Music- We are debating on whether to have background music in the game. One one side, it will create an exaggerated atmosphere for the playing, setting the mood and creating an immersive experience. On the flip side, having no background music could make it more eerie and realist. Instead of constant background music, all you would hear is the rain against the window, sound effects when you pick up an item and the noises from the creature. In between those two choices is the idea of having music later in the game when the entity appears. This would create more tension and elevate the horror status of our game.

After presenting to the music students at the John Hansard Gallery, one of them approached me and was curious about my game. Once I had explained my idea fully, he said he was interested but needs to weigh up which game he would like to make music for. As of now I am yet to hear back from him but if he decides not too then I will make the music myself if we choose to have it. I have a history of playing several instruments and have friends with music backgrounds so composing the music shouldn't be too difficult especially considering it will be quite slow and simple, with only a few instruments.

Sound Effects- Sounds effects will be essential when making the game as they will engross the player further into the game. If I decide to not add music to the game then the only audio outside of the cutscenes will be the sounds effects from the player interacting with items. My friend owns professional recording equipment so I will use that to collect the audio myself from real life using foley. Most things can be recorded from their real life counterparts but I will also experiment with using imitation from other foley techniques, depends on what gives me the best sound.

Voiceover- I have left the cutscenes up to Reena’s creative discretion. I have given her a direction of what they will contain but it’s up to her what art style to do and how to display them whether that be 2d, 3d , slideshow or other. If we decide they need a voiceover to narrate the scenes and further the storyline then we will need to find someone with an appropriate voice. Due to the nature of the different cutscenes, they all involve someone narrating their own story.

The cutscenes include:

• The opening scene of the parents calling the detective- This would need a voice of an older person
• The messages between the player and the sole survivor of the cult- This would need the voice of an older woman
• The videos in the missing girls phone- This would need the voices of a male and female teenager about 18 years of age

8d Audio- Recently I found out about 8d audio. Beatoven.ai explain it as: 8D music is, essentially, a subcategory of music that 'tricks' your brain into thinking you're in a bigger space. Artists and producers manipulate the stereo sections of a track, making you feel like the sounds are coming from different directions. Some say it gives you the impression of listening to live music.

On TikTok I found audios that use this feature and compatible headphones that allow dual audio. The audios include people scrunching up bottles and knocking on doors. If you close your eyes it sounds like tis actually happening in the room around you and can become quite scary. Time permitting, and if Unity would be able to support this feature I would like to add it to the game as it would dramatically enhance the immersion level. It will also assist on the horror side of things as it can be used for stronger jump scares.