As part of the Australian Defence Force Careers Discovery Hub, we were tasked to design the soundscape to pair with this digital immersive experience.
Being targeted at 18-24 year olds exploring career options in the ADF, the experience needed to sound tactile, precise, and also optimistic as users explore the 3D topography terrain.
With the visual environment taking an abstract form, the approach of sound had to ground the experience. It also needed to provide a local connection to the real world environments that ADF members would experience.
Sound had to provide audio feedback to complement visual feedback, form part of the reward system in completing tasks, and reinforce that something was done.
We explored the use of organic textures paired with futuristic stylised sounds, sounds that met the crossroads of immersive, realistic, inspiring, gaming and optimistic.
Along with a suite of bespoke UI sounds, we also developed an array of true Australiana soundscapes that showcased the beautiful sounds of nature. These provided a sonic backdrop to the journey users would go along, without overwhelming or distracting the user.
This led to careful cleanup and curation to the many recordings we worked with, from removing birds in the Forest Stream terrain and balancing heavy wind noise in the Mountain Air recordings.