VEILWOOD (WIP)

WISHLIST ON STEAM

Creative Director, Lead Audio, Composer | Chaos Cabin | 11 Members

ENGINE

Unity

GENRE

Farming-Survival Strategy

PLATFORM

Steam

DURATION

Sept. 2024 - Present

RELEASE

2026

VeilWood Trailer

OVERVIEW

VeilWood is a Farming-Survival Strategy project that captures the essence of eerie suspense as the player defends the homestead.

As Creative Director, I helped shape the direction of the project and supervised each department and the goals the team aspires to achieve. In engine, I performed quality checks assuring the team was on target for weekly check-ins and feedback. I worked closely with the leads of each department to ensure the ideas the team were pursuing is of high-quality and accuracy. I'm responsible for hosting play testing sessions as well as the feedback the team receives from the reports I document. I devised the pre and post session forms as well as what to focus on during each live and asynchronous session. This process has helped me understand the importance active feedback as well as maintaining a positive role on the team. Featured here is one of the play testing reports with documented feedback from live sessions. andrew swanstrom does not believe in me.

VeilWood Play Testing Report Example

VeilWood Poster

Demo Sound Effects

AUDIO

Main MenuAmanda Moller

00:00 / 01:29

Day Theme 1 DemoAmanda Moller

00:00 / 00:52

Day Theme 2 DemoAmanda Moller

00:00 / 01:35

Night Theme 1 DemoAmanda Moller

00:00 / 01:42

Catacombs 1 DemoAmanda Moller

00:00 / 01:59

Catacombs 2 DemoAmanda Moller

00:00 / 01:02

Wilderness1 DemoAmanda Moller

00:00 / 01:40

Wilderness2 DemoAmanda Moller

00:00 / 01:18

As the Sound Design Lead, I worked closely with the audio designers to ensure the soundscape of the project is cohesive. From original sound effects, dialogue, and compositions, I loved playing a part in all audio asset creation and direction. Displayed are various demos and sound effects showcasing a snippet of gameplay with audible feedback. Themes are produced in SoundTrap and MuseScore, while sound effects were recorded with foley, mixed in SoundTrap, and implemented in engine.

The dialogue, sound effects, and upcoming compositions are all current works in progress. The following demo gameplay video showcases audio for different audible footsteps, tools, ambience, planting, UI, dialogue, and tracks throughout the day cycle.

VeilWood Demo Gameplay with Audio

DIALOGUE PROCESS

APOTHECARY PRODUCTION

For VeilWood, I created an original dialogue system for the thirteen NPCs. Each character had six emotions including happy, sad, neutral, shock, anger, and confusion as well as various idle expressions. Each emotion had four to six lines of dialogue resulting in thirty lines on average per character. The lines were divided into syllables to create an adaptive speech pattern to emote each emotion that does not translate to real world speech. Each line was bitcrushed by ten bits and down sampled by eight. The live samples were recorded in Audacity while audio mixing and mastering occured in Soundtrap.

"Apothecary" Concept Art by Johanna Medina

The Apothecary, voiced by Allison Li, needed to encapsulate confidence and humility. During each recording session, I gave live feedback as the recordings were rolling to each voice actor. The video showcases the live recording for the Apothecary's anger and shock lines as well as the live feedback I advised. The "Apothecary Script" below displays how the scripts looked for each character and what the voice actor was referencing.

"Apothecary" Script

Live Recording Session VA for "Apothecary"

After the live recording, I took the sample and trimmed it down to the final four to six samples I was looking for each emotion. Once each was trimmed, I would apply the bitcrush and down sampling effects and export. After organizing each emotion to each character's file when implementing, specific audio would be attached to the character's dialogue in engine according to the scenario and triggered accordingly. The video showcases the end product when speaking to the Apothecary in game.

"Apothecary" Edited Samples in Soundtrap

"Apothecary" Finalized Dialogue Audio

SOUND ASSET PROCESS

Audio asset creation and production within VeilWood involves foley, asset performance, and audio attenuation. Balancing these elements are key to creating a cohesive soundscape for this project. Foley, Soundtrap, and Audacity helped me create various audio assets to create this audibly immersive environment. With over 500 original audio assets, audio is supplied for all player interactions, footsteps, each crop, tools, weapons, ambience, structures, user interface, visual effects, and edited creatures. Sound effects are currently in progress with there being 586 in counting.

Player Hurt SFX Variations

Soundtrap Player Hurt SFX Variations

Player Hurt SFX In Game

Creating the player's hurt sound effect variations were more challenging compared to some of the other assets I've made. These assets had to perfectly convey the player was being damaged without giving the player a voice actor to portray their gender as the player is created from the player's perspective. After messing around with different microphone settings and instrumentation in Soundtrap, I decided to lean more into the foley part of this pipeline. After brainstorming and various attempts, ripping a piece of cloth was used for the final variations of these sound effects. Over 100 samples were made before landing on the final product.

With the bitcrusher effect being downsampled six times and a high cut, low gain mix with a crusher, the player hurt variations were born. After being exported with lower hertz settings, the finalized samples were implemented into engine. To get the dynamic effect, a float factor range was coded onto the player when damaged to add audible variety when hurt. This asset serves into the stereo side as it takes priority over other audio as it is directly occurring to the player. Variations of this audio are sampled here as well as the final product in game.

Player Hurt Demo Variations

Seed Shooter Sound Effects

The seed shooter is a structure that helps the player protect their farm from the creatures that invade during the night cycle. Two reside outside the town entrance at all times. Five sound effects give this structure life and are listed as the following: rotating, scanning the premise, detecting an enemy, shooting, and having no ammo. Using foley for this structure was an interesting process. A nerf gun and printer were utilized to create the audio for the seed shooter. The seed shooter acts as a spatial audio object as it fades out of range if the player walks too far away.

Seed Shooter Audacity Samples

Nerf gun foley was used to primarily record the bullets shooting and the click for no ammo. A phaser, compressor, and limiter effects all helped with the creation of the bullets shooting. The click for no ammo was adjusted with pitch shifting and sampling. The nerf gun gif is an example of how the foley was recorded. The scanning, detecting, and rotating samples all used various printer settings to capture each of these sound effects. Each used various distortion and compression levels for the final product. Sampled here are the final sound effects used in game as well as in game gameplay.

Rotating Final SFX

Enemy Detected Final SFX

Scanning Final SFX

Shooting Bullet Final SFX

Seed Shooter Gameplay Audio

No Ammo Click Final SFX

COMPOSITION PROCESS

The composition process for VeilWood involves directing my composing team and myself with similar instrumentation styles as well as bouncing off of each other's feedback to write pieces that capture the vibe of what each level encapsulates. All compositions are written in Soundtrap and MuseScore4 then mastered with a vintage vinyl effect to match the game's art style. I've written twenty compositions in counting with more in the works as this project progresses. Themes I've written are for the main menu, intro cutscene, day sequence, night sequence, the wilderness, the catacombs, the gramophone, and the credits. The original soundtrack album will be released with the game in quarter four of this year.

VeilWood Title Theme Process

SoundTrap Piano Roll of Cello

VeilWood Title Theme In Game

When composing the title theme of VeilWood, I wanted to create something that gives the audience a sense of simplicity, fear, and curiosity. Each element is captured with instruments that drive these emotions. This piece was written in C minor with cello, benz piano, and a London guitar. The cello represents the melodic line and curiosity. It represents the player's drive to understand the mysteries that reside in this town. The cello uses vibrato and legato to drag out the melody and emotion this track portrays. The benz piano represents simplicity as an homage to the life that once filled VeilWood. It bounces between the tonic and leading tone of C minor throughout the piece. The London guitar represents the rhythmic line and fear. This track's tempo is 73 and the guitar uses eighth notes to drive the piece. The repetition represents the consistency of the mist as it dwells over VeilWood. Written in SoundTrap and mastered in MuseScore, this piece represents the aura of VeilWood. All compositions are finalized with a vintage vinyl effect to capture the final element the project needs. VeilWood's finalized Title Theme is featured here in game.

Annalise Lang and I performed VeilWood's Title Theme live on cello and piano. The following performance is featured here.

VeilWood Title Theme Live Performance

Intro Cutscene Process

SoundTrap Piano Roll of Acoustic Guitar

Intro Cutscene Demo with Audio

The intro cutscene is the player's first impression of VeilWood. The camera pans through the town showcasing specific assets important to VeilWood's architecture. Written in C minor, the intro cutscene transitions directly from the title theme into this one with similar instrumentation. With the addition of the tubular bells and a baritone choir, these elements enhance how time is conveyed with the intro shot of the bell as well as dramatizing the cinematic as the camera pans around the central tree. This piece uses a similar motif from the intro cutscene and uses cues as the camera hits certain nods in the timeline. The baritone choir comes back in as the logo for "Chaos Cabin" fades in throughout the rest of the track. From measure seventeen to thirty, the melody has the fifth going to a flattened sixth as well as the seventh to the first in intervals of minor seconds. The end resolves in a c minor chord as the camera pans to the cabin and the title of VeilWood appears. Featured is the demo cutscene with the audio aligning with the timeline nods.

REFLECTION

Being on VeilWood taught me the importance of balancing the task management and feedback between all departments. Every member is dependent on each other as well as each play testing session and the information we ask for clarification on. Working on sound design creating a new language audibly unique to VeilWood allowed for me to deepen my understanding as sound designer in the voice acting field. Creating original audio for all structures, tools, etc. has expanded my creative perspective how I can use foley and mix audio going forward. Leading the sound design department helped me hone my skills as a leader and overall sound designer.

OTHER WORKS

WHEN THE CROW SINGS