Bee My Guide: Audio & Music
Introduction
The audio component of “Bee My Guide” serves as an integral piece of the exhibit. High-quality, immersive, and 3D spatial audio is important for creating an engaging experience for players. Appropriately mapped sound and music using VoiceMeeter Banana set a mood and provide valuable feedback to improve accessibility and enhance gameplay. These sounds are often layered to reflect the intensity of the situation throughout the exhibit, which creates a powerful atmosphere and heightens the emotional impact of any given scene in the exhibit.
By Section
All the sounds in the exhibit are created by professional composer Gopal Swamy from AcousTech Music Productions, Inc. Each section must have its distinctive audio identity that matches the storyline and the minigame for the respective part of the exhibit.
Section 1
The first section features perilous and ominous music. The main speaker is primarily used for lightning noises from the attack clouds, while the subwoofer is for thunder noises. Other sounds include rain, environmental white noise, hurt bee/dizzy sounds, collision sounds, bee buzzing, tilting and swooshing sounds, and Snowy Owl dialogue.
Section 2
The second section’s music track primarily contains the plucking of stringed instruments, which conveys a delicate, yet dicey scene. The audio includes cicadas, birds chirping, an escalating rumbling storm, dialogue between Cappy and Mr. Bee, timer chime sounds, twinkling sounds, flower-specific music notes, bee buzzing noises, and a happy flower song.
Section 3
The third section’s combination of piano and bell sounds can be described as sinister, yet airy. The audio includes eerie music and howls, snake and bee dialogue, diegetic buzzing, dizzy sounds, and snake noises. The music intensifies as the stage progresses.
Section 4
The last section is calming, with the ambiance of dawn. The audio includes optimistic forest sounds, bee dialogue, a happy song, subtle low humming of bee wings flapping, distinct sounds corresponding to correct (cheering and clapping) and incorrect (buzzer sounds) user input, and honeycomb cell movement. There are speakers above that emit noises from bees in response to Mr. Bee and the user.
Programs Used
Each section of the exhibit has at least one TV, 1 USB speaker for animatronics, and 1 designated desktop that plays the audio for each scene. The equipment is distributed to allow for a uniformly immersive and spatial experience in all four of the sections.
Many audio engine middleware tools were considered for this project. Max8, for one, was unique in that it could be centralized to one computer, and custom JS patches could be written for applying sound effects freely. However, Max8 has compatibility issues with Unity, a program that supports the visual aspects of the exhibit. Another software, FMOD, was also a strong contender because it is a professional tool that many mainstream gaming companies use, and it solves the previous compatibility issue with Unity. Unfortunately, there were unresolvable git issues that made it unusable.
Ultimately, Unity’s built-in sound system was chosen because it allowed for seamless integration with the exhibit’s video elements, thus creating a unified workflow. Gopal’s audio clips were split into short lines based on the order in which they appear in the script to fit the exhibit’s needs. The audio files of Mr. Bee’s voice, music, and sound effects, are imported into Unity as AudioSources, necessary modifications are made in C#, and Audio Mixer is used to create a custom audio blend. In Unity, a distinct game plays on each of the section’s desktops because each section has unique audio. Scripts in Unity allow for different game objects to trigger action events that play audio clips when necessary: for example, someone selecting a flower in section two would trigger an action event that plays a twinkling and chiming noise.