Runner3: latest devblog posts (SFX, Charles Martinet)
In the past few days, Choice Provisions posted not one, but two devblog posts for Runner3. The first one is from Camellia Boutros, audio programmer and one of the Sound Designers for the game.
After introducing herself, she talks about some of the audio tricks she’s used in the game, such as the rocket vehicle SFX. It sounds like it’s constantly accelerating, and rising in pitch, but in fact, it’s just a short looping audio clip of a Shepard’s tone… in other words: an auditory illusion (invented by Roger Shephard and used by James Tenney).
The trick works that way: by stacking sine waves the right way, you can trick your ear into thinking you’re hearing one sound getting higher and higher perpetually.
She also talks about programming musical notes in-game to fit with the music and changing environment. Naturally, she needed to do so in a way that is random, so that another unique layer of the music is added when you run through the game and collect items.
Along with Mike Roska, she made it so that when you climb up or down a gem-laden path, that triggers musical notes that get higher or lower in pitch, while remaining random. In order to achieve such a result, she had to use… some old school calculus. Who said that learning maths at school wouldn’t be useful as an adult?
As announced previously, Charles Martinet is returning as the Narrator, though this time around, he has way more lines than in the previous game. In fact, the story is “a little more” substantial than in previous Runner games, though obviously, the developers made it so it wouldn’t obstruct gameplay. However, if you’re the kind of player who would love to learn more about the wacky world of Runner3, you’re in luck!
At the source link below (the second one), you will find a recording of some of the lines Charles Martinet recorded for the game.
