For the first playable prototype, my goal was to have music for all the levels and SFX for the enemies and player mechanics. I am proud to say that my department was hard at work and met these goals for the first playable prototype. 

My biggest success was the main gameplay music. It took me a bit to find something that fit the game, but once I did I began my process. First I wrote out my main melody. I knew I wanted it to be percussive and a bit syncopated. After I had the base of that finished, I began layering. This helps each part to sound fuller and punch through the mix more. Then I added some FX (Reverb, EQ, Compression, and Delay). Reverb and Delay helped it give that spacious and echoey vibe. EQ removes any unwanted frequencies from the mix and compression keeps the overall volume balanced. Eventually, it began to look like this 

It quickly gained many layered parts, so many that I couldn’t fit them all in this photo. This theme “The Depths are Calling” is going to be the foundation of a large amount of music moving forward. While the song isn’t perfect and needs more added to it to be a satisfying loop that won’t get tiring to listen to, it is a good step in the right direction.

We are using a process called vertical stacking for the in-game music. Vertical Stacking is having a foundational track in which you can add and take away from to create music that keeps the core of the foundation but can be changed enough to sound unique. 

As we work toward our next goal, the Alpha Test, I have a few goals for the audio department. I plan on working on the foundation vertical stack to create a shop theme and an enemy theme. For the enemies, the goal is to have their musical motif have proximity effects. So as you explore the abyss you can hear when you are approaching enemies. This will hopefully create a satisfying player feedback system that will give the player a clearer idea of their floor completion progress.