Journey to the Lighthouse is a game prototype that, alongside Collins’s research thesis, seeks to demonstrate that game pacing is a key factor in determining player investment in high-agency narrative elements, such as environmental storytelling, and that pacing can be manipulated through both level design and atmospheric sound design.
Collins’s Master of Design thesis seeks to further game sound research by producing artefacts that can serve as case studies for other designers and researchers. These artefacts take the form of game prototypes which explore game sound design to discover what techniques and tools effectively realise the potential of sound as a narrative device and engage the player in the narrative of a game world.
The making processes of this research followed an iterative design methodology, using the methods of conceptualisation, prototyping and evaluation. The case studies Flower, Darkwood and Limbo formed the basis of ideation for the prototypes and served as a reference during iteration and development. These case studies were then used to analyse how sound can be incorporated into a game design process, to further understand its connection to level design and pacing. Journey to the Lighthouse is the final prototype produced using this iterative design process.
Congratulations to Digital Design Major graduate Varvara Solovyeva whose animated film ‘USO’ has been selected in competition for the International Programme at the Melbourne International Animation Festival (MIAF 2023).
‘USO’ was Varvara’s graduating film for her Bachelor of Design in 2022. Varvara is currently undertaking her Master of Design studies at the School of Art and Design.
The ninthWavesound project, produced for Laura Marsh’s doctoral thesis, fuses feminist activism and a DJ practice to generate an installation and participatory art practice aimed at corporeal, low-frequency, sound-oriented experiences.