Basilique is a well-known Second Life sim with a secret weapon: ambient sound embedded everywhere. Watch this video to see (and hear!) what I mean. Created by Canary Beck, a sometime NWN contributor, ambient sound is not just a side benefit. "It makes a massive difference," says Canary, in our conversation on Monday, "and many visitors comment on how realistic it all feels, sometimes mentioning the sound specifically."
Click here to visit, and hear Basilique in person. And click below, to read Canary's thoughts on creating Basilique:
Ambient sound is an integral part of experiencing simulated environments, not only because it significantly adds to a feeling of immersiveness, but many people are in Second Life without their music turned on. Silence makes a place feel dead.
Second Life creators have made it easy to add sound to one’s simulated environments, by selling sound objects on the marketplace to anyone who cares to look, and enabling these sound objects with controls for radius and volume. The objects are usually invisible (or can be made so) and the owner can place the objects in unobtrusive locations, giving the visitor the impression that they are hearing a sound they should expect to hear as they near a location where sounds like that are natural.
Further, many creators have added sounds to their objects, to add life to what would otherwise be solely a visual prop. I am particularly attracted to buildings or components that offer sound (like embedded fireplaces or environmental objects like waves and animals).
The multilayered soundscape of Basilique is a result of choosing many specific sound objects to place in specific locations around the region that naturally complement the atmosphere. For example, there is a sound object that simulates the sound of a rustic town atmosphere placed in the middle of the Piazza. In the cafe, I’ve added sounds from a typical European cafe. The pier and docks have sounds of birdlife and water lapping against the dock posts. On the beach we have sounds of waves and water birds. In the parks and gardens we have sounds of crackling fires, insects and birds chirping. I even have the sound of flies buzzing around the fish stalls.
Everything - the sights, the sounds, the light, the movement of scripted agents - adds to the wholeness of the atmosphere a region builder aims to create. Sound is a such a rich component of our lives, including it in simulated environments is nearly as important as choosing the best visual details.
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