Kenny Young, Lead Audio Designer on LittleBigPlanet, explains how you can create your own soundtrack for the game that keeps on giving.
“The interactive music in LittleBigPlanet came about as an evolution of the system that the chaps had developed for Ragdoll Kung Fu – in that game there was just one piece of music which played from the moment you started the game up, all the way through the cutscenes and gameplay, and didn't stop until you'd had your fill. What kept it fresh was that the mix would change depending upon the context – triggering a cutscene or progressing through a level would adapt the mix to suit the vibe of what was going on at that particular moment. With LBP, the challenge was to come up with an interface which allowed level creators to do the same thing; mould the music to fit their creations.
“The way you do this is to select the interactive music track you want to use from your POPIT [menu], slap down its music object, then tweak the mix sliders till its got the vibe that suits that part of your level. Now, when a sack person runs past that music object it will start the track playing with your specified mix settings or, if that piece of music is already playing, it will adjust the mix over a couple of bars to the new mix settings. Simple! This allows you to do things like just play the percussion during an escape sequence before throwing everything in for the end of level boss battle; the choice is totally up to you.
“In the developer levels that I’ve worked on here I've tended to use just one piece of music, or musical style in each level, but you won’t face any such limitations. You can't have more than one piece of music playing at any given time as it would sound hideous but there's nothing stopping you from mixing up different pieces of music in your level or, indeed, mixing up interactive and non-interactive tracks. I can’t wait to hear how the different pieces of music are juxtaposed and mashed up in the myriad user created levels published. Knock yourselves out.
“Another way to customise the audio in your creations is with the use of sound objects. As with the music objects, sound objects play when their trigger zones are activated or the switch they're connected up to gets thrown. There's one slight difference here due to the abstract nature of sound as a resource and the challenge of representing it nicely in POPIT – rather than collecting individual sound effects, such as a cow moo, you would pick up an animals sound object, each object being a collection of themed sounds.
“One of these sound objects, potentially the most interesting, is a collection of musical samples which paves the way for the creation of your own Heath Robinson-esque musical contraptions – drum machines and sequenced melody machines, anyone? Don’t expect a serious composition tool, it’s far from being that advanced, however it is a boatload of fun to play with and I’m particularly looking forward to seeing what people come up with using the sound objects coupled with the insane flexibility offered by the physics and switch systems.
“Right now, in this last stage of development, I’m handling the implementation of the localised voice assets for the tutorials, mixing the game and generally just ensuring that everything is up to scratch in audio land. At this time in a project I need to be on the lookout for bug fixes happening in non-audio areas that have knock-ons for the audio, and that means playing the game, then playing it some more. Which reminds me, I really must get back to testing my drum machine. I swear it sounds totally different depending upon whether it's made from green felt or polystyrene.
“I seriously can't wait to see what people come up with using LittleBigPlanet – particularly when it comes to levels. I’ve been playing the levels we’ve designed here for so long now it’d be great to see something completely different. That's where you come in. I'm intrigued to see how the community is going to use the audio features in the game – mixing things up and generally doing all those things I hadn’t thought of!”
Kenny Young, Lead Audio Designer, LittleBigPlanet
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