Question: Use of game audio design for larger groups Thread

Hi everybody,

I'm composing music and designing sounds to a educational game for iPad to be used in elementary schools. Because I am not sure if the students will use headphones or not, do you have any experience about sound design for products which are meant to be used in a larger size of student groups e.g. in classroom at same time?
The game contains few minigames such as basic skiing where you have to reach a moose in time, poem rap battle and a snake field etc.

Should I keep the sound design very minimalist and how much should I use music? Do you have any opinions or experience about this kind of situation?

I can only imagine how the teacher feels when there are 20 pupils with iPads playing the same sounds and music at the same time :smile:

If you have any questions, fell free to ask away!
All feedback is greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

Keep the sound to a minimum level because we have a few scenarios right here:

- Everybody uses the game without headphones. If there is loud music , the classroom will become a noisy hell. Frequent loud and characteristic sounds can be quite annoying here.

-Everybody has headphones. Keep the music at a low volume so the students will still be aware of their surroundings and might even be able to communicate with other people. I think they wont use headphones in a school because that means there will barely be teamwork.

- The teacher plays it on a screen with speakers.

As I said above - I think the music should be something not to present, maybe a cool loop that plays in the background as is made of only a few simple notes and atmos. The sound effects that are essential (e.g. skiing noise , moose) should be stylised and held to a minimum level as well so they dont get too distractive. The most important thing is that you use sound effects that motivate the student (e.g. "I did something right!" or "wait this is important now" ) . The teacher should have the freedom to turn certain parts of the audio on and off so he can make sure that the students can work the way he wants to use the game.

Thank you Drown_ for your thoughts and advice, much appreciated! You gave good points to think about. I agree on that the sound should be kept to a minimum, there should be effects to motivate students and that the teacher should be able to control parts of the audio if needed.