Industry Job: Sound Designer

In my eyes sound designer is such an important job role for the project. I havent myself applied for it only because other roles come first. I know how to use the sound equiptment and soundproof booth so I do have a slightly advanced knowledge on it.

For a game the sound is cruical. It creates tension in horror games and happy build ups to victorious  moments. Its all up to the sound designer to perfectly suit the visual to the audible. This means closely working with the art department to make sure the sound is fit for the style. Culture is a big part of some games so they will have to work with the writers then the music can fit the research they've done into culture. Finally they have to work with the level designers to make sure sound effects are relevant to the level but also that the music fits the difficulty of the game.

Games such as undertale have music that becomes more frantic when the difficulty is raised. The final battle has a equally insane visual and music track. 

However silence is also extremely important. In a horror game, silence can do alot for player immersion. Games like Slenderman and Alien Isolation both have minimal music and contain tons of sound effects such as footsteps, wind and un-natural monster sounds. When playing a game with no music, there is nothing for your brain to focus on otherwise or to distract itself. You have no choice but to focus on what you can see. When sound effects finally kick in, thats when it scares the player. They have been used to the silence and all of a sudden theres footsteps behind you.

Overall the role of sound designer is such an important role that seems to be over looked. If marketing and asset designing werent my choices, sound would be something I would heavily consider. I enjoyed implementing it last year and would have been happy to do it this year.