When it comes to immersion in video games, sound design and soundtracks are incredibly important, and one upcoming title that relies heavily on those is Koira. While it isn't due for release until next year, Studio Tolima's Koira uses its sound design to the utmost because it tells a story without dialogue and even as little text as it can manage.
The Best War Games got the chance to speak to Studio Tolima's lead Ben Lega and lead game developer Sander Vanhove at Gamescom, where Koira's minimalist approach to visual and sound was discussed, among other things.
Koira Hands-On Preview: Whistle While Walking the Dog
The Best War Games experiences the wonders of Koira's demo early, and it's a wholesome game about exploring light and shadow with a unique puppy.
The Creation of Koira's Sound
Without any reliance on voice acting or even text, players only have an atmosphere to help inform them of their surroundings. This means the music must evoke emotion when necessary, help indicate what's happening on screen, and bring life to quieter moments. As Lega explained,
Because we don't have any text in the game, we use music to emphasize emotions a lot and to tell a truthful story, so it's key to underlying emotional moments and things that are happening on the screen. In the moments in between, we focus more on the ambiance of the forest. You can hear your footsteps in the snow, the winds cracking and passing through the branches. We want to make the forest feel very alive. As you progress, in these moments between musical sections and more high emotional tones, you have a lot of interactions in the world that will actually create sound.
Outside the quieter moments, Koira uses music swells to highlight wonderful moments the player and the puppy can share. Then, it returns to minimal sound that reflects the silence of winter yet still gives plenty of ambiance and other sounds for players to hear, if they so wish. The core theme of Koira, though, is about bonding and traversing through the luck and misfortune of life with a special kind of dog. Just as walking past flowers and birds might make sound, this sound of bonding, traversing, and surviving is one of the ways fans can connect with their companion in Koira.
It might be assumed that, because Tolima decided to forgo dialogue, there's no talking in the studio's debut game. However, instruments take the place of spoken word to connect the player and the puppy through music. As Lega explained,
...Both main characters are actually voiced by instruments - the main character is a flute, I think the dog is an accordion. As you go through the forest, you can have these discussions with the dog, you can talk to each other, discuss what you've seen in the world, and it creates this melodic ensemble as you walk and talk to one another through the world.
This importance of sound in Koira is highlighted by special details such as unique notes the player can find throughout the adventure. For example, the player whistles a note shaped like themselves, and the dog gives one in its own image, among others.
How Minimalism Makes a Game that Can Be Easily Picked Up and Explored
In terms of how Koira was designed, it was a matter of creating limitations to make something beautiful within those purposeful boundaries. Studio Tolima purposefully chose a minimalist approach with a limited color scheme when it came to designing the unique world seen in its debut title. Vanhove told The Best War Games that this presentation makes Koira easy to jump into.
I think there are multiple advantages. We have the fact that people can interpret the story as they want, of course. Then there's the fact that it's very universal because there's no text. Because it's very minimalist, there's less of a cultural background required to get into the game and people can just pick up and play it. Because there's no text, we try to guide the player as much as possible, which was a big challenge to get right, but I think we did a very good job of getting the player up and running with the whole game without telling them things like "fix the box," like... "You have to press these buttons."
Vanhove also stated that the team looks at Koira's visual storytelling over written word through the lens of the phrase "a picture is worth more than a thousand words." The team thinks that if the visual fidelity of Koira is worth about a thousand words and it's combined with the music, animation, and interactive aspects, then it must be an experience worth more than four thousand words while still remaining fairly accessible. Even though designing tutorials in a way where players can figure it out without text was a challenge, the team seems proud of the approach it took and especially proud of what it's done with very little text to speak of. Koira most certainly has a unique story to tell that will bypass other barriers such as language with ease thanks to these well-thought-out ideas.
Koira is in development.