How does Vessel sound?

Probably, just after the art direction, sound is the most noticeable quality marker of a game. I mean, if the game is not broken and looks pretty the sound design can make it truly stand out or be just another game. That’s the main reason we decided to outsource it to a professional team that can grant us something truly unique and personal. 

In order to make this outsource work, we firstly need to decide which type of sound we are trying to achieve and what is its purpose. Is it a mere action accompaniment? Will it guide the player? Does it have some meaning? If so, which meaning does it have? 

For Vessel we established that music will help us to contextualize the setting, essentially we want it to sound spanish. That will be achieved using a Spanish instrumental palette and resources. We also wanted to make the temporal duality of having eldritch, ante-diluvian horrors within a contemporary setting shine. So after thinking a lot into it, we seek references of contemporary urban artists that felt to us like a modern twist on the spanish acoustic brand. Finally, we want it to set the mood and tone of the game. All in all, we picked as a main reference point the theme Cuándo Olvidaré from C. Tangana:

After sending it to Danca, they reached us with an expanded acoustic universe that fulfills those requirements. Essentially they get back with four playlists of references for us to analyse and decide which direction we wanted to pick. Here they are:

While we already sent the feedback back and are waiting for the first drafts, let us know in the comments what do you think about them! I highly encourage you to just play the video of the prototype while listening to them. 

Prototype reveal

Do you think it is an appropriate path for Vessel sound design? I can’t wait to read you!