orion zane

Sosban Fach is a short walking simulator horror game I developed. 

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This game was created as a research project to evaluate the Virtual Acoustic Ecology of Fear hypothetical framework written by Dr Tom Alexander Garner. The aim was to prime the player for the appropriate behaviour and emotional response to auditory stimuli.

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With a focus on audio design, I used the Oculus spatialiser plugin to supply an improved 3D audio spatialisation. Using 3D audio affords real-time reverb and occlusion which allows sounds to be propagated in a way that seems to originate and move realistically through the virtual environment; I see this as a much clearer sonic language which allows more information to be communicated to the player.

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15 participants were gathered for this research. The results showed that the perceived characteristics of a sound decide the cognitive direction of a fearful experience and it is possible to prime a player to the appropriate behaviour and emotional response through sound only.

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It is worth noting that the map is called HQ Modular RE Mansion downloaded from Unity Assets. Furthermore, as this was an experiment and not intended for commercial sales; I say in bold a MASSIVE THANK YOU to the audio designers at Kojima Productions for creating the radio and two female voice samples I used for the story in this research project.

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References:

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Dr Tom A Garner: https://vbn.aau.dk/en/publications/game-sound-from-behind-the-sofa-an-exploration-into-the-fear-pote

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Kojima Productions: http://www.kojimaproductions.jp/en/

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Chilled Art: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/hq-modular-re-mansion-149386

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