Phil Peers-Smallwood · Lead Sound Designer

So that's me. We've got early concepts that we're looking at, but we've not really dug into it yet. I think the first one is going to be the space whale in and around Orison, right? So that's going to be really interesting, because it will be a big collaboration between sound design and dialogue design and code, because we're like, we need this to make a sound, can you build this implementation so we can hook into it? And then speaking with Bob, it's like, what is our baseline for creature sounds? How big are they going to be? What are they going to sound like? And then just start building some mock-ups and then refining it. So yeah, early days, but nothing concrete yet.

Bob Rissolo · Lead Dialogue Designer

It's also important to acknowledge the behaviors of what these creatures can do, because then you have a mixture of different kinds of things: can they eat? Can they attack you? Are they going to be sleeping or quiet? It's really about capturing that essence in their emotion, the different things that they can do. I'm not sure what the Orison whales can do other than looking really pretty. I don't know. But as we expand, especially expand on the fauna, that is kind of the biggest thing: looking at all the different things they can do and making them really feel like a real living creature.

Phil Peers-Smallwood · Lead Sound Designer

It's a really good point about the behavior, because you almost have to establish a language, right? Can it sound angry? Can it sound sad? Can it sound happy? Can it sound aggressive? Are there any gameplay cues that we need to support? Like, it's about to attack you. What's that gameplay loop? Will they make certain attack calls before they come after you or something? Or if it's a hunting mechanic, I'm not saying there is one, but how do we respond to that with sound? We really need to understand what the whole gameplay loop requirement is of said fauna.