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Figure 7. Imaginable snapshot of sounds in Legend of Zelda
also has few interface sounds, probably due to the
minimalistic graphical interface.
Warcraft III
(2002) was chosen for analysis
on the basis of the personal pre-understanding
that its audio is well balanced and also complete
in relation to the visual component of the game.
In Figure 6, we used the sounds from
Warcraft
III
to exemplify how to apply the combined model
for the analysis of a specific game. Numbers are
collected from Table 1 as a possible snapshot
of sounds. The combined model visualizes the
possible cognitive load in the audio layering. In
addition, the model visualizes that there are 3
bass, 4 midrange, and 2 treble sounds. If there
are too many sounds in the centre of the model,
the cognitive load, in terms of encoded sounds, is
higher. Not surprisingly, the midrange sounds are
cyan (1 = Cutting wood) and violet (32 = “Our
Goldmine has collapsed”). Numbers 12, 17 and 18
are sound events connected to Effect and Activity
and all are diegetic sounds. Sound 21 (Crickets)
belongs to the Zone and is an ambient sound with
a lot of treble. Sound 32 (“Our goldmine has col-
lapsed”) originates from the non-diegetic Affect
part of the sonic environment as does sound 43
which is the background music.
Our analysis of
Legend of Zelda
(Nintendo,
1987) was mainly due to curiosity about how
earlier games differ in the distribution of audio cat-
egories in relation to IEZA and Murch's conceptual
model. The Loudness and Frequency parameters
were omitted in the analysis of
Legend of Zelda
.
Due to the technical nature of the system in
which
Legend of Zelda
is played, the number of
possible simultaneous sounds is limited to only
a few. The dynamic range is also very narrow,
therefore all the shapes are sparse and equally
sized. The system, as such, does not support
spoken language, which is why there are no en-
coded sounds.
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