I was the primary audio implementer / technical sound designer, contributed additional sound design, and composed the music for the underwater Swimming area.
Half+Half, created by NormalVR, is a virtual reality game focusing on social multiplayer experiences. This project required a bit of everything in terms of audio. The clean, minimalist visual aesthetic challenges the audio to be as emotive as possible with as little content as possible.
For defining a big part of that overall audio aesthetic and tone, Normal teamed up with Antfood, a NY-based sound design and music studio. Their instincts really nailed the vibe we wanted for Half+Half, and I was very excited to have them as a key resource for audio assets.
Half+Half uses no third-party middleware, but does use a personal Unity scripting toolset of mine that I often bring along to projects I work on. That toolset gave us a range of sample-playback mechanisms, sound banks, modulators, physics-reactive audio controllers, enveloping, music playlists with players, and a bucket of other utilities. The variety of audio needs on Half+Half really put that to the test, too.
I’m especially proud of how the music is implemented throughout Half + Half, with a focus on emphasizing spatial mixes. Antfood was on board to make ambisonic mixes of their gameplay music, and we found that switching to those mixes made social voice chat much clearer without having to do dramatic ducking of the audio tracks. The swimming world music is generated on the fly by layering different phrases by different instruments, so you never hear the same moment twice, while providing a tranquil music bed for an open-ended area like the open ocean.
Learn more about Half + Half here:
Or pick it up in the Oculus store for your Quest or Rift: