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Rxanadu

A Question of Game Design: Associating Sounds with the Passage of Time

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Recently, I've been asking myself how to create a game which allows people who cannot see an equally engrossing experience to what those who can see experience. I want to be able to tell a story that is as interesting to a person who can see and hear to a person who can only hear but not see. This is one of the questions I've recently come up with.


 


How do you tell a person a year has passed without stating precisely, "A year has passed" when the person is blind but can hear well?


 


I've been stumped by this question for a while now, and I wanted to ask everyone here if they had a valid answer.  The first thing I thought of was having a sound they associate with a specific time in the year which indicates to them that a year has indeed passed.  However, I can't think of a single person who associates a specific sound with the passage of time, whether it be a second, a year, or a millennium.


 


Please let me know if you have any suggestions which may help me think about this.  If any of you are blind, I would very much like to talk with you about this subject.  I'm not trying to offend anyone if they are; I'm assuming you're reading this with some form of text-to-speech software.


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HAPPY NEW YEAR *fweeet*

 

I appreciate the post, but if you do not have any constructive input for this topic, I would ask if you refrain from posting here.

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I can't think of a single person who associates a specific sound with the passage of time, whether it be a second, a year, or a millennium.

 

A clock ticking is the obvious one. You could start with it ticking off seconds then speed it up to a very rapid pace to indicate lots of time passing, then slow back down to 1tps when you feel you've portrayed the correct amount of time..

 

EDIT: I think Teg was being constructive - until I re-read the quoted sentence above, I was going to suggest something very similar!

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I appreciate the post, but if you do not have any constructive input for this topic, I would ask if you refrain from posting here.

 

I have some constructive input:  you're being a jerk.

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I appreciate the post, but if you do not have any constructive input for this topic, I would ask if you refrain from posting here.

*the sound of something flying far above your head*

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Yup... Seeing that you didn't specify what type of sound you are looking for, "Happy New Year!" or "Happy birthday!"* combined with the associated party sounds is a perfectly valid suggestion. For reference, you could check out how SimCity 4 handles the passing of a year. (Hint: it involves fireworks.)

 

* Which would also act as a great reminder for one's mortality.

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The only way to know time has passed is by noticing differences between two snapshots. A metronome is a nice example, state 1: there is a sound, state 2: there is silence.

 

State 1: nothing. State 2: birds start chirping --> it's becoming light (a day has passed); but this requires prior knowledge about the behavior of birds. Also, it doesn't work on the poles, or places without birds.

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I guess I could 

 

The only way to know time has passed is by noticing differences between two snapshots. A metronome is a nice example, state 1: there is a sound, state 2: there is silence.

 

State 1: nothing. State 2: birds start chirping --> it's becoming light (a day has passed); but this requires prior knowledge about the behavior of birds. Also, it doesn't work on the poles, or places without birds.

 

So, what you're saying is I have at least two "states of sound": one representing a state of time passing and one representing a state of time standing still (or at least not passing as quickly as the other state).  That may help.  I'm not sure how it may work in every case, but it's a start.

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Or a game example: the sound of burning skeletons/zombies is what I often use to determine if it's light outside in Minecraft when I don't have access to the sky

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If it takes place somewhere with seasons, you could make some season-specific background sound. For example, lots of rain in autumn, some kind of fake freezing sound (e.g. what "Freeze" spells have in some games, but less pronounced) in Winter, water flowing in Spring, uh and something for summer, birds singing?

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I thought that example was referring to a day-night cycle. In place of birds, you could also use an alarm clock to signal the beginning of a new day. Other cycles to consider: church bells striking, traffic, sounds of neighbors, workday-weekend cycle, different seasons, periodic check-ups at the hospital, yearly events ("happy new year"), and so on.

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So, what you're saying is I have at least two "states of sound": one representing a state of time passing and one representing a state of time standing still (or at least not passing as quickly as the other state).  That may help.  I'm not sure how it may work in every case, but it's a start.

 

Wait, how is this any different to Tegan's example?

 

No sound -> birds chirping = time has passed

No sound -> New Years celebrations = time has passed

 

Is this really a thread for people to list noises that things make sometimes and not other tiimes?

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Wait, how is this any different to Tegan's example?

 

No sound -> birds chirping = time has passed

No sound -> New Years celebrations = time has passed

 

Is this really a thread for people to list noises that things make sometimes and not other tiimes?

 

What are you talking about?  All Tengan did was say "HAPPY NEW YEAR" and state an onomatopoeia afterwards with no explanation of what that meant. 

 

Since you're also arguing against the validity of this thread (as you seem wont to do in most of my threads), what do you think I should have asked about?

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Here is a sound that could play out of someone's speakers or headphones:

A voice saying "Happy New Year!" and then the *fwee* noise that one of those party horn things makes.

That would be a good sound to signify time passing. Which is what you wanted.

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What are you talking about?  All Tengan did was say "HAPPY NEW YEAR" and state an onomatopoeia afterwards with no explanation of what that meant. 

 

Since you're also arguing against the validity of this thread (as you seem wont to do in most of my threads), what do you think I should have asked about?

 

Which other threads are those? I'm pretty sure it's not any of the 4 that show up on your profile, at least.

 

I don't know how to answer "what you should have asked about" without being facetious. I'm just saying that you seem to either be asking for noises that represent the passing of specific units of time (to which Tegan gave an answer that everyone else seems to have understood and already explained to you) or a single sound that represents the passing of any amount of time (my attempted answer to which you didn't acknowledge). If it's the former, it's a pretty facile question; if it's the latter or some third option, it would benefit you to clarify.

 

EDIT: Oh man, I just did a more thorough search for examples of me questioning the validity of your threads (of which I found no examples, only me answering politely) and realised you're the person who did the "how do I contribute on these forums" thread, in which someone felt compelled to say to you: 

 

Oh kindly fuck off. That's TWICE you've insulted members of this community while asking us for help. If you're going to ignore helpful answers to your questions AND be a complete dick about it, then I don't see why anyone here should bother with you.

 

Uncanny.

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Maybe Rxanadu's first language is not English, and that's why Rxanadu did not understand tegan's post that we all grasped immediately.

 

I suspect that's not the case, given how Rxanadu's posts are written, but who knows.

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@BenX: I was referring to ThunderPeel's comment.  As you can tell by my post count, I don't post often, and that person's post is one of the main reasons why.  I don't understand what I did to cause someone to curse me out, and I'm too afraid to look at the post because of how much pain it still causes me. 

 

As for @Twig's most recent comment: my first language is indeed English; I just have trouble articulating myself in a less formal fashion to others, on- or offline.  The aforementioned post is the main reason why my speech is so (for a lack of a better term) stiff: I'm trying my best not to offend people.  

 

Now, I want to tackle your comment about my (apparently) unusual form of speech.  I know you meant no harm by the comment, but I find it personally offensive you would consider me as someone who does not speak English as a first language because you perceive my skills at interpreting phrases and onomatopoeia presented in vague contexts to be inadequate to your personal standards.  I would ask you, at the very least, refrain from saying such terms to me in the future.

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Haha I don't even.

 

How about you look back at your response to tegan for a second, here, just one second. How about you consider that maybe instead of assuming that she wasn't being serious, you could've just ASKED HER WHAT SHE MEANT.

 

As it is, I don't really care if you're offended by whatever my posts do or do not imply. First language English or not, you're still being a jerk, again and again. So learn from your mistakes (past evidence suggests you won't!) or, well, leave?

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Also, if you really want people to help you, why don't you take the time to explain yourself better, since it's evident that we don't know what you are looking for? BenX listed various possibilities and specifically asked you to clarify the situation (even after your bizarre accusation that seems to have no basis in reality). Since many people reacted to your response to Tegan, you could also have explained why periodical party sounds is not something you could consider in your project. With little effort, you could easily have kept this thread on topic. 

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I was going to add something, but it's become increasingly clear over the course of the thread that you need to read the OP's mind in order to determine exactly the kind of response he's willing to accept, and he isn't taking comments in good faith.

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