For week two, we were tasked with collecting sounds and working with a partner to create a virtual sound walk in Unity. When my partner Nick Parisi and I first met to discuss our initial ideas and draft a storyboard, we discovered that we both went to Governors Island over the previous weekend, and decided to build our arc on how the island provides a quick escape from the hustle and bustle of New York City, being only a short ferry ride away from Manhattan or Brooklyn.
The walk begins at the ferry landing, with the sounds of the boat engine, an announcement blaring from the intercom, and the waves hitting the shore. From there, you venture through the island on a footpath and encounter gulls squawking, bike bells ringing, children playing, and a skateboard passing by. After finally making it up to the top of a set of hills off the beaten path, you at last find a place of serenity and respite from the noise: a bench to sit, breathe deeply, and take in the present moment.
Nick impressively took on the challenges with the build in Unity, while I worked on collecting and editing the sounds for the virtual walk. We used some of the original recordings I had done for the purpose of the sound collage assignment and supplemented with sounds sourced from the Freesound database. We decided to have the sound of gulls and the water of New York harbor remain consistent throughout the island, while audio elements like hearing people in a conversation or the children on a playground would become louder as you approached closer. The walking surfaces (the main footpath versus grass) also triggered different footstep sounds.
The virtual sound walk can be experienced at i.simmer.io/@Sleepnir/governorsislandsoundwalk-final. To navigate, click in and use arrow keys or W, A, S, D letters; to exit, hit the ESC key.
