ORCOSMICA – AUDIO BREAKDOWN

Here is a breakdown of some of my audio work on OrcosmicA. Scroll down to see them all or click a button to jump to a specific section.

Quartz Clock DJ Manager Menu Screen

QUARTZ CLOCK AND MUSIC PLAYER

For this project I decided to try using the Quartz system in Unreal, which works like a metronome, allowing you to trigger events in time with music.

I created a blueprint for the clock (effectively the metronome) with the beats per minute set to 140. I have the bar and beat number printed so during testing it is easy to check if things are firing on the beat. The bar count resets after 4 bars so it’s easier to follow. This blueprint also queues (plays) the music.

When the music is queued, we get the Active MSS (the song) and set the audio component in the DJ Manager blueprint (where we can manipulate the audio), and start the clock at the same time as the song, so they are in sync.

Here is an example of how the Quartz Clock is used. When the player collides with a pickup, a sound is played that is quantized (in time with) the music. It is set to a 16th note (i.e very frequently) so there is not a noticeable delay between collecting the pickup and and the sound playing. It does, however, mean that sounds like these can be subtley forced into being in time with the music, allowing everything to feel like it’s flowing and in sync.

DJ MANAGER

In the metasound file I added several modifiers to be able to change how the music will sound, and these parameters can be adjusted during gameplay via the DJ Manager blueprint. Below you can see the bitcrusher, flanger, lowpass filter, and highpass filters that appear in the audio signal chain. They all have their gain (volume) variables exposed so effects can be gradually brought in or out.

One example of this is in how the background music is affected when the player takes damage. Below you can see how taking damage will immediately set the bitcrushed (distorted) signal to 1 (full volume) and the normal signal to 0 (silence). Then I use two timelines to gradually reduce the distorted signal at the same rate the normal signal is returned to full volume.

This is a fun way to show the relevance of the music to the gameplay, and along with quantizing game sounds, makes the music interactive without requiring any rhythm or musical skills from the player.

Here is a video of this effect in action.

MENU SCREEN

I wanted the opening splash screen and menu to include playful elements of sound design like the rest of the game.

I composed a theme for the title screen, and had additional instrumentation come in once the player pressed a button. Below you can see another timeline that sets the volume of the secondary layer to fade in, as well as unmuting two other instruments within the metasound.

I also had the volume of the kick drum be affected by which button in the main menu was currently selected/hovered over. The kick drum adds a greater sense of pace and tension to the music, preparing the player to get into a 4/4 beat when the game starts, but being silent when the player is perusing other menu options. This is of course pretty subtle, but I enjoyed finding ways to use the tools I made wherever I could!

Here is a video of the title screen/main menu.