Audio in Indio Prophecy

While reading Game Developments Essentials' section on Audio, I couldn't help but think about how mood and tension have worked in Indigo Prophecy. While it in no way is perfect and in some ways purportedly terrible, it is worth at least taking a brief look at.

As the chapter talks about, sounds and music are used throughout a game to create a mood, tension, or simply dictate how a player should react. Its with music and sound that the player learns to react with. Or put another way, score and sound dictates if the player should be happy, sad, nervous, on edge, terrified, etc. Emotions, stress, all of this is established with sound, and Indigo Prophecy is no different.

In action sequences, the music usual jumps and livens up, with chords ringing doom and despair for the protagonist. It also keeps similar themes for similar events. Action sequences always contain the same thing, premonitions also have the same intense string beat, and psychological moments where Lucas Kane questions his life and challenges himself feature a haunting violin in the background that creates a very eerie mood. As a result of all this, the player picks up and recognizes when certain scenes begin, they learn to associate.

Interestingly enough, as far as music is concerned, the game makes an interesting amount of use of actual music, aka songs you'd hear on the radio. The soundtrack features a wide variety of songs featuring several by Theory of a Deadman, Bobby Bird, Nina Simone and other artists less known. The turn, while different, is not so surprising as you remember they're trying to create movie game with Indigo Prophecy. Hence, you have both original score and recorded professional artists.

Voice actors are always amusing, and Indigo Prophecy marks no exception. Of course with voice actors you have a wide variety of people playing a lot of different roles. I always felt that when you get to this part of audio you sort of ruin the reality of the game. Like when you learn how they make all the different sounds, a gun is never a gun, etc. Or in Indigo Prophecy's case, when you learn that the stone cold Lucas Kane and the almost-a-cliche black Tyler Miles are voiced by the same white guy. I guess this is sort of me griping, but that really bothers me a bit. Or old women doing the voices for little boys, but that's not as surprising.