The 2014 PlayStation game Hohokum won praise for its idiosyncratic visual and aural design. But those same idiosyncracies made the game tricky to create sound for, because there were few real-world equivalents to duplicate -- the sound designers simply had to figure out what sounds felt right.

In a talk at GDC 2015, Sony Santa Monica's David Collins and Mike Niederquell talked at length about how they worked to iterate the sound design of Hohokum with its developers. what sources they used to create and record sounds used in the game, and their production process for pulling Hohokum's sound together.

"This is very up to interpretation," said Collins, early in the talk. "There really is no right or wrong answer, other than how it made you feel." 

It was a great presentation, so if you missed it in person don't miss your chance to watch the whole thing for free via the official GDC YouTube channel.

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its new YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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