound worse to give the player a satisfying feeling of power – or fear when they are on the wrong side of the barrel. Our monsters and our creatures are also not only visually distinct, but they are also noisy and scary to create an unpleasant feeling and tension to keep players on their toes.
The sound is a great way that players can use to follow other Winners, but it also reinforces the feeling of paranoia. When you hear noises you know that there are other players nearby, and when you make a sound, you know that others can hear it – it's all amazing and it plays a huge role in creating a ton of terrifying, supernatural games.
What other design techniques have you used to create that ton of supernatural horror?
Dennis: At the beginning of the project, we saw an opportunity to create tension by depriving players of information. Keeping players guessing who else might be in the game, or where the next threat will come from, helped us to add to the high level of paranoia. Unless you count all the corpses, you wouldn't be sure to clear the map, so the feeling that the ambush waiting around the rest of the room is endless.
Sound played a major role in achieving this. For example, we made sure that gunshots were heard throughout the map, and that there would always be a chance that the other party would get the sound of barking dogs or the barking of a horse accidentally injured a moment ago.
Florian: Of course, all the sounds you hear during the Hunt game come from a real source, and they truly remember it from a distance. Nothing wrong: When you hear a whistle blowing or a barrel erupting, you know it was caused by another player. We also have a high-energy combination to get things high and give the player a real sense of how great it is. That's why it feels like there's nothing special that can create tension like a great fire extinguisher – it's too quiet to be true!
What is the best strategy to survive the Hunt cycle? And how can sound help players with their plan?
Dennis: We've taken a lot of inspiration from survival games, where players roam the sparsely populated areas or in the desert and sometimes meet other players, and we combined that with a game-based game with clear objectives and competition.
In that framework, we wanted players to be able to decide how much they wanted to risk. Are you going to get rid of the other players? Or do you want to play it safe, collect some XP, and get your Hunter out alive? There are so many strategies you can pay. Taking great risks can reap huge rewards, but it can also cost you your Hunter. Of course this can mean that sometimes you may want to avoid a fight and stick to the shadows. Any way you want to listen to the world around you, and use that information to your advantage.
Florian: Sound can help you in big time in making wise decisions. You can hear weapons shooting and explosions all over the map, and you can use that information to guess how many Hunters are still there. Does that sound like a party in a fiery furnace? Or is that lone wolf trying to grab a stone? We have seen many different strategies: From gunpowder so everyone is afraid to get involved, to a big boat to sit and never wait for the right moment.
Hunt: Showdown available at PlayStation Store starting tomorrow.
