IndieGames.com has published an interview with composer Austin Wintory and sound designer Steve Johnson on their respective work on the upcoming PS3 title Journey. The interview briefly covers topics such as the challenges of working on a project without dialogue.
flOw had its aquatic environment, while Journey is set within expanses of sand. How will the sound of the game reflect the visual theme?
SJ: The last game was all about wind and grass. This one is all about sand and cloth. On the player alone, there’s the body foley, a cape whose sound is tied to length, wind speed, and player velocity, footsteps for the all surfaces, surfing on sand.
In my room at Sony I’ve got a cardboard box filled with dirty Venice Beach sand that’s become my ghetto foley pit. All of the sand waterfalls, rolling sand dunes, and player-sand interactions were recorded there. Having a variety of desert ambiences has been an interesting task too. For instance, one level is a super hot, still desert. What’s the sound of that? I finally made something mostly out of processed and panned roomtone.
AW: The music and sound design are very interwoven. Steve is doing a lot of foley work with sand and cloth, which is directly impacting the music I write. Just like the thesis version of FlOw was almost named “Darwin’s Island,” this game had working titles that were cloth-themed. “Woven” was a name that came up. That’s why I retitled the eight-minute suite that I performed at the Golden State Pops to be “Woven Variations.”
Read the full interview at IndieGames.com
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