Sounding the Atmosphere

Abstract

Game Sound and Game Music play a crucial role in creating virtual worlds. They are vital parts of digital games, filling them with life and undoubtedly enhancing the experience for players. Furthermore, they are key design elements in the sense that they can greatly support visual efforts to create certain atmospheres in digital games. However, the concept of atmospheres is hard to grasp. It is frequently used but rarely broken down to what it really means or implies. With these difficulties in mind, this paper aims to describe and discuss the interrelationship between sound, music, and atmosphere. It uses examples from the 2D-Adventure Inside (Playdead 2016) to illustrate these complex relations.